A result-oriented approach, which is close to the American way of thinking, should be the basis for upgrading the EU-US partnership, Buzek said at a conference in the European Parliament, organised by Notre Europe.
The think-tank, founded by former long-serving Commission President Jacques Delors, unveiled a 'concept paper' entitled 'Reshaping EU-US relations'. Its authors include Delors, Buzek, former Commission President Romano Prodi, ALDE leader Guy Verhofstadt, former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, former Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen and Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, president of Notre Europe.
Buzek said the world needs to see the beginning of "responsible global governance," in which the EU has a role to play, together with the US and the other actors of the multipolar world. In his words, the European Union is now equipped to play its part, with a new treaty, a new Parliament with more powers, a new Commission, and a European External Action Service which will soon become operational.
"The so-called West is incapable of solving the many international challenges," Buzek said, calling for a new from of multilateral governance in which the EU would find the framework to promote its values and make use of its "soft power".
He described EU-US relations as a "springboard" to kick-start such governance, but cautioned that "a springboard is not sufficient for a good jump" as the West would need to engage other partners as well.
One of the most important assertions of the 'concept paper' is that despite the US having recovered its international credibility under President Barack Obama, the EU-US partnership is still unable to deliver, as demonstrated by the failure of the Copenhagen climate conference in December 2009. One of the reasons for this, it says, is that "partners are refocusing their energies on domestic policies".
Buzek admitted that Europe still needed to strengthen its internal positions. "To have strong international positions, we need strong internal positions," he said. In this context, he advised European to be more pragmatic, as Americans are known to be.
Regarding the European Parliament's recent decision to vote against extending the interim SWIFT agreement between the EU and the US on the transfer of citizens' financial data to prevent terrorist attacks (EurActiv 11/02/10), Buzek said the vote was a result of "the EU's own internal problems" and was "not about the US".
