EU envoys create 11th-hour hitch for
transatlantic tech alliance
Ambassadors fail to reach consensus on statement about
what the objectives should be in Pittsburgh.
BY BARBARA
MOENS AND JACOPO BARIGAZZI
September
27, 2021 5:54 pm
Europe's
attempt to hold talks with the U.S. on Wednesday in Pittsburgh to discuss
aligning tech standards ran into an unexpected last-minute hitch today after
ambassadors from France and other countries raised objections to the latest
statement on the meeting's goals.
Over the
past days, French anger at the U.S. swooping in to boot it out of a submarine
deal with Australia triggered fears that the inaugural meeting of the Trade and
Tech Council could even be canceled. On Thursday evening, however, EU
commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis and Margrethe Vestager announced that the new
diplomatic format would still be going ahead.
Embarrassingly,
though, a meeting of ambassadors from EU countries today failed to reach
consensus on a statement about what the objectives of the working groups in
Pittsburgh should be, raising doubts about how much can be achieved without
all-out support from the 27 EU member countries.
According
to notes seen by POLITICO and confirmed by another EU diplomat, France said the
paragraph on the timing of the next meeting remained too general and that it
didn't agree on some elements regarding microchips. Paris also asked for
stronger language on the World Trade Organization.
Other
delegations also raised concerns with the statement as it stands. Ireland said
the statement was getting weaker in each version, something diplomats from
other EU countries had raised as a worry leading up to the meeting.
According
to notes of the ambassadors' meeting, the Slovenian Presidency of the Council
of the EU concluded there was no agreement on the statement and that the
Commission would go back to the U.S. to produce a new text.
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