Relations between Western Europe and the United States (USA)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 16 and 17 May 1973 (4th, 5th and 6th Sittings) (see Doc. 3279, report of the Political Affairs Committee). Text adopted by the Assembly on 17 May 1973 (6th Sitting).
The Assembly
1. Considers that relations between Western Europe and the United States should take the form of a genuine partnership based on the common commitment to preserve the democratic way of life and the recognition of their mutual interdependence, which must influence their attitude towards the rest of the world ;
2. Regrets the current friction in the trade and monetary field which reflects the absence of a political concept of the future of Atlantic partnership and regards these as inconsistent with the long-term common interests of both Western Europe and North America and also with their responsibilities towards the rest of the world, in particular developing countries ;
3. Stresses that the continued American commitment to European security is essential to guarantee the success of a policy of East-West detente and that there should be no major withdrawal of US troops from Europe outside the framework of agreements reached on mutual and balanced force reductions ;
4. Considers that rapid progress by the enlarged European Economic Community towards economic, monetary and political union is a prerequisite before Western Europe can become a more independent and equal partner and thus relieve the United States of the burden of single leadership ;
5. Regards the existence of the wider European organisation of the Seventeen of great importance for Western Europe ; the Council of Europe comprises all nine Members of the EEC and also eight other democratic States of Europe ; it is of great importance for the Atlantic partnership too as democratic countries, including the three neutrals in the Council of Europe, can be in close relation with the democratic powers on the other side of the Atlantic ;
6. Considers that repeated monetary crises have demonstrated the need for urgent reform of the international monetary system and that in particular :
the principle of equivalent obligations of both surplus and deficit countries should be acknowledged ;
the United States should seek a new balance-of-payments equilibrium and restrain capital outflows ;
a new international reserve currency should be created and managed jointly ;
the new system should provide for more effective control of inflation ;
it should also deal with the problem of the Eurodollar market ;
7. Considers there is an urgent need for the creation of a more open, non-discriminatory and liberal trading system and that the forthcoming negotiations in GATT should :
provide permanent machinery for defining priority targets, and steps for achieving them gradually ;
aim at the reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers in the industrial and agricultural fields ;
take account of social problems for example in agriculture which justify a more flexible approach ;
8. Considers that the aim of reform of the international economic system should not only be to liberalise trade among all industrialised countries, but to improve the terms of trade of developing countries and try to reduce the growing gap between richer and poorer nations ;
9. Draws attention to the need to strengthen the mechanisms for dialogue between the United States, Western Europe and the other countries of the free world in order to create a framework in which crises can be effectively handled and that in particular it is necessary :
to establish high-level permanent consultation between the European organisations and the United States ;
to carry out a joint review by the European and North American nations of the existing institutions, e.g. GATT, IMF, OECD, NATO and WEU in order to meet present-day requirements ; and
to involve other industrialised countries, in particular Japan, in such a dialogue, but bearing in mind also the needs of the developing countries.
