Final Push for World Government

Extending the Transatlantic Agenda to Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean

December 2009

Center for Transatlantic Relations - ... It is in the interests of the most advanced countries of this vast region (U.S., Canada, EU) to promote an area of prosperity and development with the LAC region (Latin America and the Caribbean) with which they maintain strong historical, economic, political and cultural ties. The partnership with Brazil in particular has an enormous potential for development ...

For the last two years, we have been in a form of political limbo, with the defeat of the Lisbon treaty in Ireland, the U.S. presidential campaign and then a rather lengthy transition, and then a European Parliament election, the passage of Lisbon, and selection of a new European Commission. This phase is now drawing to a close.

The Lisbon Treaty, which took effect on December 1, moves some key economic powers to the Union institutions from the member states. The European Parliament will now have decision-making powers in trade and agriculture, as well as in more areas related to energy and investment. Indeed, investment, which has been primarily a matter for the individual member states, will move to some extent to the Union level, making it easier for the U.S. to identify its partner in discussing that issue.

In addition, Lisbon gives the Union its own legal personality, making it easier to conclude agreements that do not have to be approved by all 27 member states. By February, we hope that the new European Commission will be in place and it will be time to get down to business.

In another important innovation, the European Parliament will open a small office in Washington with the aim of increasing cooperation with the Congress; such cooperation could be especially fruitful in the projects identified below ...

To move toward a Barrier Free Transatlantic Market, the U.S. and EU should:

• Announce a joint commitment to work towards a “tariff only” Free Trade Agreement, eliminating all duties on traded industrial and agricultural products, as an important intermediate goal...


• Once such a deal is negotiated, the U.S. and EU should invite others to join in certain sectors or in the overall arrangement...


• Initiate transatlantic negotiations aimed at reducing barriers globally in certain sectors, starting with services...


• Remove remaining barriers to mutual investment, while developing reasonable and compatible guidelines for national security reviews...


• Creating an open transatlantic market for air transport by allowing cabotage and removing restrictions on foreign investment...


• ... In October 2009 the U.S. and EU agreed to take steps that could lead toward greater compatibility of effective and economically beneficial regulation and that could promote economic integration. The U.S. and EU have identified key sectors, including labeling, energy efficiency, and nanotechnology, where both sides will seek to develop compatible approaches to regulation. To go farther, the High Level Regulatory Cooperation Forum should be tasked to provide specific recommendations to the Spring 2010 meeting of the Transatlantic Economic Council aimed at achieving mutual recognition of compatible regulatory regimes in individual regulated sectors (toys, engines, automobiles, electrical products, etc.)... In addition, regulators and legislators on both sides of the Atlantic should focus on emerging areas of technology that will require regulation but where persistent disputes do not yet exist. Areas such as nanotechnology, e-health records, RFID, and green technologies may be easier to regulate cooperatively before differences emerge ...

Forging a Strategic U.S.-EU Partnership

December 1, 2009

Transatlantic Council - The Atlantic Council's Transatlantic Relations Program outlines a comprehensive plan for renewing U.S.-EU relations in Shoulder to Shoulder: Forging a Strategic U.S.-EU Partnership. The report is a follow-up to Alliance Reborn: An Atlantic Compact for the 21st Century, a report released by the Council in January of this year. It was produced jointly with the Center for European Policy Studies, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University SAIS, Fundacion Alternativas, the Prague Security Studies Institute, Real Instituto Elcano and the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The world that created the transatlantic partnership is fading fast. The United States and Europe must urgently reposition and recast their relationship as a more effective and strategic partnership. It is a moment of opportunity – to use or to lose.

With the Cold War over and new powers rising, some say the transatlantic partnership has had its day. We disagree. Our achievements may not always match our aspirations, but the common body of accumulated principles, norms, rules and procedures we have built and accumulated together – in essence, an acquis Atlantique – affirms basic expectations we have for ourselves and for each other.

In this new world of global connections, the transatlantic relationship is the thickest weave in the web. The deep integration of our democratic societies and economies is unparalleled and transcends neat “foreign” and “domestic” distinctions. We are literally in each other’s business.

North America’s relationship with Europe enables each of us to achieve goals together that neither can alone – for ourselves and for the world. When we agree, we are usually the core of any effective global coalition. When we disagree, no global coalition is likely to be very effective.

The transatlantic partnership, while indispensable, is also insufficient. Only by banding together with others are we likely to advance our values, protect our interests, and extend our influence.

Our partnership remains as vital as in the past. But now we must focus on a new agenda. Together, Europe and America must:

• surmount immediate economic challenges while positioning their economies for the future;
• build transatlantic resilience -- protect our societies, not just our territory;
• continue work toward a Europe whole, free, and at peace;
• address conflicts more effectively;
• redouble efforts to halt proliferation of agents of mass destruction;
• reinvigorate efforts to preserve a habitable planet.

Unfortunately, there is a growing mismatch between the nature of our challenges, the capacity of our institutions, and the tools at our disposal.

Strong bilateral relations between the U.S. and European countries are still essential. NATO remains vital to our security. We offer views on NATO’s future in a companion volume, Alliance Reborn. But we must also recast and reposition the U.S.-EU relationship. That is the subject of this report.

The U.S.-EU relationship is important but not strategic. Such a partnership is possible, but it is not the partnership we have today. Given the challenges we face, such a partnership is urgent. It will require a new type of politics, not simply new kinds of process. Our central challenge is to mobilize political leadership behind a set of ambitious goals, tied to pragmatic steps forward.

Click here for the Atlantic Council's Ten Initiatives.

The United States Mission to the European Union - The U.S. Mission to the European Union (USEU) organizes and is involved in numerous activities aimed at strengthening the transatlantic relationship, working out how common U.S.-EU interests can be furthered throughout the world, providing early warning of potential frictions, and resolving problems. Many of these events take place at expert or technical level and may not make newspaper headlines. But they are part of the varied web of ongoing U.S.-EU contacts that makes the economic and political partnership so rich, complex, and fruitful.

As a result of the global financial collapse, Iceland and Ireland were fast-tracked into the European Union. Are the countries of North America facing a similar fate via a "North American Union," or will the U.S. loose its sovereignty to a TransAtlantic Partnership with the EU?

Save the People of Iceland: the Official Petition

January 15, 2010

Infowars.com - Iceland may be the first Western democracy to be forced into South-American style debt-slavery. The IMF, in concert with the UK and the Netherlands, has attempted to strongarm the recently impoverished Island of 317,000 into paying over 3.6 billion pounds ($6.3bn) — $86,000 per Icelandic family — at 5.5% interest for the next generation. The money is not conventional government debt, but arises from the collapse of a private multi-national bank during the financial crisis.

The issue is so serious that the entire nation will vote on the issue towards the end of February 2010.

On December 30, 2009, after extraordinary diplomatic threats, Iceland’s parliament passed narrowly a bill agreeing to pay the onerous terms. Only a few months earlier parliament had agreed to the full amount, but under more reasonable conditions.

The people of Iceland must be internationally supported, so they can feel safe in voting down debt-slavery. If Iceland falls, it won’t be long before other countries suffer similar financial extortion.