Cyprus issue continues to block EU-NATO co-operation

EU-US

The leaders of the United States and the EU agreed to increase transatlantic trade and investment, and to co-operate on cyber-security, when they met in Lisbon for their annual summit on Saturday (20 November).

The two-hour meeting between US President Barack Obama and Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, and José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, took place at the end of a two-day summit of NATO leaders.

“This summit was not as exciting as other summits because we basically agree on everything,” Obama told a press conference. One exception is a US decision to inject capital into its economy, which European leaders fear will weaken the dollar and give the US a competitive advantage on export markets. The summit's conclusions called on world leaders to “avoid competitive devaluation or exchange-rate policies that do not reflect underlying economic fundamentals”.

Van Rompuy suggested there was a need for a step-change in the relationship. “It is not enough to simply use expressions like transatlantic dialogue or strategic partnership; we need to put things in motion,” he said. The next steps to bolster economic co-operation will come next month, when senior US and European officials meet at the Transatlantic Economic Council to focus on streamlining trade regulations.

Van Rompuy announced the launch of an EU-US working group on cyber-security that is to report back to the leaders within a year.