Von der Leyen: A new chapter opens in the EU-US relations

Met dank overgenomen van Europese Commissie (EC) i, gepubliceerd op dinsdag 15 juni 2021.

“Today we opened a new, promising chapter in our joint history, with a renewed and strong transatlantic partnership”, President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen i said after the EU-US Summit, that took place on 15 June in Brussels.

In the Joint Statement adopted at the Summit, the EU and US committed to ending the COVID-19 pandemic and driving forward the global recovery, as well as fostering green growth, strengthening cooperation and building a more democratic and secure world.

To preserve and expand the unrivalled trade and investment between the two partners, President von der Leyen announced that an EU-US Trade and Technology Council would be established. “The Trade and Technology Council will be a forum to cooperate and align on global tech matters”, she explained. It will cover areas from artificial intelligence to cybersecurity, to environment.

President von der Leyen also commended the leadership of the US President Joe Biden with regard to international corporate taxation. “We jointly aim to build on the recent agreement at G7 Finance Ministers' level. And we fully stand behind the OECD i process,” she said at the press conference following the Summit.

The two sides also agreed to set up an EU-US Vaccines Task Force, to work more closely together on ending the pandemic and making vaccines as widely available as possible.

President von der Leyen welcomed the agreement found on aircraft dispute between the EU and the US, marking the move from ‘litigation to cooperation on aircraft”.

A number of other topics were addressed at the Summit, including the issue of fighting climate change, on which President von der Leyen ‘the EU and the US were natural partners'. “I am very pleased that we are establishing today an EU-US High-level Climate Action Group. The main focus is really to work together on the momentum that has been created by the Earth Summit and work on the climate diplomacy, forging the ambitious goals we want to achieve at COP26,” she noted.

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