EU and US discuss shared values during summit

José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council, and Barack Obama, President of the United States, have confirmed their ‘shared values’ in a joint statement following the EU-US Summit which took place in Brussels.

They emphasised their commitment to conclude a comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which they said would “strengthen an economic partnership that already accounts for nearly half of global output and supports three-quarters of a trillion euros in bilateral trade, and almost €3tr in investment, and 13 million jobs on both sides of the Atlantic”.

They said: “The United States and the EU continue to share the same goals spelled out in the February 2013 ‘Final Report of the High Level Working Group on Jobs and Growth’. These goals include expanding access to each other’s markets for goods, services, investment, and procurement; increasing regulatory compatibility whilst maintaining the high levels of health, safety, labour and environmental protection our citizens expect of us; and formulating joint approaches to rules that address global trade challenges of common concern. A high-standard TTIP agreement will make us more competitive globally, and boost economic and jobs growth, including for SMEs.”

On the issue of research, the leaders said: “We commit to expand co-operation in research, innovation and new emerging technologies, and protection of intellectual property rights as strong drivers for increased trade and future economic growth.”

Space was also a topic discussed at the summit. They said that collaboration in the space domain is a contributor to growth and global security, including on an International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. They said: “We will combine wherever possible our efforts, as we did in the Transatlantic Ocean Research Alliance and through the GPS/Galileo agreement. The Transatlantic Economic Council will continue its work to improve co-operation in emerging sectors, specifically e-mobility, e-health and new activities under the Innovation Action Partnership.”