General policies of the European Union

external commercial agreements in the World Trade Organization as well as bilateral arrangements, applies EU trade legislation, proposes new legislation. United States The EU and the United States form a global partnership, covering not only trade and economics but also cooperation on a whole range of foreign policy issues and global challenges. The economic relationship between the two is characterized by close economic interdependence. The EU and United States are each other's most important partners in trade and investment. Bilateral trade flows in goods and services amounted to ECU 200 billion and total transatlantic investment was ECU 365 billion in 1994. More than three million jobs on either side of the Atlantic depend on this investment. The Presidents of the United States, the Commission and the European Council meet every six months, as do the Commission and the US Government at ministerial level. Canada Links between Europe and Canada have traditionally been close, fortified in particular by Canada's membership of NATO. Bilateral trade exceeds ECU 19 billion and the EU is the second most popular destination for Canadian foreign investment after the United States. Regular summit meetings now take place between the Presidents of the European Council, the Commission and the Canadian Prime Minister. In the coming years, the relationship is expected to undergo further political development. Japan This bilateral relationship has been dominated for years by the Union's trade deficit with Tokyo. Japan exports to Europe are almost 50% higher than European exports to Japan. While keeping up pressure on Japan to remove non-tariff barriers, the Union has also sought to deepen and extend cooperation beyond the field of trade. A joint declaration on EU-Japan relations in 1991 lists shared objectives in the political and economic fields and establishes a consultation framework including annual meetings between the Presidents of the European Council and the Commission, and the Japanese Prime Minister. Cooperation between the Union and Japan now takes place across a wide range of areas, including science and technology, competition policy, development assistance, environmental policy, industrial policy, industrial cooperation, macroeconomic and financial affairs and transport. Countries of the southern and eastern Mediterranean Relations with the 12 Mediterranean countries with which the EU has association or cooperation agreements are being relaunched on the basis of a partnership declaration adopted by both sides in Barcelona in November 1995. This lays the basis for closer political cooperation and the EU's broadly-based efforts to promote development in the Mediterranean region which include industrial cooperation, encouraging direct investment and creating networks between universities and other social institutions The declaration also sets the ambitious target of a free trade zone by 2010 between the Union and the Mediterranean countries represented in Barcelona: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian autonomous territories, Syria, Turkey, Cyprus and Malta. Countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEECs) The collapse of communism led to a surge in the relations between the Union and most of the CEECs, including the signing of association agreements, the so-called 'Europe Agreements'. Currently, there are nine such agreements. Six are in force involving Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, while those with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are awaiting ratification (a tenth has been initialled with Slovenia). These agreements give the signatories associate status and cover both political and economic relations. They establish regular and intensive political dialogue, progressive economic integration and financial assistance. They are of unlimited duration and allow the CEECs up to 10 years to remove economic and commercial barriers, while Union restrictions on the import of their industrial goods was removed by 1 January 1995 with some exemptions. Russia The EU is Russia's largest trading partner by far, accounting for close to 40% of the latter's foreign trade. When the Russian and EU national parliaments have finally ratified it, future political and economic relations will be governed by a partnership and cooperation agreement signed in 1994. This establishes a political dialogue at all levels, regulates the trade in nuclear fuels, allows free EU investment in Russia with full repatriation of profits, liberalizes the activities of foreign banks in Russia, removes all EU quotas on Russian exports apart from certain textile and steel products and allows temporary Russian quotas on some EU imports. At their meeting in Madrid in December 1995, the European Council asserted that good relations between the EU and a democratic Russia 'are essential to stability in Europe'. The Heads of State or Government said the EU would: · contribute to Russia's democratic reforms; · support Russia's economic reforms, her integration into the international economy, the development of trade and investment and the necessary conditions for the future establishment of a free trade area between Russia and the EU; · take into account Russia's concerns about NATO enlargement; · support peaceful settlement of disputes in the CIS area. TACIS: the EU's future relationship with Russia is being vitally shaped by the TACIS programme, designed to help her make the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy. TACIS projects involve, among other things, help in the restructuring of State enterprises and private sector development, reform of public administration, raising agricultural efficiency and supporting improvements in the safety of nuclear power plants. The new independent States (NIS) Relations with these republics of the former Soviet Union are increasingly regulated by partnership and cooperation agreements whose scope is political, economic, commercial and cultural. They aim to pave the way for the integration of these countries into the wider European economy. In the last two years such agreements have been signed with Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Kazakhstan,Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The European free trade area (EFTA) On 1 January 1994, the European Economic Area was born (EEA). Following enlargement of the EU on 1 January 1995 with the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden, this joins together in one single market the EU's 15 members with three remaining members of EFTA, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (Switzerland is also in EFTA but has not signed the EEA Agreement). Among other things, the EEA agreement grants the three partner countries the four freedoms of the single market - the free movement of goods, services, capital and people and requires them to adopt most EU policies on mergers, state aids, consumer protection, labour markets and the environment.