Warm words but wishy-washy results at EU-US summit
LUCIA KUBOSOVA
22.06.2006 @ 09:59 CET
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Standing side by side with US president George W. Bush after a bilateral summit, EU leaders toned down their rhetoric on controversial issues highlighted before the meeting, despite not having any concrete commitments from Washington on visas, trade talks or climate change.
The joint declaration does not suggest any real move in the foreseeable future (Photo: Austrian EU Presidency)
The EU sent a number of strong messages before the one-day gathering on Wednesday (21 June), pledging to be tough and call for real moves in several areas on the US side.
Apart from Guantanamo - which Mr Bush said he would like to end but has to wait for a Supreme Court decision - the loudest pre-summit noise was made on the issue of a two-tier visa system for EU member states.
On the eve of the meeting, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso accused the US of "discrimination" and of creating "second class citizens" by demanding visas only from new EU member states' citizens (excluding Slovenia).
EU officials warned they may introduce retaliatory measures if the US does not outline further steps to resolve the problem.
However, while Mr Barroso mentioned the subject had been raised in Vienna - as "an important issue for the EU" - the statement in the joint declaration does not look to any real move in the foreseeable future.
"We recognise the need for tangible progress to be made towards the establishment of reciprocal visa-free travel for all EU citizens to the United States, as part of our efforts to promote the economic and social benefits of increased travel while keeping borders secure," stated the document.
Trade talks cannot fail?
Similar promises without deadlines or details of possible concessions have been made on the so called Doha round of world trade talks.
"We recognise the need for trade ministers to make substantial progress on core negotiating areas over the next few weeks in order to ensure that this historic opportunity to liberalise trade is not missed," EU and US signatories pledged in Vienna.
But there was no clear suggestion on how to move out of the current deadlock - related to farm subsidies and agricultural market access - in a bid to meet a late 2006 deadline for completion of the current round of trade talks.
The most concrete promise Mr Bush made was "There's a ministers' meeting here at the end of this month, and my pledge to our European counterparts is, we'll do the very best we can to reach an agreement that satisfies all parties' desires."
For his part, Wolfgang Schussel, the chancellor of Austria, which currently holds the EU's six-month rotating presidency, said "Bilateral ties between Europe and the United States are strong. They are important, we are the most important trade partners for each other."
Climate change without Kyoto
The ten-page declaration lists a number of other foreign policy and business initiatives.
The EU and US have pledged to continue in their joint efforts to promote democracy and peace in several parts of the world, like the Middle East, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq and Afganistan.
They have highlighted their common ground on Iran, urging its leaders to hurry up and respond to the offer by the international community and prevent a further escalation of the crisis surrounding its nuclear programme.
On the business side, the leaders agreed to boost energy co-operation between the two world powers and to improve protection of intellectual property rights.
But on the other contentious subject - climate change - Brussels and Washington gave a green light to a new debate forum, while quietly ignoring the Kyoto protocol, which president Bush has refused to sign.
"We have agreed to establish a European Union-United States high-level dialogue on climate change, clean energy, sustainable development," Mr Barroso stated.
"This will address ways to deliver cost-effective emission cuts, development and employment of new technologies, efficiency and conservation, renewable fuels and other environmental issues such as biodiversity."
