Resolution on the EU-US relationship

Adopted by the UEF Federal Committee, 18 June 2017, Madrid

The UEF Federal Committee, meeting on 18 June 2017 in Madrid,

in reference:

to the 60th Anniversary of the Treaty of Rome and the 70th Anniversary of the Marshall Plan;
to the resolution on European Defence adopted by the UEF Federal Committee on 13 April 2013 in Brussels;
to the resolution on re-launching Europe’s foreign policy and defence policy adopted by the UEF Federal Committee on 14 June 2014 in Brussels;
to the resolution “Towards an European army” adopted by the UEF Federal Committee on 18 April 2015 in Brussels;
to the resolution on European defence adopted by the UEF Federal Committee on 5 November 2016 in Cologne;
to the resolution on the EU global strategy adopted by the UEF XXV European Congress on 12 June 2016 in Strasbourg;
to the resolution on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) adopted by the UEF Federal Committee on 18 April 2015 in Brussels;
to the resolution on CETA and TTIP adopted by the UEF Federal Committee on 5 November 2016 in Cologne;

having regard to:

the Rome Declaration on the 60th Anniversary of the Treaty of Rome;
the Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign And Security Policy of June 2016;
the EU-NATO Joint Declaration of July 2016;
the European Commission EU Defence Action Plan;
the European Commission “Trade for all” strategy;

whereas

diplomatic relations between the EU and the US date back to 1953. The relationship between the EU and the US is one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world;
taking into account the consistent defence and security role in Europe played by the US during the two World Wars and the Cold War until 1991 and the support in all relevant steps of the European integration;
considering the growing interest of the US in other relevant areas in the world and, at the same time, permanent call (reiterated by all US Presidents since the end of the Cold War) to redistribute the security burden of European defence among members of the Atlantic Alliance;
since the 1990s transatlantic relations have become increasingly institutionalized by a number of EU-US agreements, such as the 1990 Transatlantic Declaration, the 1995 New Transatlantic Agenda, the 1998 Transatlantic Economic Partnership, the Establishment of the Transatlantic Economic Council in 2007 and the launch in 2013 of talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP);
NATO has been the bedrock of Euro-Atlantic security for almost 70 years and remains the strongest and most effective military alliance in the world;

Transatlantic relations

the EU should continue to have strong bonds across the Atlantic, both North and South;
the EU should deepen its partnership with NATO through an autonomous defence capability coordinating EU members action within the Alliance;
the EU should take a greater responsibility for its collective security and territorial defence and a more active role in its neighbourhood;
there are no positive alternatives to the creation of a legal framework for transatlantic trade on a European scale, as a failure of negotiations on TTIP would result in the starting of bilateral agreements with USA by individual States, thus increasing European division and weakness;
Europe needs to prepare itself to a set of new challenges embodied by new US Administration, rise of continental powers and growing threats represented by non-statehood actors like transnational crime and terrorist organisations;
EU has a chance to affirm itself on the global stage as a more autonomous political player, strengthening the transatlantic partnership in the longer term and presenting its way to tackle contemporary challenges taking European values into account;
calls for a solid common European Foreign and Security policy, which fuelled by common defence capabilities, could represent, with NATO alliance and within the UN framework, a pillar to prevent crisis throughout the World and contribute to building a safe and prosperous international society;

Global Governance for the 21st century

the EU is committed to a global order based on international law, including the principles of the UN Charter. This commitment translates into an aspiration to transform rather than simply preserve the existing system;
calls on EU Member States to start an effective coordinated action within the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly in order to tackle World politics issues and prepare EU single seat perspective;
calls for giving a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council to the European Union after Brexit, as this would strengthen our voice as Europeans and represent a first step towards the transformation of the Security Council into the Council of the great regions of the world;
the EU will lead by example by implementing its commitments on sustainable developments and climate change - it will increase climate financing, drive climate mainstreaming in multilateral fora, raise the ambition for review foreseen in the Paris agreement, and work for lean energy cost reduction;

EU defence

stresses that an integrated and communitarian approach to foreign and security policy needs to be built if the European Union and its Member States are meant to play a role on the international stage;
stresses the importance of the European Commission proposal to set up a European Defence Fund and the establishment of a “Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC) within the EU Military staff in Brussels which will be responsible at the strategic level for the operational planning and conduct of non-executive missions”;
calls for the establishment of a truly EU foreign and security policy that would enable the EU to promote its values in today’s globalised world;
considers the immediate neighbourhood of the European Union a priority, calling for a greater EU role in filling the security vacuum in its wider neighbourhood;
calls on the Member States and the EU institutions to make full use of the Lisbon Treaty provisions on the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and to exploit the momentum to take a qualitative step forward by establishing a permanent structured cooperation (Article 46 TEU and Protocol 10) that should ultimately lead to a European Defence Union;
call for the involvement of all EU Member States to the Eurocorps, an existing multinational military unit already engaged in EU training Missions deployed in the Central African Republic, Mali and Somalia;
considers that Eurocorps could be the multinational military organization on which a permanent structured cooperation could be set up;
demands the establishment of a permanent EU military headquarter to improve military crisis management (including executive missions) and the creation of permanently pooled multinational military units;
calls for the creation of a European budget for defence to finance the EU’s CSDP with own resources;
considers that the goal of 2% of GDP of military expenses, requested from NATO members of the EU, could be achieved through the European Defence Fund financed - in a provisional way and until the European budget will be financed by own resources - by national contributions;
stresses the importance of reinforcing the European pillar of NATO;
stresses the importance of a fair industrial capacity distribution in the EU of the European defence and security industry.

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