82ND PLENARY SESSION

Thank you, Chairman.  Chairman, I would like to welcome the Ambassador here this morning and to welcome the opportunity as well to discuss the critically important relationship between the EU and the US. I thought that Mr Bruton started off with a very interesting point about how the attitude of the US towards the EU appears to have changed from a position where it was more an attitude of looking out for Europe’s interests and concern about what kind of protection that Europe needed, to one now where we are seen more as joint partners and the question for the US is really about how we can promote our joint interests globally. 

I think that is an interesting point, but I suppose I would just like to ask Mr Bruton whether he feels that there is any risk attached to that idea of promoting our interests internationally.  He mentioned the examples of the Middle East and Iran, for example. I suppose these are areas in which American foreign policy has been quite controversial over some period of time. I just would just like to ask him does he think there is a risk that if the EU is seen to be tying its interests in with those of the US too closely that there may be a risk that some of the baggage that attaches to US foreign policy will also impact negatively in terms of the perception of other parts of the world as far as the EU is concerned? 

The other issue I would like to ask him about is that obviously there are huge areas of potential cooperation between the US and the EU, but there will also be areas of divergence, I have no doubt, from time to time.  I suppose one of them Mr Bruton has mentioned is the whole area of energy and climate change.  I would like to ask him does the EU have a strategy now particularly as we approach the review of the Kyoto Protocol. Does the EU have a strategy for trying to encourage the US to adopt a more responsible approach to the whole issue of the climate change and tackling that enormous challenge? 

The other issue I am wondering about is where our divergence is in foreign policy?  We had a very clear example of that, I think, with the war on Iraq where, unfortunately, I think there was an attempt to try represent Europe as being divided into old and new Europe, and I think there was a very, a popular backlash, if you like, against the stance that certain European Member States took in not following the lead that the US had taken in relation to military intervention in Iraq.  I would like to ask Mr Bruton how he feels the EU should deal with these foreign policy divergences where they occur? 

The Reform Treaty was mentioned and I would like again to ask Mr Bruton whether he feels that the provisions of the Reform Treaty that have to do with strengthening and progressing the military and defence capacity of the European Union, will have any implications for NATO and whether those implications are positive or negative? 

Finally,and these are a lot of hard questions, but the whole issue of extraordinary rendition has raised its head in Ireland over the last number of years, particularly in relation to the use of Shannon by the US military and concerns about the fact that extraordinary renditions have been carried out and there has been a lot of concern about whether Shannon is being used as part of that process.  We have received reassurances from the US Government but does Mr Bruton feel that those reassurances are good enough?  Or as the Irish Human Rights Commission and Amnesty have suggested, should the Irish Government be inspecting US military planes that are that are using Shannon?  Would it be his view that the Irish Government should be going a little further than accepting the reassurances of the US Government?  Thank you.

82nd plenary session of the National Forum on Europe • Drawing Room • Dublin Castle • Dub lin 2 • Wednesday 17 October 2007
EU Ambassador to the US, Mr John Bruton addressed the theme ‘The European Union and the United States’

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