(June 28, 2007) The California Chamber of Commerce this week hosted His Excellency John Bruton, European Union Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Commission to the United States, at an international dinner forum and discussed ways to improve trade and business relations between Europe, the United States and California.
The more than 80 guests who greeted Ambassador Bruton included California government officials and business people from California and the European Union, including representatives of agriculture, transportation, manufacturing and technology.
‘Room to Improve’
Bruton told the attendees that both the United States and European countries should be free to express their concerns about potential trade barriers and work toward resolving any discrepancies.
Bruton cited specific actions the United States and European Union can take to be proactive. He cited a need “to cooperate on such issues as global warming and food safety, which are issues in which the United States has taken a leadership role and where the European Union is trying to do much the same thing, and we should try to synchronize what we do to the extent that we maximize its effect.”
Bruton said that there is room to improve on potential barriers that affect business, specifically redundant inspections and duplicative paperwork.
“We want to create a single, barrier-free, transatlantic market by ensuring that we have similar regulations,” Bruton said. “Not the same regulations, but similar. For example, if there are forms that need to be filled out for a new product, the forms are in the same format on each side of the Atlantic so that a company doesn’t have to duplicate their efforts. The decisions may be different; the U.S. may decide to authorize a product, while the EU may choose not to. But at least there is a similar system.”
 |
| Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Allan Zaremberg, left, and His Excellency John Bruton, European Union Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Commission to the United States, right. |
He also addressed barriers at the border that prevent goods from moving to market. “We need to create a similar standard so that both the U.S. and EU recognize everyone’s test. There is a whole lot that can be done to make business easier across the Atlantic, which has nothing to do with trade or tariffs, but has to do with barriers behind the border rather than barriers at the border, and that’s an area well worth looking into,” Bruton said.
Growth of European Union
The goal of the European Union is to ensure that a common market that has been created and countries can move goods with the least resistance possible to other European Union countries. But Bruton explained that it could be very difficult to conduct business as the European Union adds more members.
“Our constitution requires every state in the European Union to agree to add a new member,” Bruton said. “The EU has gone from six, then to 15, now it's up to 27 members and at every stage each and every existing member has to agree to bring in the new members. We have been able to expand from 150 million people to 500 million people, from six countries to 27, unanimously.”
Ambassador Bruton explained what the European Union is, how it works and how it affects commerce and trade. “The European Union does three things for the 27 countries that are members. First it creates internal market, secondly, it tries to adopt common foreign policy and thirdly, it tries to create a common area of law and order in the 27 member states,” Bruton explained.
The United States is able to make foreign policy decisions much faster than the European Union because one person dictates all U.S. policy, while the European Union must get 27 countries to unanimously agree.
“Fundamentally in the U.S., one person decides foreign policy, and that is the elected president to of the people,” Bruton said. “In the EU every important foreign policy initiative has to be agreed upon by 27 countries, and unless ALL of them agree fundamentally we can’t make foreign policy. One or two countries could hold it up.”
To help grasp the magnitude of this concept, Bruton compared the European Union's expansion to the United States and Mexico deciding to create the United States of North America.
“It's as if all 50 united states unanimously agreed to merge with the 32 states of Mexico, and now you have a United States of North America. This new union has two official languages with 164 senators, 64 of whom spoke Spanish as their first language. This new agreement allows every person of the 32 states of Mexico to work in any of the 50 states in the U.S. and any one from the U.S. is free to work in any of the 32 states in Mexico. And most importantly, every body had agreed this all unanimously. That’s what we’ve done at the EU.”
California-Europe Link
The scope of the transatlantic relationship between the European Union and the United States has grown tremendously in recent years. The European Union and the United States account for the largest bilateral trade relationship in the world. Transatlantic flows of trade and investment amount to around $1 billion a day, and, jointly, global trade accounts for almost 40 percent of world trade.
In 2006, California alone exported nearly $25 billion in goods to the 27 EU countries, which accounted for 20 percent of the state's total exports. The European Union and the United States are long-standing, close allies on numerous issues, and the close friendship strengthens the pursuit of common goals and interests worldwide.
Last year California sales to Europe grew by more than $1.2 billion, Bruton said. “We are by far the biggest investor in the United States and the biggest investor in California. If you take just four of the 27 EU countries — United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands and France — the countries are investing more each year in California than the entire Asia-Asia Pacific region is investing in California. In fact, California sells 14 times more per year to the EU, than it does to India,” he said.
California has a lot to gain with its investments in Europe, Bruton said. “Californians have a huge investment in Europe. There are huge beneficiaries of your investment, your technology and your ideas. Essentially, California owns a good chunk of Europe and we Europeans own a good chunk of California and the United States. So anything that hurts you hurts us, and anything that hurts us, hurts you. So it’s very important that we recognize that we need and depend upon one another.”
Bruton said that his overall goal is to “build a structure of understanding and cooperation between California and the European Union to ensure that our investment here is safe and our investment there is safe and that we both continue to prosper together.”
Background
Ambassador John Bruton is a former Irish prime minister (Taoiseach). During his term (1994-97), he helped transform the Irish economy into the “Celtic Tiger,” one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. While prime minister, Bruton presided over a successful Irish EU presidency in 1996 and helped finalize the Stability and Growth Pact, which governs the management of the euro. He was also deeply involved in the Northern Irish Peace Process, which led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Bruton was first elected to the Irish Parliament ("Dáil Éireann") as a member of the Fine Gael Party in 1969, and served as Ireland's minister for finance (1981-1982 and 1986-1987); minister for industry and energy (1982-1983); minister for trade, commerce and tourism (1983-1986), and as parliamentary secretary (junior minister) from 1973-1977.
In his current position, Ambassador Bruton has met with President George W. Bush and former presidents of the United States, more than 200 members of Congress, governors, mayors, business leaders and students in more than 20 twenty states to explain major EU developments and discuss the importance of the EU-U.S. relationship in matters of trade, counterterrorism, public health, energy, the environment, and the promotion of peace, democracy and human rights around the world.
Staff Contact: Susanne Stirling