From andereu@knoware.nl Tue May 19 07:44:38 1998 Received: from alsace.ph.ed.ac.uk by adelphi.physics.adelaide.edu.au (5.65/AndrewR-930902) id AA05731; Tue, 19 May 1998 07:44:29 +0930 Received: from envy.ph.ed.ac.uk (envy.ph.ed.ac.uk [129.215.72.168]) by alsace.ph.ed.ac.uk (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id XAA27309 for ; Mon, 18 May 1998 23:25:24 +0100 Received: from mail.knoware.nl (mail.knoware.nl [193.78.120.8]) by envy.ph.ed.ac.uk (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id XAA25746 for ; Mon, 18 May 1998 23:14:05 +0100 Received: from utopia.knoware.nl (utopia.knoware.nl [193.78.120.18]) by mail.knoware.nl (8.8.8/8.8.8) with SMTP id AAA14123; Tue, 19 May 1998 00:08:41 +0200 (CEST) Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 00:08:41 +0200 (MET DST) From: Coalition for a Different Europe Subject: Unaccountable Trade Deal Struck at EU-US Summit; New Transatlanitc Marketplace Rebaptized as New Transatlantic Economic Partnership Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Apparently-To: Status: RO At today's EU-US Summit Tony Blair (UK), Bill Clinton (US) and Jacques Santer (EU) approved the New Transatlantic Economic Partnership. Although the precise contents of this initiative are unclear, Clinton stated at a press conference this afternoon (see below) that it aims at dismantling "trade barriers, both bilateral and multilateral trade barriers, in areas such as manufacturing, services and agriculture, about a dozen in all, while maintaining the highest standards of labour and environment." With the New Transatlantic Economic Partnership, the EU and US try to push through an only slightly reworked version of Sir Leon Brittan's much contested New Transatlantic Marketplace, which was clearly rejected by France, which demanded that agriculture and audiovisual arts should be left out of any trade liberalisation talks between the EU and the US. It is completely unclear on whose behalf the EU Commission is striking this kind of far-reaching deals. Both national parliaments and the European Parliament should take their responsibility and put a halt to this kind of a-democratic decision making. In Ireland and Denmark, where referenda on the Amsterdam Treaty are due in the next weeks, citizens have a possibility to sound a clear NO to this hollowing out of democracy. !!!PUT A HALT TO UNACCOUNTABLE INTERNATIONAL TRADE POLICIES!!! !!!VOTE NO TO THE AMSTERDAM TREATY!!! Erik Wesselius Corporate Europe Observatory Below you find the following news items: - EU revives U.S. trade initiative (Reuters newswire, 11-05-98) - Transatlantic trade deal is on the critical list days before key summit (European Voice, 14-19 May 1998) - U.S., EU to work to scrap trade barriers (Reuters newswire) - U.S., EU strike deal on trade sanctions (Reuters newswire, 18-05-98 - Deal averting sanctions aids EU-U.S. ties (Reuters newswire, 18-05-98) - Extract from press conference by the Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, President Clinton and President Santer, Foreign Office, London, 18-05-98 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. ** -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- EU revives U.S. trade initiative 05:24 p.m May 11, 1998 Eastern By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) - A new European Union-U.S. trade initiative could still be launched at a London summit next week even though an ambitious plan to liberalize transatlantic trade was blocked by France, EU and U.S. officials said on Monday. Two weeks after European Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan's plan for a ``New Transatlantic Marketplace'' was effectively shelved in the face of outright French opposition, a new initiative is being floated, called the ``Transatlantic Economic Partnership,'' the officials said. EU foreign ministers last month authorized Britain, currently EU president, and the European Commission to work on new proposals, which the Commission hopes to launch at next Monday's London summit between President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, representing the EU. An EU source said the proposal was still being worked on, but said it should ``take account of all member states' sensitivities and boost the transatlantic relationship.'' The details were unclear although EU diplomats said it was less ambitious than Brittan's original proposal which called for talks with the United States on removing technical barriers to trade in goods and a free-trade area in services. French President Jacques Chirac blasted that plan, accusing Brittan last month of being the ``recidivist'' author of an ``indecent'' and ``absurd'' proposal. France threatened to veto Brittan's original proposal, which it believed was at odds with global trade liberalization efforts. Paris also feared the plan could undermine its film industry and force the EU into concessions on farm trade. The French newspaper Le Figaro said on Saturday that the EU's British presidency aimed to revive the New Transatlantic Marketplace proposal in only slightly changed form. EU sources stressed that any new proposal would have to be accepted by EU member states. Brittan said after France blocked his initial proposal that many of his ideas would live on, even if under another name. The new proposal does not include the free-trade area for services and drops the idea of a disputes settlement procedure between the two trading partners, the EU diplomat said. U.S. officials said on Monday that there were areas they felt could be usefully negotiated with the EU, including regulatory issues. Different regulatory procedures in biotechnology and food safety have been at the root of a number of trade disputes between the EU and the United States recently. ``We're still working on what could be salable to (EU) member states and acceptable to the United States,'' one U.S. official said. ``We are trying to focus on areas where we have some common agreement, for example regulatory procedures.'' ``There are things that could be done in services, both on market access and the regulatory side,'' the official said, adding that, in the U.S. view, it might be helpful to have a tariff reduction component in any new initiative. Source: Reuters Newswires -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Transatlantic trade deal is on the critical list days before key summit By Mark Turner EUROPEAN proposals to slash technical barriers to trade with the US and tighten rules governing public contracts and protecting industrial designs are on a knife-edge just days before the EU-US summit in London. It is already clear that one of the most ambitious elements of the European Commission's proposal for a New Transatlantic Marketplace (NTM), free EU-US trade in services, will disappear in the face of French opposition. But following a three-hour video conference yesterday (13 May) between the two blocs, it was far from certain whether Washington and Brussels could agree on strong commitments to further liberalise trade within the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation, and whether they could settle their differences over how to tackle farming standards. The new draft agreement, already dubbed the New Transatlantic Economic Partnership (NTEP), is also likely to shy away from setting controversial rules on investment in the wake of the French-instigated collapse of talks aimed at signing a Multilateral Agreement on Investment. Moreover, negotiators are still struggling to defuse the long-running transatlantic battle over the US Helms-Burton law, which bans European companies from investing in nationalised Cuban property. However, British officials preparing for the summit still hoped to clinch agreement on both issues in time for the meeting between their Prime Minister Tony Blair, who holds the rotating presidency of the EU, and US President Bill Clinton. As European Voice went to press, the shape of the trade pact was "changing every hour", according to one diplomat, and the Helms-Burton talks were hanging in the balance as the EU fought to win a permanent waiver from American extra-territorial legislation. EU ambassadors meeting this week gave their tentative support to the NTEP trade pact, but France was adamant that it should be strictly defined and avoid giving the Commission a 'blank cheque'. French officials stressed that the conclusions of the recent meeting of EU foreign ministers which killed off the NTM should be adhered to. "The summit conclusions should respect the spirit and the letter of what was agreed last month," said a Quai d'Orsay official. "If certain people try to use this to push through a disguised NTM, that would not be on." US diplomats were hopeful that a deal could be struck, but stressed their long-held view that it would have to include trade in farm goods and audiovisual products - areas which Paris is reluctant to include in the talks. "We are certainly interested in a deal with substance, but we do not want a 'motherhood and apple pie' commitment to free trade," said a US official. "It would be difficult to see how it could avoid agriculture, in terms of regulations rather than tariffs and subsidies. We are also looking for a balance between bilateral and multilateral commitments." Although NTEP is less ambitious than Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan's grand NTM dreams, it would still answer a number of demands from industry on both sides of the Atlantic. "We see four priorities for transatlantic trade talks, in the following order: to improve regulatory cooperation, to align laws on investment, intellectual property and public procurement, to liberalise trade in services, and to reduce industrial tariffs," said Dirk Hudig, secretary-general of European employers' federation UNICE. "Trade in services is very important to us, as it accounts for an large part of economic growth." Hudig stressed that employers throughout the EU, including France, strongly supported a high-level push to reduce trade barriers. In a report published this week, the Transatlantic Policy Network, a leading think-tank, said recent mergers between auto giants Daimler-Benz and Chrysler, publishers Bertelsmann and Random House, and airline alliances showed more than ever the need for common ground-rules between the world's two top trading powers. Sopurce: European Voice, 14-19 May 1998 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- FOCUS-U.S., EU to work to scrap trade barriers 12:22 p.m. May 18, 1998 Eastern By Jennifer Scott LONDON, May 18 (Reuters) - The United States and the European Union strengthened their ties on Monday with a sweeping plan to dismantle trade barriers in more than a dozen sectors ranging from tourism to telephones. The initiative, launched after an EU-U.S. summit in London, aims to build on the $600 billion in annual transatlantic two-way trade in goods and services. The deal, dubbed the ``Transatlantic Economic Partnership,'' will cover areas such as manufacturing, agriculture, services, electronic commerce and competition. ``First we will work to dismantle trade barriers, both bilateral and multilateral...in about a dozen (areas) in all,'' U.S. President Bill Clinton said at a news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and European Commission President Jacques Santer. U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said the deal would open up significant new opportunities for U.S. companies in the markets of the 15-member EU. ``This initiative gives us the opportunity to accelerate our export growth substantially,'' she said. ``It will contribute directly to more affordable goods, services, job creation and economic growth for both Europeans and Americans.'' The partnership will be based on a three-pronged market-opening approach -- getting greater market access for goods, services and agricultural products, delivering results on longer-term U.S.-EU trade issues and encouraging broad participation among business, labour, consumers and environmental interests. Trade between the EU and the United States supports some six million jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. Combined investment in the two regions exceeded $700 billion in 1996, with around half of U.S. foreign direct investment abroad going to the EU. Among other things, the initiative aims to reduce the red tape in services such as telecommunications, insurance, tourism and distribution. It will also reduce regulatory barriers, work to keep global electronic commerce a duty-free area, advance core labour standards and develop a common approach to trade-related environmental areas. On the thorny issue of intellectual property rights (IPR), the United States and the EU agreed to work together to improve IPR protections around the world. The Partnership aims to get concrete results by the year 2000, and to create a framework for continuing co-operation and negotiations in the longer term. Before he left London for Geneva to address the World Trade Organisation meeting, Clinton said: ``I will argue that the WTO ought to embrace the kind of things we and the EU have agreed to do here.'' World leaders and trade ministers are gathering for three days on Geneva to try to agree on how to push ahead to realise a vision of global free trade in goods and services sometime in the 21st century. Source: Reuters Newswires -------------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S., EU strike deal on trade sanctions 08:59 a.m. May 18, 1998 Eastern LONDON (Reuters) - The United States, Britain and the European Union Monday said they had reached agreement to avoid a showdown over U.S. sanctions on EU, Russian and Malaysian firms involved in a disputed $2 billion gas deal with Iran. The companies involved are Total of France, Russia's Gazprom and Petronas of Malaysia. British Prime Minister Tony Blair told a news conference: ``What we have established today is at least a basis for a lasting solution to these problems. ``We have avoided a showdown over sanctions, with which we don't agree, and we have done it in a way that at least provides the chance of a solution to the problem in future.'' Speaking after a United States-European Union summit with President Clinton and EU Commission President Jacques Santer, Blair said: ``So there is still more work to do, but it is a real step forward.'' He added that the leaders had also launched a new bilateral trade initiative, the ``Transatlantic Economic Partnership,'' and agreed to work to promote multilateral trade liberalization. Clinton the European Union had agreed to deter investment in illegally expropriated property in Cuba, enabling him to waive U.S. sanctions against European firms. ``Our governments will deny all forms of commercial assistance for these transactions, including loans, grants, subsidies, fiscal advantages, guarantees and political risk insurance,'' Clinton told the news conference. Clinton said the EU and the United States would work together to dismantle trade barriers in around a dozen sectors, including manufacturing and agriculture. ``The waivers we have granted today are part of our overall strategy to deter Iran from acquiring weapons of mass destruction and promoting terrorism,'' Clinton said. Santer said further steps needed to be taken before the deal could be completed and implemented. Source: Reuters Newswires -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday May 18 3:47 PM EDT Deal averting sanctions aids EU-U.S. ties By Rosemary Bennett LONDON (Reuters) - The United States and European Union removed a major irritant to transatlantic ties Monday by clinching a deal to head off U.S. sanctions over trade with Iran, Libya and Cuba. President Clinton said he had waived the threat of penalties after the EU agreed to new efforts to prevent Iran developing weapons of mass destruction and deter investment in expropriated property in Cuba. In a related agreement, the United States and the EU launched a sweeping initiative to lower trade barriers in a dozen sectors ranging from tourism to telephones. U.S. officials said the "Transatlantic Economic Partnership" would benefit U.S. exporters by boosting two-way trade already worth $600 billion a year. Speaking at a news conference following an EU-U.S. summit in London, Clinton said the agreements marked an important new stage in the transatlantic partnership. "This has been a running sore in EU-U.S. relations and it is in the common good that we have been able to lance the boil," EU External Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan said. The immediate threat of sanctions had been hanging over Total SA of France, Russia's Gazprom and Petronas Dagang Bhd of Malaysia, which signed a $2 billion contract last year to develop Iran's South Pars gas field. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said in a statement the United States was not granting a country-wide waiver to ILSA. But, if EU states continued to cooperate against terrorism, she would expect exemptions to be granted for future deals by EU companies investing in the lucrative Iranian energy sector. Asked whether projects currently under discussion by two other oil companies, British Petroleum Plc and Shell would be in line for a waiver, Brittan said: "Fairly and squarely, yes." Washington accuses Iran of sponsoring international terrorism, trying to sabotage the Middle East peace process and seeking weapons of mass destruction. The Iran Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA), passed by a Republican-dominated Congress in 1996, requires the president to impose penalties on firms that invest more than $20 million a year in the oil and gas sector of those two countries. Clinton said the commitments given by the EU, together with similar undertakings by Russia to halt the spread of sensitive technology, would help to meet the aims Congress laid down in ILSA. European Commission President Jacques Santer said more work needed to be done to complete the agreement, but British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Washington and Brussels now had the basis for a lasting solution. "We have avoided a showdown over sanctions, with which we don't agree, and we have done it in a way that at least provides the chance of a solution to the problem in future," Blair said. Clinton said that under the agreement, the 15 members of the EU would work toward ratification of 11 counter-terrorism conventions. "The waivers we have granted today are part of our overall strategy to deter Iran from acquiring weapons of mass destruction and promoting terrorism," Clinton said. Analysts said the breakthrough could open the door to a flood of investment by Western oil firms in Iran, which has the world's second largest gas reserves and is its third-largest oil exporter. "It is a significant development, although a lot could hinge on how broadly the decision is drafted," said John Mitchel, chairman of the energy program at London's Royal Institute of International Affairs. Monday's deal also removes the threat of sanctions under the Helms-Burton act, which allows penalties on foreign firms that invest in Cuban property seized by the state after the 1959 communist revolution. Clinton said the measures the EU had agreed to take to deter investment in illegally expropriated property worldwide would be more effective in protecting the property rights of American citizens than unilateral U.S. legislation. To implement the EU pact, the White House will ask Congress "on an expedited basis" for an amendment to the Helms-Burton law repealing provisions banning foreign executives who deal with expropriated property from traveling to the United States, a U.S. official said. He said the administration had received favorable feedback so far from members of Congress. Another said that Senator Jesse Helms, the co-author of the law, had been encouraged by the administration's efforts but cautioned: "We can't say what he will say." The EU argues that "extraterritorial" laws like Helms-Burton and ILSA that seek to bind other countries break international law. "The deal today means European companies and businessmen can conduct their business without the threat of U.S. sanctions hanging over their heads," Santer said. Source: Reuters Newswires -------------------------------------------------------------------------- EXTRACT FROM PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE PRIME MINISTER, MR TONY BLAIR, PRESIDENT CLINTON AND PRESIDENT SANTER, FOREIGN OFFICE, LONDON, MONDAY 18 MAY 1998 EU/US SUMMIT US SANCTIONS LAWS PRIME MINISTER: Can I first of all set out what we have achieved at this summit, and then ask the President of the European Commission, and finally the President of the United States to speak to you. As you know, there have been for some years serious differences over what for the US is sanctions policy and for the EU is extra-territoriality. What we have established today is at least a basis for a lasting solution to these problems. We have avoided a showdown over sanctions, and we have done it in a way that at least provides the chance of a solution to the problem in the future. And the President of the United States will set out the US position in a moment. So there is still more work to do, but it is a real step forward. TRADE In addition, we have today launched a major new transatlantic trade initiative, the Transatlantic Economic Partnership, which will further add momentum to the process of developing what is already the most important bilateral trade relationship in the world. We have also agreed to work ever more closely together to promote multilateral trade liberalisation. Finally, we have welcomed the very substantial report presented to us by our senior officials on the progress achieved since our last summit towards further implementation of the 1995 new Transatlantic Trade Agreement. Some examples of this are: cooperation to prevent drug smuggling through the Caribbean; a joint decision to give awards to those in central and eastern Europe who have helped in recent years to entrench democracy and civil rights in those countries; and a joint EU/US programme in the Ukraine and Poland to warn women of the dangers of being lured into the sex trade in western Europe. MR SANTER: Ladies and Gentlemen, our summit today is the 6th between the European Union and the United States since the adoption of the new transatlantic agenda. These summits are becoming more and more important with the development of the transatlantic relationship. The range of issues we covered today and the substantial agreements we came too, prove how worthwhile these meetings now are. The 1995 New Transatlantic agenda has led to much more intense cooperation across the Atlantic. It is not just a question of warm words, but complete agreements. For example today's signature of the Mutual Recognition Agreement offers real benefits to business and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic. Today's summit is particularly important because we and the United States have struck a deal on US sanctions laws. This agreement, after weeks of intense negotiations with the US Administration, finally brings peace in this long-standing dispute. The European Union has opposed United States sanctions laws on investment in Iran, Libya and Cuba, not only because we believe they were illegal, but also because they were counter-productive. We in Europe have always taken very seriously the fight to curb terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction. But the US sanctions laws made our cooperation on these issues more, rather than less difficult. The deal today means that European companies and businessmen can conduct their business without the threat of US sanctions hanging over their heads. It is a deal that is good for European companies who now have protection from US sanctions. It is a deal that is good for the European Union which has shown that it can act together, united in important foreign policy issues, and it is good for the transatlantic relationship which can now develop further free of this long-standing dispute. There are obviously still some further steps that need to be taken before the deal can be completely implemented, but I am hopeful that these will be concluded as soon as possible. By getting rid of the biggest problem in our relationship with the United States, the door is now open to further deepen and enhance our cooperation across the Atlantic. Today at the summit we agreed to a substantial new initiative to deepen the trade relationship called the Transatlantic Economic Partnership, and this initiative firstly addresses the further removal of barriers in our bilateral trade, it also says that the United States and the European Union will work together to achieve a substantial further trade liberalisation on a multilateral basis. Today's agreement will add to the prosperity of both the United States and the European Union and more generally in the world. It will thus create better prospects for future jobs. President Clinton, Prime Minister Tony Blair and I will be in Geneva to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the GATT, an organisation which has contributed so much to the stability and prosperity of the post-war world. Our agreement this morning sends a powerful message of transatlantic support to that meeting, and to the further development of multilateral liberalisation. But of course today's summit, as is usual on these occasions, was also an opportunity to discuss many key foreign policy issues, including Turkey, Cyprus, Kosovo and Ukraine. On the Ukraine we agreed to call upon the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to play its part in the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding on Nuclear Safety concluded between the G7 and the Ukraine. In conclusion, this summit has placed the transatlantic relationship on an even stronger footing. We can now look forward to an even deeper partnership in the future. PRESIDENT CLINTON: Thank you very much. I would like to begin by thanking Prime Minister Blair for the creative and strong leadership that he has provided to the European Union and to the US/EU partnership. And I thank President Santer for his years of work for European unity. America welcomes a strong partnership with a strong and united Europe, to improve the lives of security, the well-being of our own people and others around the world. The EU, as I am sure all of you know, is America's largest trade and investment partner. Two-way trade supports more than 6 million jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. Today I am very pleased that we have agreed to new steps to strengthen that economic partnership. First, we will work to dismantle trade barriers, both bilateral and multilateral trade barriers, in areas such as manufacturing, services and agriculture, about a dozen in all, while maintaining the highest standards of labour and environment. Let me also say that we have agreed in this effort that we will make an effort to give all the stakeholders in our economic lives, environmental stakeholders, labour stakeholders, other elements of civil society, a chance to be heard in these negotiations, in these discussions, and I believe that is a new paradigm which ought to be mirrored in trade negotiations throughout the world. Indeed, as President Santer has said, when we conclude here I am going to Geneva where I will speak about how we can work together to strengthen the world trading system on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. And I will argue that the WTO ought to embrace the kind of things that we and the EU have agreed to do here give all the stakeholders a role and to do a better job of respecting the importance of preserving the environment and of making sure trade works for the benefit of all the people in all the countries involved. I am also pleased that we have reached agreement today, as the Prime Minister and President Santer have said, on an issue of vital importance to our own security and well-being. We share an interest in combating terrorism and limiting the spread of weapons of mass destruction. We understand always the problems with weapons of mass destruction but we are, I hope, all more sensitive to them in light of the recent events in South Asia. Here in London the EU countries have committed to enhance their cooperation with us with regard to Iran. They will step up efforts to prevent the transfer of technology that could be used to develop weapons of mass destruction. They have agreed to work towards the ratification of all 11 counter-terrorism conventions. We have agreed to cooperate in the development of Caspian energy resources. I would also like to emphasise that Russia too has taken important steps to strengthen controls over the export of sensitive technology, notably but not exclusively, to Iran, in effect establishing Russia's first comprehensive catch-all export control system. We will be watching and working closely with the Russians to help make sure this system works. The actions taken by the EU and Russia advance Congress's objective in enacting the Iran/Libya Sanctions Act. It is not primarily a sanctions act, it is an act that is designed to give the incentives for all of us to work together to retard the spread of weapons of mass destruction and to support more aggressive efforts to fight terrorism. Therefore the waivers we have granted today are part of our overall strategy to deter Iran from acquiring weapons of mass destruction and promoting terrorism and it is an important new stage in our partnership. We have also forged a path-breaking common approach to deter investment in illegally expropriated property around the world including, but not limited to, Cuba. Our governments will deny all forms of commercial assistance for these transactions, including loans, grants, subsidies, fiscal advantages, guarantees, political risk insurance. This understanding furthers the goals of protecting the property rights in Cuba and worldwide, advances the interest of US claimants and protects US investors, and thus so far more effectively than the United States could have done alone. It also furthers, as the Prime Minister said, and as President Santer did, the objectives of the European Union and getting away from the unilateral sanctions regime. We have finally agreed to work together with Russia to strengthen nuclear safety. This is also very important, especially with regard to nuclear waste removal and storage in north-west Russia. We will act together to encourage Ukraine to embark on bold economic reform and to speed the closure of the Chernobyl reactors that threaten safety and health. Let me finally add that today we will honour 50 exceptional individuals from Europe's new democracies for their work in helping freedom take strong root across the continent, I believe about half a dozen of them are here today. From protecting human rights in Belarus, to preserving the environment in Slovakia, these dedicated men and women, like so many others, are helping to make Europe free, peaceful, prosperous and united. I thank them, and again I thank the Prime Minister for his truly outstanding leadership. ENDS