EU in push to improve trans-Atlantic relations

Ambassadors to consider five broad policy areas for cooperation with President-elect Joe Biden. The EU representatives will begin discussions on Monday on how to improve trans-Atlantic relations after the departure of US President Donald Trump, officials said. https://www.eudebates.tv/ #eudebates #eudebate #USA #Biden #EUUS #USA

Member States ambassadors are due to consider five broad policy areas on which they see greater opportunities for cooperation with President-elect Joe Biden.

EU leaders are expected to debate transatlantic relations when they convene for a summit on 10-11 December. The areas where improvement is possible are health, notably fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, boosting the economic recovery, combating climate change, promoting peace and security and upholding shared values, including a belief in multilateral rules.

Council President Charles Michel has already invited Biden to an in-person summit in the first half of 2021, with a virtual summit perhaps soon after he takes office. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the US and the EU need to forge a new transatlantic alliance in areas such as climate change and the digital economy. She added that the EU was looking forward to the US re-joining the Paris agreement, which Biden has said he will do.

Many European leaders watched with shock as Trump pulled the US out of the Paris climate change agreement and the Iran nuclear deal, slapped tariffs on EU goods and spurned multilateral bodies that America has backed for decades.