MEPs discuss the outcomes of the 20 October EU-US summit, where EU leaders, including the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, met with US President, Joe Biden, and the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, in Washington DC. Opening statements by Ángeles MORENO BAU, Spanish State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs and Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency, and in charge of Europe fit for the Digital Age (ad interim). This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

Brussels

statement

debate

plenary session

EU - USA (T)

JOUROVÁ, Věra (EC)

Outcome of the EU-US summit: opening statements by Ángeles MORENO BAU, Spanish State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Věra JOUROVÁ, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Values and Transparency

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/73069632/1699263197783_I248069Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), &Aacute;ngeles MORENO BAU, Spanish State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs, Dear Mr. President, Honourable Members, Vice-President Jourov&aacute;, I thank you for inviting me to discuss with you the outcome of the EU US summit held last month. As has been said in the joint statement by the leaders since the previous Summit in June 2021, the world has changed in unprecedented ways and the EU and the United States have deepened their cooperation to respond ambitiously to these problems.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Ángeles MORENO BAU, Spanish State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs, The day before the summit, as you probably remember, the President of the US spoke to the American people for the second time in his mandate, saying that this was a turning point in history and that the decisions taken now will have profound consequences. The next day, President Biden met with EU leaders to talk about the situation in the Middle East, the war of aggression against Ukraine by Russia, China, the developing countries and many other issues.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Ángeles MORENO BAU, Spanish State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs, This clearly shows that the European Union is for President Biden and his administration, the indispensable partner, although the US will have recourse to us before anybody else. I now run over the main issues of the debate. On the Middle East, the EU and US positions were broadly consonant. This was reflected in the joint statement adopted in the Summit, which very much is in line with the Council Statement on the Middle East situation published a few days before the Summit.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Ángeles MORENO BAU, Spanish State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs, As far as Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine is concerned, the leaders clearly said that the EU and the United States will continue to support Ukraine for as long as is necessary and will do all they can to get the largest amount of support they can to achieve peace in Ukraine. They committed themselves jointly to applying sanctions and other methods to stop Russia from avoiding sanctions.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Ángeles MORENO BAU, Spanish State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs, The two sides are also willing to forge a working relationship with China, and frank dialogue with Beijing was described as vital and necessary. They want to work with China on things like the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis, support for vulnerable countries, world health and macroeconomic stability.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Ángeles MORENO BAU, Spanish State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs, When it comes to the creation of associations with emerging economies in the developing world, we stressed the importance of multilateral development banks and committed ourselves to becoming more ambitious, giving more room for manoeuvre and more financing under favourable conditions to push forward the capacity of the World Bank to help middle and low income countries and provide more aid to the poorest countries.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Ángeles MORENO BAU, Spanish State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs, As far as economic cooperation and trade were concerned, we reaffirm the need for the most dynamic economic partnership on the planet. When it comes to trade and technology, we also wanted to stress improving resilience and economic security. Though the global agreement on key minerals and on aluminium, we hadn't made a whole lot of progress there. We're going to continue to talk and as our partners do, we're going to continue to try to move things forward.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Ángeles MORENO BAU, Spanish State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs, Let me mention these two instruments in a bit more detail showing how important our economic relations with the US are. When it comes to the sustainable Steel and Aluminium Agreement, we now understand each other's positions better and the importance which we give in the European Union to compatibility with WTO standards. We want to keep our regulatory economy and respect our own legislation.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Ángeles MORENO BAU, Spanish State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs, The talks are ongoing, but we need to keep the tariffs suspension going on both sides. When it comes to fundamental minerals, critical minerals, we need to tackle our strategic dependence and improve resilience at the same time. It's also important to offset some of the negative aspects of the US legislation when it's something that's often forgotten. But we need to look at these issues like this.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Ángeles MORENO BAU, Spanish State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs, The European Union and the United States committed themselves to work to achieve visa exemptions between all Member States of the European Union and the USA, and significantly, to improve the number of transatlantic academic exchanges between our citizens over the next five years.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Ángeles MORENO BAU, Spanish State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs, We basically think that the EU-US summit this year was extremely fruitful and clearly demonstrating the relevance and vitality of the transatlantic relations between during a time of world uncertainty. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, VP of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, Mr. President, Honourable Members of the European Parliament, the EU-US Summit Place on the 20th of October and marked the second meeting of its kind organised by the Biden administration. Our goal was clear to consolidate and strengthen the relationship between the European Union and the United States, particularly as we approach elections on both sides of the Atlantic next year.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, VP of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, I am delighted to report that this objective was fully shared by both, the European Union and the United States. The commitment to fortify our partnership was demonstrated by the high level participation in the Summit. President Biden was accompanied by four of his Cabinet members, including Secretary of State, Blinken, Secretary of Treasury, Yellen, Secretary of Commerce, Raimondo and Trade Representative, Ambassador Tai. On the European side, Presidents Michael and von der Leyen led the way with the presence of High Representative Borrell, Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis and myself.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, VP of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, The Summit can be deemed as a success. Our joint commitment to stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes was reaffirmed. We also underscored the critical importance of transatlantic ties, especially in the face of increasing geopolitical challenges. Notably, we made significant progress towards a global arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminium and a Critical Minerals Agreement.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, VP of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, We reiterated the importance of the EU-US trade and Technology Council and agreed on the need to advance meaningful reform, missing the World Trade Organisation. In the context of the steel and aluminium arrangement, we made substantial strides in identifying the sources of non-market excess capacity and outlining the tools required to decarbonise the steel and aluminium industries.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, VP of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, We are committed to continuing this progress in the coming months with the aim of fostering undistorted transatlantic trade in these sectors. Negotiations on the critical minerals agreement also advanced significantly. And we will continue to engage with the United States and consult with our Member States to finalise an international agreement.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, VP of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, This agreement will allow the EU critical minerals to benefit from subsidies for electronic vehicles and help integrate trans-Atlantic critical mineral and battery supply chains. Moreover, the Critical Materials Agreement will enable us to jointly advocate for environmental protection and labour rights in trade and international supply chains of critical means at minerals.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, VP of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, President von der Leyen and President Biden highlighted the substantial progress made under the EU-US trade and Technology Council. The cooperation visiting this Council has been instrumental in strengthening trade related aspects of our response to Russia's aggression against Ukraine and effectively addressing trade irritants and disputes.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, VP of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, It remains crucial for creating a resilient and green transatlantic marketplace. We look forward to seeing further progress at the upcoming Technology and Trade Council ministerial meeting before the end of the year. Furthermore, we have agreed to collaborate in raising cybersecurity standards to protect consumers and businesses, reduce vulnerability to cyber attacks and lower trade barriers in this area. There is a strong interest on both sides on artificial intelligence, as reflected in the summit conclusions.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, VP of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, We both want to reap the benefits of this transformational technology while addressing the risks. We have made substantial progress in our bilateral cooperation and the initiative for a Code of Conduct for Generative AI, which was first launched at the TTC in May this year, was adopted by the G7 last year.

SOUNDBITE (English), Věra JOUROVÁ, VP of the EC in charge of Values and Transparency, Our discussions also emphasised the need to enhance economic resilience and security, particularly by reducing supply chain vulnerabilities, especially concerning raw materials essential to the green and digital transition. We recognise the importance of bolstering trans-Atlantic supply chains and addressing potential risks related to technology, security and technology leakage while countering economic coercion. Thank you very much.