EU proposes plan to improve “severly damaged” ties with U.S.

The European Union (EU) unveiled on Wednesday a comprehensive plan to improve its partnership with the United States, which the bloc believes has been severely damaged under the current U.S. administration.

The plan, named “A new EU-U.S. agenda for global change,” was proposed by the EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, along with Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy.

“With a change of administration in the U.S., a more assertive Europe and the need to design a post-corona world, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to design a new transatlantic agenda for global cooperation,” the document said.

The proposal includes cross-the-board plans covering a joint battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change combat, solutions to trade disputes, an agreement on digital taxation and closer geopolitical partnership, among others.

It also includes an idea to establish a new EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council, which the EU said would help facilitate trade.

“At the core of this agenda is a united, capable and self-reliant European Union, which is good for Europe, good for the transatlantic partnership and for the multilateral system,” Borrell told a press conference on Wednesday.

Answering a question about the purpose of the proposal, Borrell said EU-U.S. cooperation would not mean an exclusion of China in the field.

“The purpose is not to push China out of international trade. We need China to be part of international trade,” he said.

The proposal will be further discussed by foreign ministers of the EU member states early next week, before being submitted to the European Council for endorsement.

It should be launched officially at an EU-U.S. summit in the first half of 2021, a meeting proposed by European Council President Charles Michel during a phone call with U.S. President-elect Joe Biden last month.

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Source: Xinhua