Ferrero-Waldner admitted that there could be some overlap in the busy transatlantic relationship, as some issues are expected to be discussed at different fora between EU leaders and the US president. But she said this is "good" and "we should be happy about it".
"The G20 and the NATO summits, although some EU leaders are there, are not the same as a European Union Council. Yes, sometimes there is an overlap, for example for finding solutions to the global economic and financial crisis. But for climate change and energy security, or the civilian component of interaction in Afghanistan, this has to be discussed with us, and the Commission has a very strong role," the commissioner said.
Ferrero-Waldner added that the Middle East is another issue that is "always discussed with us," hailing recent US openness to contact with Syria, which she said is a "key" factor for Brussels.
Recalling recent visits to Brussels by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (EurActiv 06/03/09) and Vice-President Joe Biden (EurActiv 12/03/09), she said there is indeed a "new opportunity" in transatlantic relations, describing the Prague summit on 5 April as "a very important platform to reap these opportunities".
Ferrero-Waldner stressed the significance of the Prague summit not only for its important agenda, as she saw it, but for the symbolic choice of the Obama administration to hold its first US-EU summit in an Eastern European country.
"I think it's a great symbolic gesture that President Obama is going to Prague. This is a smaller or medium-sized country that was liberated only twenty years ago. I'm sure this is a political gesture he wants to make," Ferrero-Waldner said.
