Reducing transatlantic squalls
Reducing transatlantic squalls
The European Parliament now has the US Congress’s attention. Here are seven ways its attention could be kept.
The administration of US President Barack Obama had a rude awakening in mid-February, when the European Parliament voted to block further US access to banking data on European citizen from SWIFT, a financial network owned by banks, in order to track terrorists. Washington has long ignored the Parliament, or at best tolerated it. But with this one vote, the Parliament has finally won the attention of leading Americans.
This incident was just the tip of the iceberg. Other problems will surface, such as the upcoming Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. Many of these involve profound transatlantic differences over the appropriate protection of civil liberties. Such disagreements can only be hashed out politically through closer interaction between elected leaders who have the authority and responsibility to balance conflicting societal goals.
So the challenge ahead is to avoid similar dust-ups that could further sour the Obama administration on the EU.
Washington’s belated recognition of the Parliament’s new-found influence creates an opening to broaden transatlantic co-operation. Interaction between various branches of the US government and the European Commission is already at unprecedented levels. For the first time, major US regulatory agencies have now stationed staff in Brussels, consulting them each day on trade and competition matters. What is lacking is adequate interaction between Congress and the European Parliament.
To deepen that tie, and effectively create an early warning system to avoid future SWIFT-type friction, the US Congress should do the following:
? Establish a Congressional presence in Brussels: The Parliament has opened an office in Washington, DC, with three staff members. Congress should do the same in Brussels, to help track legislation, to provide input on parliamentary initiatives that might affect transatlantic relations and to co-ordinate Congressional interaction with MEPs.
? Designate a liaison: Encourage relevant legislative committees on both sides of the Atlantic to designate one member to act as the liaison with its counterpart.
? Build up staff ties: The Parliament will rotate staff in its Washington office. A formal exchange programme ought to be developed, with US Congressional staffers spending a year working in the Parliament. Over time, this personal experience could prove invaluable in sorting through policy differences. More importantly, it would build up personal relationships that would enable staff members to iron out, through a phone call, minor differences before they become major disagreements.
? Hold parallel hearings: When appropriate, Congressional and Parliament committees should hold parallel hearings as legislation develops on particular issues on both sides of the Atlantic. Members of Congress should regularly testify before the Parliament and vice versa. This practice has begun and should be regularised.
? Hold joint fact-finding visits to third countries: Parliament and Congress should co-ordinate visits to China, India and similar countries to ensure a common understanding emerges and to present a common front on mutually important issues.
? Strengthen the Transatlantic Legislators’ Dialogue: There are plans to develop the long-established Transatlantic Legislators’ Dialogue by bringing together members of Congress and of the Parliament to work in small groups on specific issues. This is a positive development that should be reinforced through assigning these groups specific tasks, such as coming up with parallel pieces of new legislation.
? Create a transatlantic assembly: Congress and the Parliament should consider transforming the current Legislators’ Dialogue into a transatlantic assembly. When there are serious things to talk about, legislators will engage. For example, the latest gathering of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (in November 2009) brought together a dozen members of the US Congress, half a dozen MEPs and more than 150 parlia-mentarians from the EU’s member states.
Congress and the Parliament will never see eye to eye completely. But there are ways to minimise differences and foster co-operation. To date, the Parliament, as the new kid on the block, has made the greatest effort to engage. The SWIFT vote demonstrated it is time for the Congress to try harder.
Bruce Stokes is a transatlantic fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the United States and an international economics columnist for the National Journal.
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