Foreign ministers from 27European Union nations agreed here on Monday to jointly send a message to the next U.S. president to develop an equal partnership to deal with major global challenges.
"The world has changed, because we have realized that a great country, which will remain a great country, is not the only one concerned by the world's problems," said French Foreign Minister Kouchner, whose country is holding the EU presidency.
"The European Union has become more resolute," he said, referring to its role in brokering a cease-fire between Russia and Georgia in August and its leadership in coping with the global financial turmoil.
He said his counterparts from other EU members would agree at their informal meeting to jointly send a letter to America's next president on how to enhance transatlantic relations.
"We will play our full role for partnership," Kouchner told a press conference after the three-hour informal meeting, "We don't want to play a secondary role any more."
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU commissioner for external relations, also said at the same occasion that the EU would try to "take the advantage of the period of transition" to simply try to define priorities with the United States.
Relations with Washington should reflect Europe's new "leadership" in world affairs, she said. "We want to have an even stronger relationship with the United States, and for that reason I think it's important that we say what we think is important for us. I think it should be a more balanced relationship."
She proposed that the two sides put the Middle East peace process "high on our mutual agenda."
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband expressed his belief that the EU could work with Washington to set "an inclusive global agenda that responds to the changing economic and social and political times."
"This isn't just about asking America to do things. It's about Europe stepping up as well," he told reporters upon his arrival for the meeting.
Miliband said "make sure that our contribution in the Middle East, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in responding to the global financial crisis, is strong and clear and in close alliance both with this American administration but also with the new one."
The EU has taken the U.S. general elections, which will take place on Tuesday, as an opportunity to start a new transatlantic relationship as the bloc has showed to the world its leadership in several occasions.
Apart from discussing relations with the United States, the EU ministers also talked about the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
They left the possibility of sending European troops to the troubled African country open.
Source:Xinhua
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