EU-US Relations: New transatlantic partnership for global change in motion

In a letter sent to Manfred Weber – the chairman of the European People’s Party (EPP), the largest political organization in the EU Parliament, Council, and Commission – Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban officially announced that his political party, Fidesz, would resign from the center-right group.

Orban’s decision to pull Fidesz out of the faction came after the EPP, which has dominated EU politics for over 20 years, moved to enact a new rule change that would have paved the way for Fidesz to be suspended from its ranks.

Reas more at: New transatlantic partnership for global change in motion | New Europe

EU-US relations: This chart shows just how badly the U.S. coronavirus response has damaged America’s reputation in Europe

The European Council on Foreign Relations surveyed 10,000 Europeans in nine countries, which make up about two-thirds of the European Union, to get their opinions on how governments have responded to the COVID-19 outbreak that has infected 9.5 million and killed more than 484,000 and counting around the world.

And the report found what it called a“shocking” collapse of the image of the U.S. in the eyes of many Europeans. China suffered a drop in public opinion, as well.

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This chart shows just how badly the U.S. coronavirus response has damaged America’s reputation in Europe - MarketWatch

EU-US Relations: Europe is abandoning Trump on the world stage as it turns away from the US toward China

President Donald Trump is presiding over the deterioration of the US’s position on the world stage as European countries increasingly look toward China as a future global leader.

This shift is apparent in a series of recent opinion polls that found European sentiment toward the US to be in decline since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Recent polling suggests Europeans are turning away from the US under President Donald Trump’s leadership.

Public opinion toward America has declined in major European countries since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Seventy-six percent of Germans in a new poll said their view of America had deteriorated since the start of the crisis.

Roughly equal numbers of Germans in the poll favored maintaining close relationships with China and the US over the other.

One poll last week found that just 2% of French people trusted Trump to provide world leadership.

China is exerting growing political, diplomatic, and financial power across Europe.

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Europe is abandoning Trump on the world stage as it turns away from the US toward China:

US Meddling agsin in EU Government Affairs: US Senate approves Nord Stream 2 Russia-Germany pipeline sanctions

 A US political action against an Independent EU State which has feathers ruffled in the EU.

Read full report at:
US Senate approves Nord Stream 2 Russia-Germany pipeline sanctions | News | DW | 17.12.2019

EU-US Relations: Huge trade tariffs on Europe could come soon if US wins WTO fight - by David Reid

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has found that both European planemaker Airbus (AIR.PA) and its U.S. rival Boeing (BA.N) received billions of dollars of illegal subsidies in a pair of cases that have run for 15 years.

Both sides have threatened tariffs after the Geneva body found neither adhered fully to its findings. However, the United States has a head start, with the European Union having to wait until early in 2020 to hear what level of retaliation it can exact over Boeing.

The WTO is expected this week to reveal the amount of EU goods the United States can target. People familiar with the case say the three-person tribunal is expected to award it around $7.5 billion, a record for the 24-year-old watchdog.

Such retaliation rights are rarely granted by the WTO - most parties reach settlements - and in many cases complainants do not exercise their rights. The United States though has indicated it will target EU goods to the fullest extent.

It has already published a $25 billion list from which it will pick items to target from aircraft and aerospace parts to wine, cheese and luxury goods.

The WTO award in the world’s largest corporate trade dispute could fuel already strained trade tensions, diplomats say.

Read more at: Huge trade tariffs on Europe could come next week if US wins WTO fight

EU-US relations : US's Pompeo says current US-EU trade deal is not fair

Pompeo says current US-Europe trade deal is 'not fair'

Read more at: 

https://www.euronews.com/2019/06/03/pompeo-says-current-us-europe-trade-deal-is-not-fair

EU-US Relations: Europeans fear Trump may threaten not just the transatlantic bond, but the state of their union - by Dan Balz and Griff Witte

As President Trump prepares to deliver his second State of the Union address, the leaders of the United States’ closest allies in Europe are filled with anxiety
.

They are unsure of whom to talk to in Washington. They can’t tell whether Trump considers them friends or foes. They dig through his Twitter feed for indications of whether the president intends to wreck the European Union and NATO or merely hobble the continent’s core institutions.

Officials say Trump, by design or indifference, has already badly weakened the foundation of the transatlantic relationship that American presidents have nurtured for seven decades. As Sigmar Gabriel, a former German foreign minister, put it: “He has done damage that the Soviets would have dreamt of.” 

European leaders worry that the next two years could bring even more instability, as Trump feels emboldened, and they are filled with fear at the prospect that Trump could be reelected. The situation has left the continent facing a strategic paradox no one has managed to crack.

“We can’t live with Trump,” Gabriel said. “And we can’t live without the United States.”

In more than two dozen interviews in London, Paris and Berlin — the three European capitals at the heart of the Western alliance — government officials, former officials and independent analysts described a partnership with Washington that, while still working smoothly at some levels, has become deeply dysfunctional at others.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron have tried different strategies, but all have struggled to develop consistent and reliable relationships with Trump. Lacking a better alternative, the dominant European approach has been to wait him out and hope the damage can be contained.

In all three capitals, there is talk about somehow trying to go it alone, if necessary — to chart Europe’s course. Merkel stated it as bluntly as anyone when she said in a Munich beer hall that Europe must “take our destiny into our own hands.”

That was two years ago this spring, and since then, Europe has taken only cautious steps in that direction — proposals for a European army being one example. Despite modest increases in European defense spending, the United States continues to account for over two-thirds of military spending among NATO members. Europe struggles to keep big, multilateral initiatives alive without American support. 

European officials continue to work as hard as ever to preserve relationships with the president and the administration, despite fears and frustrations.

“We manage,” said a senior European politician, who like others in government spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss a sensitive relationship. “Governing by tweets is not the same as governing by diplomatic engagement. It’s a different process. But it’s something we accept and adapt to. I don’t think that our surprise on a daily basis is any greater than that of his own administration.” 

Others, often those who are no longer in government, express a less sanguine view. They see a president ticking through his campaign promises and notice uncomfortably that Europe is on the wrong end of many of them. 

Littered among the wreckage, as seen by the Europeans: an all-but-ruined Iran nuclear deal, tit-for-tat tariffs, a global climate accord that is missing the world’s largest economy, a possible arms race triggered by the cancellation of a key nuclear treaty, and a unilateral retreat from Syria without even a courtesy call to allies that work alongside U.S. forces. 

More than any one issue, however, there is the sense that Trump and Europe are fundamentally at odds.

Note EU-Digest: Hopefully the EU will be able to defend itself over the coming two years or less against this loud-mouth, uncouth ego-maniac, spoiled bully, before he is either locked-up, or impeached. 

Read more: Europeans fear Trump may threaten not just the transatlantic bond, but the state of their union - The Washington Post

EU-US Relations - Tariffs: Trump rejects EU offer to scrap car tariffs – by Maxime Schlee

This is what "the US Consigliere" thinks about the EU

U.S. President Donald Trump said the EU’s offer to scrap tariffs on cars is “not good enough” because European consumers’ “habits are to buy their cars, not to buy our cars.”

In an interview with Bloomberg published Friday, Trump also said the EU “is almost as bad as China, just smaller.”

On Thursday, EU trade chief Cecilia Malmström told European Parliament’s trade committee that Brussels is willing to scrap tariffs on all industrial products, including cars, in its trade talks with the United States.

“We are willing to bring down even our car tariffs down to zero … if the U.S. does the same,” she said, adding that “it would be good for us economically, and for them.”

Trump also took aim at the World Trade Organization, telling Bloomberg: “If they don’t shape up, I would withdraw from the WTO,” adding that the agreement establishing the body is “the single worst trade deal ever made.”

The U.S. president said his country has “rarely won a lawsuit” in the WTO, “except for last year.”

Read more: Trump rejects EU offer to scrap car tariffs – POLITICO

EU-US Relations: EU President Donald Tusk warns EU leaders to ″prepare for the worst″ in EU-US relations

European Council President Donald Tusk warned European Union leaders that they should "prepare for the worst" in EU-US relations in a letter to EU leaders who will be gathering in Brussels for a summit on Thursday and Friday.

He laid out the agenda for discussions at the important meeting, with migration topping the list.

Transatlantic relations

Writing on the issue of transatlantic relations, Tusk said the EU must be prepared for "worst-case scenarios" as US President Donald Trump's policies have been increasingly at loggerheads with the bloc's values.

"It is my belief that, while hoping for the best, we must be ready to prepare our union for worst-case scenarios," Tusk wrote. "Despite our tireless efforts to keep the unity of the West, transatlantic relations are under immense pressure due to the policies of President Trump."

Trump has decided to withdraw his country from the Paris climate deal and the Iran nuclear deal, despite repeated pleas by the EU to stick with them.

One EU official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told DPA news agency that such "negative" decisions were starting to "look like a pattern" where the US has "no friends, no enemies" and where preserving the international rules-based structure was not a focus.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will share his views on EU-NATO cooperation at the meeting.

Read more: Donald Tusk warns EU leaders to ″prepare for the worst″ in EU-US relations | News | DW | 27.06.2018

EU-US Relations: Pentagon’s colossal works in Italy are funded by us in Europe - by Manlio Dinucci

Colossal works are emerging on our territory both in Northern Italy and Southern Italy. Are we talking about those for which the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is responsible? Works that has every tongue wagging? Not at all! We’re talking about those thought up by the Pentagon that no one mentions. And yet most of these works are funded with our money and bring with them growing risks for us Italians:

- At Ghedi’s military airport (Brescia): the plan kicks off to spend more than 60 million euro (of Italy’s money), on building the infrastructure for 30 F-35s (US fighter planes), purchased by Italy and for 60 B61-12 (US nuclear bombs).

- At the Aviano base (Pordenone): around 5,000 US soldiers are stationed here with the F-16 fighters armed with nuclear bombs (seven of which are currently in Israel for the 2017 Blue Flag drill). Other costly works have been carried out at Italy’s and Nato’s expense.

- At Vicenza: 8 million euro has been picked from Italy’s pocket, to “revamp” the Ederle and Del Din barracks. Both these barracks are home to the US Army headquarters in Italy and the 173a air borne Brigade (now deployed in Eastern Europe, Afghanistan and Africa), and to extend the “Village of Peace” where US soldiers live with their families.

- At Camp Darby (a US base located in Pisa/Livorno): the construction of a railway infrastructure is beginning in December. The cost of this: 45 million dollars, an expense allocated to the US plus other expenses, allocated to Italy. This infrastructure will enable linking up this base to the Livorno Port and Pisa Airport. This work entails demolishing 1,000 trees in the natural park. Camp Darby is one of the five sites that the US Army has around the world for “stocks stationed in advance” of weapons. The camp contains millions of missiles and projectiles, thousands of tanks and armoured vehicles. From here they are sent to the US Forces in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with large militarized ships and cargo airplanes.

- At Lake Patria (Naples): Nato’s new headquarters, costed at around 200 million euro of which around a quarter is borne by Italy, entails yet more expenditure on Italy’s part. For example, 10 million euro for the new road access close to the Nato Headquarters.

- At the Amendola base (Foggia): works have been carried out for an un-quantified cost, to render the runways suitable for the F-35s and the US Predator drones that Italy has bought.

- At the Sigonella Naval Air Station, in Sicily: works have been carried out for more than 100 million dollars. These expenses will be borne directly by the United States and NATO and therefore indirectly by Italy as well (following on from its membership of NATO). In addition to providing logistical support to the Sixth Fleet, the base is the launching pad for operations in the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe, with airplanes and drones of all types and special forces. As well as this function, it will perform another one: the advanced base of the US “anti-missile shield”, not for defence but for offense, especially against Russia: should it be able to intercept the missiles, the US could probably launch a first nuclear strike neutralizing a reprisal.

- At Sigonella: the Jtags is on the verge of being installed. This is a station for satellite reception and transmission from the “shield”. Yet it is no coincidence that with the launch of the fifth satellite, Muos is on the verge of becoming fully operational. Muos is the US satellite system which has one of its four land stations in the vicinity of Niscemi.

On 7 June 2017, General James Dickson, Head of the US Strategic Command, in a Congressional Hearing declared:
“This year we have secured support from the Italian government to deploy once again, in Europe, the Jtags at the Sigonella Naval Air Station”.

Was the Italian Parliament in the loop of a decision of such strategic significance, that upgrades our country to the front line of an increasingly dangerous nuclear confrontation? Was it at least discussed in the Defence Committees?

Read more: From the Votaire Network

EU-US Relations: Donald Trump's America First backlash: How Europe could be the unexpected beneficiary of America’s fall from global grace

US president Donald Trump has promised to put America first. His protectionist stance on trade, his implicit threats to pull military protection from countries that do not contribute sufficiently to NATO, and his decision to pull the US out of the Paris agreement on climate change are all designed to rebalance what Trump sees as a drain on American resources. But the net result may be to put America last, as allies in every part of the world seek out new relationships to shore up an international system on which they depend.

As the US loses influence, however, other countries will find opportunity. While Russia and China have aggressively courted influence, Europe, too, could be a beneficiary of America’s fall from global grace—if it plays its cards right.

Washington’s dirty secret is that America’s lead over the rest of the world—economic, military and political—has been in steep decline for decades. After World War II, the US constituted half of the global economy. Today, that share is closer to 25%, according to an analysis of the IMF’s World Economic Outlook Database. Meanwhile, challenger nations such as China have gone from having a GDP equal to less than one-fifth of the US economy in 1990 to exceeding it today (at least if GDP is adjusted for differences in purchasing power).

The miracle of American foreign policy has been the ability of successive administrations to maintain influence in the face of their country’s relative decline. US governments have attempted to ensure that every region of the world maintains a balance of power that ultimately favors American interests. This means that Washington could afford to lose weight in relative terms so long as smaller players in each region allied with America against the rising regional power—whether that regional power was China, Russia, or Iran.

The secret sauce of this strategy was the way Washington allowed its allies to share in the benefits of American hegemony. Europeans, for example, were allowed to benefit from US military spending and the security is provided without having to come up with equivalent spending on their own. Today, however, under the slogan “America First,” Trump is ripping up that playbook—and the net result could be that many American allies are forced to develop relations with regional challengers to hedge against their abandonment by Washington.

As a result, the US might well end up poorer, less influential, and less secure. The risk is not so much that the US incurs losses in individual diplomatic conflicts or isolated trade disputes. However, if America’s allies are forced into new alliances with America’s foes, the new system that emerges will be less conducive to America’s interests.

Trump’s proposals on trade policy and his Republicans tax plan has set the US on a collision course. Were Trump to implement a tariff on cars produced in Mexico, it would not only attract the wrath of Mexico—the German government could also be forced to act, given its car producers’ reliance on plants in Mexico.

Congressman Paul Ryan’s plan for a corporate tax with border tax adjustment would have effectively put a tariff on imports into the US from everywhere in the world, and would have created the equivalent of an export subsidy for everything produced in the US.

Read more: Donald Trump's America First backlash: How Europe could be the unexpected beneficiary of America’s fall from global grace — Quartz

European Union - EU boss threatens to break up US in retaliation for Trump Brexit support - by Nick Gutteridge

In an extraordinary speech the EU Commission president said he would push for California, or Ohio and Texas to split from the rest of America if US President Donald Trump does not change his tune and become more supportive of the EU.

The remarks are diplomatic dynamite at a time when relations between Washington and Brussels are already strained over Europe’s meagre contributions to NATO and the US leader’s open preference for dealing with national governments.

A spokesman for the bloc later said that the remarks were not meant to be taken literally, but also tellingly did not try to pass them off as humorous and insisted the EU chief was making a serious comparison.

They are by far the most outspoken intervention any senior EU figure has made about Mr Trump and are likely to dismay some European leaders who were hoping to seek a policy of rapprochement with their most important ally.

Speaking at the centre-right European People Party’s (EPP) annual conference in Malta yesterday afternoon, the EU Commission boss did not hold back in his disdain for the White House chief’s eurosceptic views.

He said: “Brexit isn’t the end. A lot of people would like it that way, even people on another continent where the newly elected US President was happy that the Brexit was taking place and has asked other countries to do the same.

“If he goes on like that I am going to promote the independence of California, Ohio and Austin, Texas in the US.”

Mr Juncker's comments did not appear to be made in jest and were delivered in a serious tone, although one journalist did report some "chuckles" in the audience and hinted the EU boss may have been joking. The remarks came in the middle of an angry speech in which the top eurocrat railed widely against critics of the EU Commission.

And reacting to the furore which followed them, EU Commission deputy chief spokesman Alexander Winterstein explained: "You will have seen that this is not the first time the President draws this analogy and I think he’s making a point that is as simple as it is valid.

"He does not suggest that certain states should secede from the United States and at the same time I think he considers it also not terribly appropriate for other heads of states to suggest that member states of the EU leave the EU. So I think that’s the comparison that he’s drawing."

Read more:  more: European Union - EU boss threatens to break up US in retaliation for Trump Brexit support | Politics | News | Express.co.u

European Parliament votes to end visa-free travel for Americans - by Jon Sharman

The European Parliament has voted to end visa-free travel for Americans within the EU.

It comes after the US failed to agree visa-free travel for citizens of five EU countries – Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania – as part of a reciprocity agreement. US citizens can normally travel to all countries in the bloc without a visa.

The vote urges the revocation of the scheme within two months, meaning Americans will have to apply for extra documents for 12 months after the European Commission implements a “delegated act” to bring the change into effect.

The Commission discovered three years ago that the US was not meeting its obligations under the reciprocity agreement but has not yet taken any legal action. The latest vote, prepared by the civil liberties committee and approved by a plenary session of parliament, gives the Commission two months to act before MEPs can consider action in the European Court of Justice.


Australia, Brunei, Japan and Canada were also failing in their obligations, but all four have lifted, or are soon to lift, any visa restrictions on travel for EU citizens

The Commission is legally obliged to act to suspend the visa waiver for Americans, but the European Parliament or the Council of the European Union have the chance to object to the “delegated act” it uses to do so.In December, MEPs pressed for the move in order to “encourage” Washington to play its part, according to a statement by the parliament.

But Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos warned of “consequences”, including potential “retaliation” and a drop in visitor numbers precipitating substantial losses for the continent’s tourism industry.

In December, MEPs pressed for the move in order to “encourage” Washington to play its part, according to a statement by the parliament.But Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos warned of “consequences”, including potential “retaliation” and a drop in visitor numbers precipitating substantial losses for the continent’s tourism industry.

But Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos warned of “consequences”, including potential “retaliation” and a drop in visitor numbers precipitating substantial losses for the continent’s tourism industry.

Just days ago the Council said it would liberalise the visa regime for citizens of Georgia travelling into the EU.

Georgians can now, subject to final approval of the regulation, stay in any EU  country for 90 days in any period of 180 days without needing a visa.

Carmelo Abela, Malta’s minister for national security, said: “This agreement will bring the people of Georgia and the EU closer together and will strengthen tourism and business ties. It follows the completion of the necessary reforms by Georgia, addressing document security, border management, migration and asylum.”

Last month it was reported that the EU was considering the adoption of a US-style electronic travel permit scheme – a move that could create a new administrative hurdle for British tourists after Brexit.

Read more: European Parliament votes to end visa-free travel for Americans | The Independent

EU tells Trump to mind his own business

The European Union has urged the United States to respect the principle of “non-interference” in each other’s affairs.

“We do not interfere in US politics […] And Europeans expect that America does not interfere in European politics,” Federica Mogherini, the EU’s top diplomat, told reporters in Washington on Friday.

She later repeated her remarks at the Atlantic Council, a think tank that promotes strong transatlantic ties.

The two-day trip was Mogherini’s first visit to the US capital since Donald Trump became president three weeks ago.

Her remarks followed comments by Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, Trump’s frontrunner to become ambassador to the EU, that the bloc is anti-American and that he would prefer for the US to trade bilaterally with European countries.

Malloch echoed statements by Trump in the past who had repeatedly praised Brexit and efforts by populists in other EU countries to leave the European Union.

Mogherini said the new administration had not decided on a new US ambassador to the EU yet.

While in Washington, Mogherini had talks with senior members of the Trump administration, including Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

“We had very good meetings about common interests and common priorities”, the former Italian Foreign Minister said. “I have the impression that policies in Washington at this moment are still in the making.”

Mogherini underlined the intention of both sides to work together closely, but she also acknowledged disagreements on topics like multilateralism, free trade and “maybe some human rights issues”.

Mogherini also said she was reassured in her talks with the Trump administration that the US was committed to the full implementation of the Iran nuclear deal.

“I heard the intention to make sure that the deal will be a hundred percent implemented”, she said.

Read more: EU tells Trump to mind his own business | Euronews

EU And US: A Relationship Of Concern (a conservative viewpoint)- by George Handlery

Much to their detriment, Americans like to ignore the world. Accordingly, they do not appreciate reminders that, like it or not, the rest of the world is out there. Worse, some of its “leading leaders” have rabies and “bite”. Aware of the provocation, Duly Noted has often indulged in its own version of “globalism”. In doing so, the European Union had received much attention.

If by your unearned luck you are an American reader, you wonder why the EU should be of concern to you. The evolvement of the Union will determine the quality of that entity and thereby its worth as a major ally. A federation might emerge that will, in a future crisis, be “neutral against the USA”. If some of this is true, the way Europe’s content will develop is of geopolitical significance.

Be reminded that Europe is a major world player. However, by its choice, it punches well under its weight class. With 500 million inhabitants and members rated as leading economies and with three of them listed among the great powers –England, France and Germany- Europe matters. It also counts as it had generated the forces that made the modern world. The Renaissance, the Reformation, the Industrial Revolution, modern science, from rocketry to cybernetics is, besides some key components of democracy, Europe’s contribution to the present. At the same time, two world wars and some of destructive systems of mass murder - Fascism, National Socialism and Communism- are also European products. 

Viewed globally, Europe’s achievements - rounded out by the contribution of her overseas extensions- have made it a culture of reference. However, the caveats of that evaluation counsel to caution.

By the 20th century, the highs achieved in the arts, science, medicine, economics, have been unmatched by the Continent’s political performance. Staging the world wars expresses that. Europe’s efforts to protect past achievements and to project these into the future have been less than satisfactory. This holds especially true in the post WW2 period when the independence of Western Europe had to be maintained –even after the post-war recovery- by an extra-European power.

Europe’s weakness is caused by an amalgam. Its components are failing vision, misjudged threats, unfounded assumptions about security, and an unwillingness to sacrifice to protect values declared non-negotiable.

An adjunct is to be added. Politicians are inclined to underrate threats, so they promise to voters that should know better that there are no enemies, and that the proclaimed intentions of these are not meant seriously. The notion of “security for free” is a drug. Its lulling consumption is difficult to cut when illusions dissipate and resistance is called for.

Disturbing trends emerge once the Union’s development is examined. To begin: the analogy of the United States of America and the United States of Europe is misleading. America’s union project –even if there might have been an emerging Southern nation- has not encountered functioning, historical and conscious national entities. The Civil War has determined that America would not continue to develop as a confederation. Given “federalism’s” practice, the components of an expanding USA could live with that result.

East or West, Europe is peacefully and consensually not unifiable the way “United” in “United States” suggests. To create a unitary state here, one needs to weld together what does not wish to fit together. Europe’s states are not administrative conveniences but the products of diverging traditions and languages. Since Europe is an entity without a matching people, any plan to unite it administratively while also upholding liberty and identities, implies a commitment to contradictory concepts. This testifies to ignorance, to the pursuit of a hidden agenda –or both.

Read more: EU And US: A Relationship Of Concern | The Brussels Journal