News Releases

No. 42/07
April 26, 2007

EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT JOSÉ MANUEL BARROSO OUTLINES EXPECTATIONS FOR EU/US SUMMIT AT NY STOCK EXCHANGE

The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso [pictured right of President Bush, above], will tomorrow, Friday, April 27, outline in a speech to a Business Forum at the New York Stock Exchange his expectations on economic issues for the forthcoming EU/US summit in Washington on April 30.

President Barroso will say that the summit will "sign up to a transatlantic economic integration framework… that will help us to shape and reap the benefits of globalisation." This transatlantic framework will "tackle head-on problems that European and American businesses face when striving to unlock the full potential of the transatlantic economy by addressing existing, unnecessary barriers posed by divergent regulations and avoiding the emergence of new ones."

President Barroso will point to Europe's current strong economic performance, partly due to reforms under the renewed Lisbon Growth and Jobs Strategy and to the success of the euro. He will underline that the transatlantic marketplace is "still the economic engine of the world." EU/US combined GDP is 60% of the world total and EU/US trade accounts for 40% of global trade.

He will say regulatory cooperation will concentrate first on key sectors such as automotive industries, medical services and pharmaceuticals and on cross-cutting areas like investment, trade security and intellectual property right enforcement. He will call for the mutual recognition of accounting standards by 2009 and for swift progress on mutual recognition of the rules governing securities markets.

President Barroso will emphasize that "our efforts to unleash the full potential of the transatlantic economy do not mean we are giving up on the Doha Round…which must continue to be a top priority for both the EU and the US," and he will conclude by saying that "Europe and the US enjoy deep bonds of kinship" already translated into close political cooperation and that "now it is time to deepen our economic partnership and take the whole vast and dynamic transatlantic economy to the next level."

For additional information on the EU/US Summit, please see: http://www.eurunion.org/partner/summit/20070430sum.htm .

"Strengthening the Transatlantic Economy," José Manuel Barroso, European Commission President, Business Forum, New York, NY, April 27, 2007

Further Contact Information
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