76th EU-US Interparliamentary meeting, Riga, Latvia: statements by David McALLISTER (EPP,DE), Mario DIAZ-BALART, co-Chairs of the Transatlantic Legislator's Dialogue (TLD) meeting, Marietje SCHAAKE (ALDE,NL) and visit to Ādaži military base

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SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), "The Transatlantic legislate, as dialogue, is something special. Since 1972 Members from European Parliament and from the US Congress meet to discuss Transatlantic issues. For for 76th time we met this year in Riga, in Latvia. And Latvia is the place to be because a lot of political issues are very heavily focused on this part of Europe in the moment. We had three main issues, the first one was growth and employment, thanks to a better cooperation on free trade, so we were talking about TTIP and about the state of play, a second issue was energy security, how can we reduce independency of some European countries from energy imports from Russia and the third question was a closer cooperation on the fields of defence and security and that is why we also went to see the Ādaži base at the end of our visit."

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), "Free trade is a good thing. Free trade is a way of securing jobs, creating new growth for the economy and the European Union has negotiated a number of free trade agreements and we are just about to conclude for instance free trade agreements with Canada and Singapore. The biggest free trade agreement ever in our history would be the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the United States of America. We are in the middle of a negotiation process but I believe if we find a good solution, a beneficial free trade agreement for both sides of the Atlantic this would also be helpful to create new jobs and to foster economic growth in the European Union and also in Latvia."

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), "In general free trade agreement means that it is easier to do business. We reduce tariffs, we reduce duties, we reduce other kind of problems for our businesses when it comes to customs. And in general I think the European Union with 500 million people and the United States with 300 million people together would create something like the biggest single market in the world."

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), "And there is another reason why I believe that TTIP is a good thing - in times of globalisation Europeans and Americans can set new global standards when it comes to free trade, so we can set standards on data protection, the environment, health, security, consumer protection and other questions. And if we don't use this chance other parts of the world will then set standards we will then have to except. Unites States and European Union are not always of the same opinion, on certain political fields we have different interests, but in general we are good partners, the Europeans and the North Americans share the same values, we fight for democracy, for the rule of law, for human rights, and we know as Europeans that the Americans are so important for our security."

SOUNDBITE (English), David McALLISTER (EPP, DE), "NATO is for framework. 22 out of 28 Member states in the European Union are member of NATO and we work closer together with our American and Canadian colleagues. I believe that within the NATO framework the Europeans will have to cooperate more closely so they can use the money they spend on military more effectively. I think the solution will be pooling and sharing. European Member States will pool and share military capabilities so together they are stronger and more powerful. Perhaps not all members of the European Union believe in this idea of pooling and sharing under the framework of European Union but I think certain Member states are ready to go ahead, especially the country where I come from - the Federal Republic of Germany."

SOUNDBITE (English), Mario DIAZ-BALART, U.S. Representative, "The couple things that are very clear is, as was stated many times, the world is not what we would like it to be, it is what it is, so it is very, very important that Europe and United States strengthen as much as possible, maintain and strengthen our ties. The importance of NATO I think now is also very clear, there may be or have been some in the past we thought maybe NATO is no longer relevant, I think the actions of Russia in the last few years have quieted those sceptics, I think the importance of NATO is now as relevant as it has been for a long, long time. It is important that Europe and United States maintain our strength, our deterrence against aggression. Part of that, by the way, is making sure that Europe is not so reliant on Russian energy."

SOUNDBITE (English), Mario DIAZ-BALART, U.S. Representative, "We have seen mister Putin use energy almost as a tool of blackmail on many occasions. And we think that United States that now is the largest producer of natural gas and a huge producer of oil could be a good partner in helping the European Union diversify its, again - lessen its independence on Russian energy. We spend also a lot of time talking about trade. Last week in United States congress, the House and the Senate passed legislation to really pave the way and also so the President of United States could negotiate with the European Union, our European partners if we trade deal what is commonly known as TTIP. And if United States and European Union were not able to secure a trade deal which, again, would be the largest in history, the alternative then would be that in the meantime China and Russia will continue to do what they can to expand their influence."

SOUNDBITE (English), Mario DIAZ-BALART, U.S. Representative, "So either the rules, the trade rules, the economic rules for the future generation are going to be created by United States and Europe through TTIP and trough this association or the rules will be created by others. So again I am very happy that United States,  both the House and the Senate, were able to pass the ability for the President to negotiate and it is always controversial, trade deals are always very controversial, there are a lot of issues that are difficult, there are always people who think that they will lose out but globalization is real and the question is - is United States and Europe are going to be the ones who become the leaders of this globalisation, the ones who create the rules for future trade or will we leave that to other players and they are not as concerned about human rights, about labour issues and about economics freedom and opportunity for other people. So a lot of time was spent talking about TTIP, both about some of the potential problems and controversies but also as to some ways to hopefully together move the process forward."

SOUNDBITE (English), Mario DIAZ-BALART, U.S. Representative: "There are a lot of issues. When you look at the economy if United States and the European Union those are very large economies. There are multiple dozens and dozens and hundreds of industries and issues. There are a lot of things we have in common however: there is labour rights and legislation and human rights but they're very large economies. So there are many, many issues that have to be negotiated. It is not going to be a simple issue. I'm hoping that it is soon. But the important thing is not that it is done necessarily next year but that it gets done, it gets done it a way that secures the future for both people in United States and the people in the European Union against what is very increasingly larger and more aggressive global competition so I think it is possible. I'm hoping that it gets done very soon but it is a very complicated process."

SOUNDBITE (English), Marietje SCHAAKE (ALDE, NL), "After these two days of discussions between Members of the Parliament from the United States and from Europe, I think it is very clear why and how the Transatlantic relation is very, very important. It has been important historically and it will be important in the future. And over the past two days we spoke specifically about energy issues, security, the tensions that we see on our Eastern borders but also the very explosive and worrying situation in the Middle East. But we also talked about trade in our economic ties. So in other words three topics that are really about strengthening the Transatlantic relation, looking at what differences we have but also how we can make sure that our values, our open societies are open and rules based our economies and trade can be continued in a rapidly changing world that is not without threats."

SOUNDBITE (English), Marietje SCHAAKE (ALDE, NL), "Of course the terrible terrorist attacks that we witnessed this weekend were on top of our minds. It is very worrying to see that Jihadists are attacking and killing innocent people all over the world including in Europe itself of course with most victims in the Middle East. And we talked about ways in which we can de-escalate tensions in the Middle East and make sure that Daesh and Jihadist terrorist groups are eliminated but we also talked about how to make sure that open societies remain open. One of the real risks is that in the name of more national security our fundamental freedoms are compromised. And that has been a discussion particularly in light of the NSA revelations that has been having with Americans for a few years now and I was happy that we were able to address our concerns in over reach by States in the name of national security today as well."

<p>Cutaways with military man training. (8 shots).</p>

76th EU-US Interparliamentary meeting, Riga, Latvia: statements by David McALLISTER (EPP,DE), Mario DIAZ-BALART, co-Chairs of the Transatlantic Legislator's Dialogue (TLD) meeting, Marietje SCHAAKE (ALDE,NL) and visit to Ādaži military base

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