From Junior Partner to Global Player: The New Transatlantic Agenda and Joint Action Plan. ZEI Discussion Papers: 2001, C 81

Mettler, Ann (2001) From Junior Partner to Global Player: The New Transatlantic Agenda and Joint Action Plan. ZEI Discussion Papers: 2001, C 81. [Discussion Paper]

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Abstract

Introduction. Hailed by President Clinton as the "roadmap for the 21st century", the New Transatlantic Agenda (NTA) and the Joint Action Plan (JAP) were designed to be a watershed in US-EU relations. Rooted in the revolutionary changes of the late 1980s/early 1990s, the US and the EU realized that they were entering the uncertainty of a new and unprecedented political era - the post-Cold War world - which called for a fundamental overhaul of transatlantic relations. It quickly became obvious that the political dialogue between the two needed to be reinvigorated and incorporate a wider area of policy objectives. Ergo, it was necessary to move away from the ad hoc consultations common during the Cold War, and cope with issues which were formerly for the most part unilaterally dealt with by the United States. Only a few years after the first attempt of strengthening transatlantic ties culminated in the Transatlantic Declaration of 1990, policy makers on both sides of the Atlantic realized that further cooperation was called for. At the US-EU summit in Madrid on 3 December 1995, President Bill Clinton, Spanish Prime Minister and President of the EU Council Felipe Gonzalez, and European Commission President Jacques Santer announced a New Transatlantic Agenda (NTA) and a Joint Action Plan (JAP) to forge even closer ties between the United States and the European Union by implementing coordinated policies on a range of the most pressing economic, political, security, humanitarian, environmental and cultural issues. The initiative was a concise plan laying out concrete action plans to cope with today's interdependent world in which challenges facing the United States and the European Union could no longer be dealt with satisfactorily by either party acting alone. Transnational in nature, these challenges, such as international crime, drug trafficking, terrorism, environmental degradation and the spread of communicable diseases, required resources which exceeded those at the disposal of either the US or the EU acting alone. In particular, the two sides promised joined actions to work towards the following four goals: (I) promoting peace and stability and fostering democracy and development around the world (II) responding to new global challenges (III) contributing to the expansion of world trade and closer economic relations (IV) building social and cultural bridges across the Atlantic. Based on the Agenda, the Joint Action Plan is a more comprehensive document which contains 150 longer-term specific objectives from which a number are selected for regular updating of the Agenda between subsequent US-EU summit meetings. The following assessment explores the origins of the Agenda in general and the overall state of transatlantic relations during the 1990's in particular. Furthermore, each policy area is discussed and evaluated from an American and European point of view. Lastly, potential points of friction are examined and a prospect for bringing the Agenda to fruition will be undertaken.

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