In December 2020, the European Commission and the High Representative/Vice-President (HR/VP) published an ambitious agenda for transatlantic cooperation with the incoming US administration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. This was followed by an EU-US Summit on 15 June 2021, which saw the launch of new formats for EU-US collaboration. Yet unexpected foreign policy developments since then have raised questions about the partnership's future. Parliament is expected to debate and vote on a report on the topic during the October I plenary session.

After four years of mostly fraught relations with former President Trump, the EU saw the inauguration of US President Joe Biden as an opportunity to find common cause on global challenges. A new EU-US agenda for global change adopted by the Commission in December 2020 identified scope for cooperation on the pandemic,the climate, trade,security and democracy. The new US administration has reaffirmed its support for multilateralism and traditional alliances, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); re-entered the Paris Agreement; re-joined the World Health Organization (WHO); given new impetus to global tax reform; and, on 22 September 2021, joined the EU in a partnership for global vaccine distribution. The EU-US Summit in Brussels on 15 June 2021 saw the launch of, inter alia, an EU-US security and defence dialogue and an EU-US Trade and Technology Council (the latter of which met for the first time on 29 September). On 21 July 2021, the two co-chairs of the European Parliament – US Congress Transatlantic Legislators'Dialogue, Rados?aw Sikorski (EPP, Poland) and Representative Jim Costa (Democrat, California) – hailed the opportunity to leverage the EU-US partnership to address shared challenges.

Further information: HERE

30 Sep 2021 · Source: EP Plenary/ EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service