2024-07-22 15:14 update: 2024-07-22, 15:19
Radosław Sikorski. Photo PAP/Radek Pietruszka
In a letter addressed to EU member states and institutions, Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has expressed the opinion that transatlantic relations should be strengthened through strategic negotiations on the role of the EU in the US.
In Sikorski’s view, Americans have always tended to look at the EU through the lens of individual member states. According to him, the same could be applied to the general public opinion, which has favoured individual members much more than the EU as a whole.
At this critical moment in time however, he wrote, it is more crucial than ever for the EU to take action towards strengthening the transatlantic relations between Europe and the US.
This would include actions such as conducting a campaign, whose aim would be to showcase the current state of Europe, as well as the benefits that can derive from diplomacy, joint security and the idea of an open society.
In his opinion, the EU countries goal should be to remind the American public, and especially the younger generation, about the effects the long-standing partnership between the EU and the US has had on the US economy.
This is motivated by the fact that a deepening economic and strategic cooperation between the European Union and the United States, in Sikorski’s view, requires the understanding and support of the public on both sides of the Atlantic.
He also argued that in the coming months the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU delegation in Washington, the European Commission and all EU member states should intensify the strategic communication with the US to show that the EU remains the most important and reliable partner to the United States.
The EEAS, in Sikorski's view, should actively coordinate these activities with the heads of national strategic command centres and, within the framework of existing coordination mechanisms, also with NATO.
Sikorski also said that stronger cooperation is needed between all EU member states, including a negotiated division of labour in establishing contacts with representatives of the US administration, Congress, local politicians, academia, media and think tanks. (PAP)
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