Good afternoon. I think we'll get underway. Thank you. Welcome to our two thousand and nine. Europe week celebration in Atlanta. I'm Vicki Burchfield I'm a professor in the salmon School of International Affairs and director of the European Union Center of Excellence here at Georgia Tech. Our center is one of eleven centers selected on a competitive basis and funded by the European Commission delegation to Washington D.C.. Many of you. I think were probably here when we inaugurated the center back in September and I'm very pleased to report that we've had an active and very successful first year hosting many speakers and public officials from Europe to our campus and our city. We've held many co-sponsored events with the European consular Corps the European chambers of commerce and promoting we've been busy in the city and on our campus promoting the European Union and the importance of the transatlantic relationship throughout the metro Atlanta area. I'd like to say a special word of thanks to Commissioner Ken Stewart and the Georgia Department of Economic Development for joining us as a co-sponsor for today's public forum. I'd also like to recognize a few special guest in the audience. First of all Mike Dean Dean see Ross or dean of the Ivan Allen college very pleased to have her join us by Skype o'clock Len Dean she hand the Georgia Tech director of government relations and I'm sure there are many other important guest with us. I'd like to just a word of thanks. This this program is all about celebrating the E.U. I've had the pleasure and the privilege of working with the European cultural and diplomatic community to put this event together but I'd like to say a special welcome and word of thanks to Mr cloudy zero zero zero zero The newcomer to town he is the so. As consul general we're pleased to have him in our community and though the Swiss are not a member of the European Union. He's been a very loyal supporter and good friend to the European community here and we were also fortunate to bring the Swiss ambassador to our campus last week. So welcome again to Atlanta and thank you for your contribution to the program. In the collaboration with the European partners to put on this forum we decided upon a theme. The European Union and its relevance to Atlanta as a global city. Later in the program we will have a very distinguished set of panelists who will discuss this game as well as offer other reflections on how their individual countries organizations have been shaped by European integration and what the vision of the future of the E.U. is and how it impacts the relationship to the United States. If I may I'd like to say a brief word myself about why we celebrate the Europe Day or Europe week has as it has been celebrated over half a century ago in the ashes of the Second World War with approximately nineteen million people dead a new vision of peace and societal transformation was put forward by six countries at the initiation of arch rivals and historical enemies France and Germany joined by Italy Belgium the Netherlands and Luxembourg on May ninth one nine hundred fifty the shoeman put the shoeman plan delivered and precedented call for pulling the resources the vital resources of coal and steel simultaneously the ingredients for industrial production but also for warfare common regulation of these resources among both the victors. And the defeated of the war unleashed the greatest form of technical and economic cooperation the modern era has witnessed and it laid the groundwork for one of the most successful political experiments of the twentieth century. It is important to note that this plan was broadly supported by the United States economically in the form of the Marshall Plan diplomatically and Miller. Karalee through NATO which we recently celebrated its sixtieth birthday. Now with twenty seven member states ten of whom were former members of the Soviet bloc and sixteen of the twenty seven who share a common currency the E.U. stands strong as a unique force for peace prosperity and international cooperation. It spirit that we celebrate Europe weak and particularly weak knowledge the imagination and the political will. That has made possible the remarkable achievements of the past half century. Leading the European Union in a six month rotational presidency is the Czech Republic and we are privileged to have in Atlanta an honorary consulate for the Czech Republic which was opened in one thousand nine hundred four by Czech consul general Mr George Novak. Mr Novak immigrated to Atlanta in one thousand nine hundred sixty eight and has had a successful career as an architect an engineer and businessman here in our state founding his own company in one thousand nine hundred three. In addition to his contribution to business and economic development in the south east region and particularly in our state and in the Atlanta area. Mr Novak served as a check attache to the Olympic Committee here in Atlanta in one thousand nine hundred six. He's told me that one of the highlights of his consular career was the honor of meeting President George W. Bush in the White House as part of President hobbles entourage and his. Award that he received the Medal of peace. He also was able to arrange for the reception of Governor Perdue in in Prague in two thousand and seven he. Governor Perdue was received by President Klaus. Presently Mr Novak is preparing the trade mission for the Georgia businessman to a trip to the Czech Republic and a reciprocal visit by the Czech president to to Georgia to host the delegation from Georgia. I'm also very pleased to announce that Mr Novak has been able to arrange for the check in basket or. To visit our city on May twentieth and he will give a speech on the Georgia Tech campus. So without further ado I'd like to invite Mr Novak to the podium he will introduce commissioner Stewart thank you. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen. I'm honored to stand in front of you. On behalf of the Czech Republic. The present presidency of the European Union the council with the priority. People easy economy energy and external operations and is the motto Europe without better years. The Czechoslovakia public emerged with the great help of President Abbas and from the I was so hungry in one article at the end of the First World War in one nine hundred eighteen. As a free modern state which went through difficult transformation onto our no. The world at revolution of nineteen eighty nine led by a bots and the forty years of communist rule and created the free democratic Czechoslovakia only to be divided su the relevant separation in one thousand nine hundred thirty into the Czech and Slovak Republic so the Czech republic of today has about two million larger population than Georgia which is ten million and is about two thirds of Georgia thirty three in size. Czech Republic is a hired industrious Kountry as in it's in the heart of the Europe and its about thirty S. largest economy in the word. The development of historic lands of Czech Republic goes well into the Eight Centuries of it was to mention a couple of remnants of this the Charles University found it in thirty in forty eight. And the Charles Bridge built in thirteen forty six on. Still serving to day there use. Czech Republic has a very advanced educational system. And a great number of research institutions. The latest one is the Mayo Clinic which is being built at my home town but no. Czech Republic has a great thirty ssion in music and and sport nine medals out of reach for gold and the Atlanta Olympic Games names like Martina Navratilova and Iman Lenda in tennis. You got to be a Yagur in the dominator house shake in ice hockey. Although known to the American public. In the present was recession the Czech Republic is holding up fairly well mostly suffering from a high unemployment and lower trade value but not at all in the mortgage market. Chicks are trying to hold the budget deficits to three percent. As the required from all you members by the last thirty one than the annual Volman volume of trade with Georgia. Is about two hundred twenty million dollars. That's all. What I want to save lots of people big there's many more to say much more to say but we have pressure which we need to respect. Now I'd like to introduce my young friend. Ken Stuart. Everybody said my old friend. Well we will long term but he's very young. Can steward was appointed to the commission of Georgia Depart of economic development by Governor per view in January two zero zero seven proud to that he served as Georgia Forestry Commission or since September tool for he is the chief marketing officer for the state of Georgia and leads the efforts to bring new businesses and expand existing want to grow the tour. Isn't it time to show trade and to paint many industrious Arab support the growth of small business and author producers can add to his badge the degree in business and IT FOR A street from Mississippi State University served as a commander in the Army National Guard and he's a member of a state bar of Georgia holding a united jury's Dr a friend with a row of the College of Law in Atlanta. Mr Stewart spent majority of his carrier. Prior to becoming a public servant in private industry very worked with Mississippi Power and Light Weyerhaeuser company as and as an executive with U.T. source world wide ad Georgia Pacific. Ken is a member of numerous board of directors which I can't cite for lack of time. And a member of many advisory council is in there it's Georgette so seized can and his wife have as I just asked one child. Ice his patient is hard work. So he doesn't have much job to do anything else. Inviting camps torch to the food. A Good afternoon everyone. Thank you George. Appreciate it thank you Dr Burchfield it's real honor to be here. I want to should look at one thing Stark though this the title for this meeting is European Union and its relevance for Atlanta as a global city particularly happy to see that in we've had lots of discussion with a number of you just coming into this meeting about how the scan of an interesting place this place of Atlanta. And how it's a little bit difficult sometimes to realize how internationalized this place is it's easiest and to get down down to sort of the nuts and bolts of what I do is the easiest to tell when you lie. The numbers our relationship with this young upstart since one nine hundred fifty one European Union is all the cut with all the countries of the European Union continue to grow and become more and more important and now where the European Union obviously finds itself as the largest G.D.P. in the world. Our relationship for Atlanta in the state of Georgia. We certainly consider it critical that we maintain a very close relationships not just with the European Union but certainly with all the countries in the European Union and all the companies for which we have a unique perspective economic and cultural perspective with those companies. That's what we do. It's our job to go and try to sell this place but you know sometimes easy to sell something. On a short term basis when sometimes it really doesn't have value. Our job is to sell things that do have value because quite honestly Atlanta wouldn't be what it is in Georgia would be would it is and all of your country certainly wouldn't be successful either. If you didn't have long term sustainable value. So we know we have to sell that. And so it's particularly relevant to have this the center of excellence meeting here in this city that's become more and more internationalized and it's sometimes a little hard to tell it because of the way that it's all laid out we have no natural barriers here and you can go in tremendous distances in any direction. You still and seeing people and businesses. We were this last year the recipient in the state of Georgia has been the very first or having more entrepreneurial activity in the state of Georgia than any other state in the country. And I could argue that that's both good and bad you know the. Part is it says this is probably a good place to stay you know the bad part of it you could argue is that a lot of people looking for something to do but let's be real. Probably somewhere between ninety and ninety five percent of our economic output is generated from companies with fifty or fewer employees and saw certainly look at it from my perspective is the glass being half full. We started and you'll hear from Jim Boyer a little later on but we as a state started our first office in Europe in one thousand nine hundred seventy three. Jim ran that office and so he's going to talk to you as part of the panel today it's our largest office in the consul general and a tiny from Japan. Welcome. We started actually a little earlier than that. Maybe in Japan and what we obviously have found is that going in representing ourself our state to companies and diplomatically politically as well as from an economic perspective has paid off. Well for us and we fully intend to maintain our relationship we have about ten billion dollars of investment that's come from the European Union countries in Georgia. Since we opened our office there and about two thirds of our total foreign investment is from the European Union countries quite a bit gusto how tiny is from Japan. I think we have had tremendous reception from Japan. And so we're we're we know that marketing and sales works and it's awfully important to us about a third of Georgia's exports go to Europe. This ins of being an automobile related products not necessarily automobiles. But certainly automobile related products transportation equipment machinery computers electronic products and products from the pulp and paper industry. It is is George Novak said we have been as a as a state in and out with the governor in many European countries quite a number of times in fact it's a pretty regular event and the reception that we receive from our consular corps here and ranging meetings both diplomatic as well as business has just been incredible. And so we reason I say that I guess is that I have to count us as being in a very fortunate place of having somewhat north of one hundred now consulate consulates binational chambers trade offices here in the state of Georgia mostly centered around Atlanta. That by definition says this is a pretty international police and we're convinced by the rate of growth that we're seeing and some of the ones that that we know are coming and haven't quit quite landed yet that that's going to continue. We're certainly proud of this place we get back again to the title. The European Union and its relevance for Atlanta. I can't imagine anything being more relevant for Atlanta having the world's busiest airport now. And the consolidation of Delta and Northwest Airlines and having Delta continue with its strategy its international strategy of having more than fifty percent of its flights been international in nature it Lana is going to continue to grow believe is and is an international city and we are looking forward to that we're trying to do everything in our power to be sure that this is a receptive place. It's a place that the companies can come and invest in people can come and live and do it in a way that they're comfortable and is respectful for their own cultures. I'll really stop. I guess in trist of time but just simply to say that there were. So proud that you're all here we're very proud of Georgia Tech and know that Georgia Tech asked me to sign a little waiver when I came in to speak that all that said here ends up being the proper George to see that as a hopeful sign. I think that means that you're going to walk out of here with something valuable from some of the speakers today and I look forward Mr Smallwood comments and thank you all for being here. Been a lot and we're so grateful to our international community. It makes us really what we are. Thanks for your time. Thank you very much. Commissioner Stewart. Now I'd like to introduce you to our keynote speaker Mr Anthony Smallwood and I'm happy to say this is not his first trip to Atlanta he was here to help us inaugurate the center back in September. Anthony is currently serving as the first counsellor and head of press and public diplomacy for the European Commission's delegation to Washington D.C. So Anthony is the voice of the European Union to the United States and he has served us our country very well and it's an honor to have him back on our campus and in our city today. Prior to his position at the European Commission in Washington. He served as the Commission the European Commission's ambassador to their delegation to Trinidad and Tobago. He has had a very distinguished and long diplomatic career that has led him to all corners of the earth and he has primarily worked in the external relations field for the European Union but he's also been a pioneer in higher education policy and he has published widely on higher education and science. I'm going to keep my introduction very brief and I'd like you to join me and welcoming Anthony Smallwood to the podium. Thank you. Well Vicki made me sign the piece of paper but I drew slightly different conclusions from it. Them. Commissioner any nonsense I talk is the property of Georgia Tech and they cannot answer for it. Given. My colleagues from the diplomatic community. Vicky and her colleagues from Georgia take center of excellence and gentleman. Members of the press don't know why they always come lots. It's it's a great pleasure to be back here again. And I've been asked to speak on transatlantic relations under a new administration new opportunities or more of the same. And there's not much there. Frankly that's specifically relevant to Atlanta and I hope by choosing a topic like this where actually paying a plant a compliment has a global perspective and I have absolutely no problem in thinking that this is absolutely the right software forum to talk about some of the wider issues that the European Union. Faces with America under a new administration and don't forget We too are going into European elections so we will have changes major changes both within the European structures the European Parliament and the commissioners but also there is a whole series of elections always taking place at a national level. So the composition. If you like the political composition of Europe itself in a slightly less dramatic fashion than here is also undergoing major changes. One of the most one of the most enduring images of the presidential campaign here was then candidate Obama's visit to Berlin. And I used to shock my younger colleagues in the delegation by saying My God I've never seen such crowds in Europe for an American president since President Nixon visited during the Vietnam War and of course they didn't get the. Point of them but it was it was an enormously impressive display of enthusiasm and fascination and this. This was repeated when President Obama visited the E.U. earlier this year for the G. twenty meeting in London and for the NATO summit and celebrations of netas Nato's fiftieth anniversary. Now clearly expectations for a new style of transatlantic diplomacy were very high indeed. We perceived a new U.S. commitment to multilateralism and to diplomacy. We received a recommitment a very welcome. Commitment to fundamental shared values and I can't stress how positively the decision to wind tunnel rebounded from one end of Europe to the other and there was an apparent renewal of common thinking and open thinking on very important issues to the European like climate change and like the need to responsibly supervise the global financial sector but. But. One of the most perceptive comments I think on President Obama's recent European tour was made by a French journalist who exclaimed in real surprise my God. He's so America. And. Course he is and so two thousand and one policy advisors vested interests political constraints vital national interests and existing commitments that inform and shape U.S. relations with Europe and with the world. But we Europeans can be terribly European also. In the run up to the G twenty and NATO meetings. The US media was awash with strong hints that E.U. countries needed to ramp up their stimulus packages that troop commitments to Afghanistan. They needed to scale back their talk of a need for tougher global governance of financial institutions but the Europeans on those issues remained very resolute resolutely European as much to their own surprise perhaps as to U.S. advisors who had expected a more compliant response and reaction to a new administration. For both parties then. A fairly rapid reality check. And that can only be I think a good thing. But for cynics Sadly it was also an opportunity to argue that very little had actually changed in substance. On the U.S. side you'll remember there were those who argued that President Obama had failed to achieve his main objectives of going to Europe to the NATO and G. twenty summits. He had failed to extract from the Europeans economic and security commitments which people had expected and there are those in Europe too who argue that issues like Buy America drone wars etc Not only undercut rhetorical commitments to free. Trade and multilateralism but also hint that little has actually changed for the better. And as is so often the case the argument that there is much that hasn't change is is semi credible because it is partly true but I would still argue that the skeptics are very wrong. Just because many key attributes of the transatlantic relationship have not fundamentally changed. Does not mean that nothing has fundamentally changed it out but let us understand very clearly that the strength of the transatlantic relationship is founded largely on the depth and longevity of many of its main attributes. These are the foundations and they are very substantial investments and we should not expect them to change overnight. Let me summarize them very briefly. There is the deep and complex shared values and shared history. There is an enormous economic into dependence and what the commissioner said about the economic into depend into dependence between Atlanta and Europe can be said of almost EVERY STATE OF THE UNION. We are each other's largest markets we are each other's major sources of foreign direct investment there is half a century. Of U.S. support strong U.S. support to European integration. That position central in the early days. We would never have had a European Union. If there had not been U.S. leadership of NATO providing security for Western Europe in the difficult days immediately after the so. World wall. If there had not been a Marshall Plan to kick start the recovery of Europe economically in the dark days of the immediate post-war period and what an enormously successful investment that has been perhaps never more so than in one thousand nine hundred nine when one can argue very legitimately that the United States essentially won the Cold War but the European Union provided the means for it to lead seamlessly to the reintegration the peaceful reintegration of east and west. Europe. And there is also of course a tradition a post-war tradition of international leadership from Cold War to global warming that we must deliver because the the issues we have to deliver it on are as important as ever and the world despite the changes the enormous changes the world is going through the world still expected of us. But also its structures need to be kept in good repair the context of our relationship is greatly changed. The old certainties of the Cold War are gone. And the rise of the others to use the phrase of Fareed Zakaria means that international relations are becoming ever more complex. And the relationship itself. So of course become very different. This weekend. We celebrated the vision of some of Europe's post-war leaders in moving previously fractious and warring states onto a path of peace and prosperity which is not lasted over half a century. But the physical and political wreck of post-war Europe that. Depended totally on U.S. security and investment is now its economic equal. And an international actor of enormous importance in its own right or Although it is not and it's important to state that it is not and has no aspirations to be a classical superpower. This alone. Requires both sides to adapt and to adjust but so too do a host of very severe precious very important and pressing global problems which require. Global cooperation on an unprecedented scale and global leadership which I would argue only the transatlantic alliance is in a unique really good position to provide. Now the most pressing issues won't need much. Reminding here we have global recession. And it may trace its origins to the U.S. subprime crisis and to that combination in many countries of greed ignorance poor supervision and lousy judgment that implicated much of the global financial sector but it now has a global momentum of its own and so too does the global response. It was the transatlantic alliance which came together in a sense at Camp David to set in train the G. twenty plus process which we hope will continue to coordinate the global response to recession. We have global warming which we should not forget just because of the imperatives of the recession. If anything the situation is more alarming now and the window of opportunity to act is shorter now than ever. And it's absolutely vital that. In Copenhagen in December. We do not repeat the mistakes of Kyoto with the US walking away at the church door. I don't think it will. I have a certain confidence that things are going to be much better this time. But then we have disarmament terrorism and regional instability. And this is perhaps a strange Trinity. But a very frightening one because the links are certainly there. The dangers of very present but none appear to be amenable to traditional diplomatic or military solutions. I don't have to remind people in C.N.N. city of all places that Taliban Feiss forces are fighting within a day's drive of one of the world's seven official nuclear stockpiles the Middle East peace process seems to be foundering in an already nuclearized Middle East which seems determined to have additional nuclear members. Instability in Darfur. Destabilizes neighboring countries in Somalia it revives international power sea and in the Congo Basin half a continent continues to self-destruct almost invisibly. All this not to mention North Korea which seems in a sense rather rather clear in comparison which Matt. So this is where clearly enormous challenges lie. And it's also where opportunities must lie if we are to use the fundamental strength of the transatlantic alliance and the greater willingness of both sides to better understand the other to work with the international community the wider international community because one thing is very clear as we go into a very different sort of international world. That the problems. Three of which I. I briefly outlined are too big for either the E.U. or the U.S. or both together but what we can do I think is to provide as I say a real leadership that might lead to some of the solutions. After the summit. We will have the first Transatlantic Economic Council and the first E.U. US Summit under this new administration. They would have the normal circumstances have taken place before the summit but I think quite rightly. All sides decided that if we were really going to tackle the big issues then we'd better be properly ready for it and so they have been slightly perspective. And I would like to think that at that summit and at the tech we will see a real change in pace and didn't see on the sort of things we discuss in economic terms. I hope we will be able to talk more about the sort of global economy. We hope to have to see emerge from the current crisis up to now we've been concentrating almost entirely on crisis management. But I think we will we will soon begin to talk more seriously about the changes that we as societies need to make in any successful economic system that emerges from this on issues like Afghanistan and Pakistan. I hope we should be consolidating a new approach to an extraordinarily complex and dangerous regional conflict. In the Middle East we may not be able to take much immediate comfort in some of the more recent developments. But we should at least be able to take comfort that this is an administration which is going to keep this very much as a priority and not believe it. Something to do almost at the point of leaving office. And on Iraq one will perhaps already be seeing some of the advantages over new realists and finally on climate change. We will and we must provide ambitious leadership not only into Copenhagen. But also have to do so as you see here fairly optimistic. That in a very difficult time. We will find new ways of doing things and we will concentrate on the things we really must work closely together to resolve. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. This time I'd like to ask the panelists to please join us on the stage and bear with us as we make this. Slight transition. Thank you. I know will only briefly introduced our our very distinguished group of panelists so I'm just going to move from your left to right and just to let you know the House rules are. We've all coordinated and planned this event and we agreed that each panelist would have three minutes to respond to the theme of today's forum or reflect on any of the other issues that have been articulated so far and I'm. Going to be a strict taskmaster at that. So that we will have plenty of time for a Q. and A with you. The audience. So at this time I'll briefly introduce our panelist first we have Mr Bin washstand out the consul general of Belgium next. Peter Wickenden deputy consul general for the United Kingdom. Felipe Calderon as consul general of France. Dr Luke's Kurgan's consul general of Germany. Mr Wassily was going to says consul of Greece. Next we have two members of the cultural community here Mr Wolf gong Krueger executive director of the good as interim Cultural Center here in Atlanta. Followed by and then go to Hay executive director of the affairs. And finally we have Jim Blair who is senior manager of the global business development for the Georgia Department of Economic Development. Thank you all and without further ado I'll turn it over to Mr Stone Dept of Belgium. Thank you again. Let me start with the personal confession I belong to a certain generation of Europeans not too old but not too young. That has never actually known what a war is what a wall means of course I have read about the war. A lot Of course I have heard about the war looked. My father fought in the resistance. My grandfather fought at the wall and was taken prisoner for four years. One of my great uncle who's died somewhere on the slender steals in one thousand sixteen is but was never recovered and now I sit. Myself when I see the result of all this fighting the result being the European Union. I really do not understand what it was all about. Of course on one hand I perfectly understand why divulge an army and allies fort in one thousand nine hundred fourteen and in one thousand nine hundred forty but on the other hand. When I see and contemplate what the result is I have to scratch my head and in disbelief and in person meant. In Europe. Every generation had these soldiers and its fighters. I probably belong to the first generation of Belgians born after the World War two who has never been to war. This is a kind of a miracle. And what I can say about myself I can see about my fellows Italians French Germans etc. Let us not turn our eyes to America when I first arrived in Atlanta. This was at the end of August two thousand and eight I landed at Jackson Hartsfield Airport on a sunny afternoon. And I could not believe my eyes. I saw dozens of young men and women in combat fatigues witting for their plane for a fine food and from there probably to Afghanistan. I suppose. Let me quote very shortly because Vickie is looking at her watch and let me quote by her by an American author of Robert Kagan which was published in two thousand and four under the title of Paradise and power deep under title but under the title being a mirror. And Europe in the New World Order. The other Robert Kagan sketches in his book the way America is perceived by the Europeans. He says that the Europeans perceive us see as a sheriff. Mostly welcome. But sometimes not. And in this wild west landscape the Europeans consider themselves as the saloon keeper. As you know from the movies the saloonkeeper sometimes fear their sheriff more than the law because the Outlaws is mostly content with the drink from the saloon keeper. Whereas the sheriff is considered as a trouble maker. What am I getting at. At the personal level and indeed this is very personal. I feel ashamed as a Belgian because we retreated from a wonder a tiny little country in the center of Africa on a pretty seven one thousand nine hundred four when then Belgian blue berets. Where massacred slaughtered. Which precipitated the genocide of the Tutsi as a European I feel ashamed because I think. But it's easy to sell to tell that now I think that we should have resisted. Hitler in third in one nine hundred thirty eight when it was still time. My conclusion and I'll be brief probably that we Europeans should be sometimes bolder. Probably that the Americans should sometimes be wiser. But at any rate we should keep talking and call. Liberating. For a better world probably trying to get rid of the war for time Perpetual I think that this platform and again I want to thank the Georgian hospitality and US paternity extended by Georgia Tech. I think this is a good platform to start communicating and to start collaborating. The Europeans on one side and the Americans on the other Thank you for your attention. Thank you thank you thank you Mr we can do. Afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I'm going to try to squeeze into three minutes a snapshot of the U.K.'s role in the E.U. and a word or two about the present challenges and future direction of the E.U. as we see it from London. I'm fortunate enough to have a useful perspective on the E.U.'s current status as I was posted to the British embassy in the beautiful city of Prague for four years before I came here to Atlanta. During that time the U.K. had an eventful presidency of the E.U. in two thousand and five. And the Czech Republic along with nine other countries joined the E.U. in the biggest enlargement wave to date. And the Czechs are now enjoying it. I think they're enjoying their first presidency which the U.K. the French and many other countries did a lot to help them to prepare. Firstly it's amazing how often I'm asked if the U.K. is actually in the E.U. or not or in the euro zone. And indeed I have encountered some confusion and even misinformation. Even some supposedly off target of sources such as the storm on a share share of E.U. Studies here in the southeast of the U.S. just for the record then the U.K. is a fully paid up and that isn't as likely to sell a bone of contention member of the E.U. which we joined in the year. The nine hundred seventy S. after a referendum. The U.K. is not in the Schengen area which allows for a completely borderless. Movement between the E.U. countries. But in practice this makes no difference to the free movement of people or goods and services between the U.K. and the rest of the E.U.. The U.K. is not in the euro zone either but we are actually positive on the euro in principle and ready to join it. If and when we consider that it would benefit our economy. The financial crisis and the subsequent economic slump. Have pitched the E.U. to an extent back into a sort of navel gazing mode reopening a whole raft of long running internal debates about how it should be run. How large and politically integrated it should get how open or closed to the outside world. It should be what currency it should use and how it should be funded and so on all this just where many of us hoped that we had finally put a lot of these questions to rest after a decade or more spent arguing about the proposed constitution. So the E.U. could turn its attention to the real issues that we think matter to its citizens. That's jobs prosperity competitiveness against the rising economic superpowers of China and India. Climate change and energy security crime terrorism and so on as well as pay more attention generally to the outside world like the Czech prime minister until recently. Mr Merrick described the U.S. response to the financial crisis an economic slowdown as the way to help. Shortly before the G twenty summit in London last month in the circumstances it was a wonder that the London summit went as well as it did. Still greater wonder that President Obama subsequent visit to Prague went so well but the whole episode led led many pundits to pose the question can the Czechs cope. Can they be expected to to be fair to them the Czechs are probably pretty faced a more daunting set of challenges than any other country that has held the presidency. In recent years. But it has rekindled the debate about how the E.U. should be structured and run. Those who dream of a sort of United States of Europe point to the Czechs difficulties and say that the system of rotating six month presidencies is no longer suitable for leave you with twenty seven members and they call for the immediate ratification of the Lisbon Treaty which would bring in a permanent president who would serve for two and a half years. This they say would bring more professionalism authority stability and continuity to the running of the European Council and enable it to take quick and decisive action particularly in times of crisis. Euro skeptics you see the Lisbon Treaty as a constitution for Europe in everything but name. Argue that the current system does actually work reasonably well in normal times and well enough even in times of crisis. And as they see it the Czechs are doing all right. And will muddle through. It may be a bit cumbersome but if you ain't broke don't fix it. The truth is of course somewhere between these two positions in general and to sum up. The British wanted out would not inward looking E.U.. As our minister for Europe Caroline Flint so succinctly put it recently. We should be rational and clear we like some European policies we don't like others and we will work to change them people in Britain are concerned about climate security about immigration energy bills and the international credit crisis. These are all issues where it's self-evident to most people in the U.K. that Britain will have more influence and influence by acting with our European partners than alone. The E.U. thanks in part to British leadership is leading the world debate on how we ensure a sound supervisory regime for banks in the future but in other policies we can do more. We want to forge ahead with liberalizing the energy market and to make faster more assured progress on climate change. And we believe very firmly that there are some issues which are solely a matter for national government. Thank you. It's time to thank you. Look it it's three minutes it won't be a statement but really three three receive a single points and the first one. Actually it was the same bank been one movie of the same generation and we had exactly the same idea when I present Europe to students. I say Europe is a miracle and it's a real miracle because all countries for more than twenty centuries. I've been fighting against each other and today thanks to Europe they share the same flag to share the same to them that they share the same currency. Believe me this is a real miracle. Another very simple idea is that Europe and the United States are partners. Prosperity almost five hundred million inhabitants in in the Europe in the twenty seven countries and the G.D.P. which is comparable it would be higher than the G.D.P. of the year of the United States. So we are partners and we see it every day even here in Georgia fifty five percent of the further end investment jobs in Georgia come from European countries. Fifty five percent which is more than kind of or more than Mexico. The USA very often is a first for foreign investor in them in European countries outside the European countries and obviously it's the first for investor interference outside the other E.U. countries. So we are partners and sometimes we are even competitors but even when we are competitors. We are also partners because we are in a complete flop towards an integrated economic. Just a very simple example but I think it speaks a lot your lot about Airbus and Boeing competition. That's a huge competition but when you buy a boy here in the not just states actually you buy forty percent of components coming from Europe. And when we buy a nervous and in Europe we buy a plane with forty percent of compliments coming from the United States. So even when we are competitors we have a pretty dress for the better and last very simple idea or two. Or so with fingers and with a figure sorry. Because I like figures today the U.S. and Europe other very comfortable position in the world. If you take the USA and Europe. It's more than fifty percent of the ward wide growth and it's one to six of the ward population. So it's quite comfortable but twenty years from now instead of up in more than fifty percent of the war white economy with of only a third of the economy and instead of the one sixth of the population with of one ninth of the population in other words we are partners and we are in the same boat. Thank you. That's regulators and gentlemen it's wonderful to have the European Union Center of Excellence here again at Georgia Tech thing we ought to have one of them to and we're all grateful to the union delegation Washington that this. Status has been regained. And it's also. A very good moment to to have this discussion on the relevance of the European Union for Atlanta at a time when Atlanta is definitely going global. Just one week before the or big two thousand and nine like. My friend Philip other nurse I would like to make three points to show that France and Germany are really sinking in sync. I do not only wear the tie the official title of the French presidency of last year but I would also like to make three brief points echoing in part what you have already heard Belgium the United Kingdom France and Germany. If these four countries were only sixty years ago sixty five years ago fighting a bitter war and since Roman times. There hasn't been a decade because without military activities in the areas which these countries cover. So this is what you experienced here in the US in the eight hundred sixty S. we have experienced it in Europe for centuries and the European Union has put an end to that for the last for all lifetimes and Germany was surrounded by nine countries eight of them are now in in the same body in the European Union and we all are ministers of parliamentarians meet regularly the nines by the way you guessed it is Switzerland and we don't have any none of us I believe as any problems with Switzerland Switzerland. Either the one problem which sometimes arises in Texas. Bates' is not a topic for this discussion today. Switzerland is a wonderful neighbor cloud your hope you are fine with that statement. So the first point is the European Union has brought us peace. The second point. Look at all these wonderful flags here. Germany has too long tried to stand alone with very limited success. We have made particularly in the twentieth century more enemies than friends when we tried to go it alone alone. Now in the European Union of twenty seven members we find out that we have actually not only gained relevance but also to make a positive impact on the world and if you look at America it's the visit to Washington right in the first week of being the president of the European Union. You have seen that Germany could forge a transatlantic fortress that attack existed for decades but bring to a new level. This transatlantic partnership and to use German influence in the world like an equal us some cuisine a year later could really play French global politics but at another level because he or she in the case of our girl America reapers ended a community of twenty seven nations. So the second point is relevance and the search warrant is bring. Our success story in Europe back to the south southeast of of the United States as Atlanta is the capital not only of Georgia but of the southeast of the United States. I quoted two examples. Not from Metropolitan Atlanta but in Tennessee last week we inaugurated a spire of pipe plant in Mobile Alabama Europe love Europe a joint German French company to more than two hundred new jobs and this week the first to the groundbreaking will happen in Chattanooga Tennessee of folks widen the day they will provide more than two thousand jobs these big successes for your economy and for our economy. I submit would not have been possible without a common market with the German economy being isolated only to eighty million citizens and not to more than three hundred fifty cities. So with these three elementary points peace relevance and prosperity. I think we have fared very well in the European Union and we have contributed also to jobs in this area of the United States. Thank you. Next we have mystical assistant Greece. And so much has been said about the economy trade how I'd like to you Ted my part of the spotlight on the political office we call the European integration process. I was wondering this morning how are you meaning he's been received here in the United States and elsewhere. What is the European Union actually works. It's may feature and I would like to highlight the uniqueness of this political process the uniqueness of the nature of this process the European Union is no need to it's not the only see it's not the Organization of American States. It's nor any other international organizations that you might be familiar with it's more than a free trade. So it's not a federal state like the United States obviously that the main feature over the European Union is what we call a supper nationalism and it's the kind of decision making process that makes it unique. You might not know it but eighty percent of the laws and force within the E.U. that is in the individual member states are either you know was our laws passed by a qualified majority in Brussels and that law enforcement officials in Berlin Athens Brussels and elsewhere have to abide with and oversee their implementation. Although they might think what they might know given that their government was opposed to them and even that the government have voted against them. So that's the what makes the unique they don't suffer enough alone it's not an international organization. It has an authorial e a higher authority that oversees the implementation of rules passed in Brussels and applying in the whole of the E.U. territory. The second point I would like to make is what makes the European Union not relevant to Atlanta about what made it what makes it relevant to its citizens that is the European citizens the borders that used to exist within Europe have fallen. I don't know how familiar you are with the process. So making a trip right now in Europe. I mean you can get a plane from Rome toughens or from Athens to Berlin offer markets to London is a bad example. I guess to Madrid and this trip will be as easy as a three from Atlanta to New York from Atlanta to some Francisco or from Atlanta to New Orleans. You don't need a passport. You don't need to go through customs as used to be the case about a guess and years ago and you don't have to go all the through this red tape that used to exist because of the sovereignty so say all of the member states that imposed regulations and constraints on travel off European citizens. Moreover you can predict if you want to go and leave for work into every single European state that's a big achievement believe you. That's a big of Superman and to the critics that say that the European Union has not gone too far and their pictures and willingness to go further towards the call from achieving the closer you know the market peoples. I say that we've gone really far and there is a big political achievement. It's something that all Europeans should take pride in Thank You Notes conclude that the courage to say good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and thank you very much civically and the European Center where excellence see for hosting this event this afternoon. I think it's a very valuable event to have this this exchange of thoughts and present ourselves to the interested American audience. I am the director of the German cultural center. And a son. I have a somewhat different approach to what we have heard so far. Regarding the Unite the European Union. When we think of the European Union and these international organizations very often it simply comes down to how much money is flowing how many works places are being created and what is the investment back and forth and it's so on so forth and those are all very valuable and very important factors Indeed indeed those are the things that make our world grow smaller and grow closer together. Nonetheless there is also also the cultural aspect to be considered and that is no small feat especially when you come from a fragmented continent such as the European continent. I'd like to step my remarks off by a quote from you and work on from good to who we are named after and he said those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of the home. I'd like to alter that a little bit by saying those who know nothing of foreign cultures may know very little of their own. And this is where we come in because when it comes to creating work spaces for people for citizens and for instance it is the investment by folks Biden in Chattanooga or Siemens or wherever you then Americans will actually be exposed to those foreign cultures. Yes they may be American management. Nonetheless those are country. Those are companies that are deep deep rooted in their native countries in this case Germany and all of a sudden they feel themselves contracted with those cultural issues. It is much more than knowing once language as most of you are probably very well aware. And this is where we come in and where we say if you want to know about Germany German speaking countries and yes we have a wonderful cooperation with our friends from Switzerland. So to us you are already an integral part of the. You with the culture is always a step ahead of business. So we're very glad to have chip and so then you need to come to our institute and get informed about Germany German speaking countries and you can discuss issues frequently these issues actually deal with politics just as well. Case in point when a few years back then Chancellor Schroeder and then President Jacques Chirac decided not to go alongside with the Americans and intervene in Iraq we received a number of calls not so friendly frequently saying whether we had forgotten. You know to be grateful for what the Americans had done for Germany liberating them from the Nazis and so on and so forth. So having had to face of this criticism as did our friends of the zero one says the i OS and we decided together to put on a conference and invite our critics so to speak and we put on an event inviting the American public and having a speaker who would explain the European position and this is what it is all about this is where a cultural center comes in there offering the forum for an open and honest debate and actually getting to know those viewpoints firsthand while than just getting them from the media. So when we invited actually a French Scottish speaker. We had a full house. We had a very very critical audience by the end of the day by the end of that event actually everybody left feeling somewhat better informed and at least having some type of understanding of why Germany and France seemed to be so unwilling to follow that particular path. So all of this is intertwined to cultural aspects are new and important one vital one and it mustn't be neglected. When we talk about integration and this is where or Institute comes in and I like to finish my remarks with another quote by walking from good to. Who said all together national hatred is something peculiar You will always find the strongest and most violent where there slows degree of culture of having had a grandfather and having those personal remarks who unfortunately was the soldier in the drum an army an occupying France coming back and telling me about it and saying what can we made a terrible mistake then growing up in a household where we actually had French exchange students at our home and not understanding much like my friend from Belgium said earlier not to even get grasping how could they have heard this this horrendous attitude towards each other when we have so many things in common that taught me a lesson and this is what I'm trying to do offering of for creating understanding fostering the cultural understanding. Thank you. Next we have learned cool to carry on the process has become me but it's also the biggest concentration of time first Western cultures and their cultural roots going back to one or two millenia. And because of its nature. After twenty seven small countries. Each of them with their own language and culture is Europe is by essence globally reactive and it seems natural that as a global city would look at Europe. I would like to concentrate as propaganda cultural and the language aspect being direct There was a sense where we teach the French Langley. In reality for a lot of cultural programs as you know culture and language play a very big rule in Europe is a very important and because in this global economy. It is not only how well educated you are that counts but also how well you understand each other's culture. That is very important many European speak at least two different languages in their learning other very early stage. In education and learning your language. Whenever you learn the language you step into a new culture and that's really what we're trying to offer as secretary and says. We think that you cannot separate learning a language from the culture and that's why as well as offering the French classes we offer almost cultural programs our student can attend to. Yes and I would really like the suspects to be a party for a time to be in this quest to be a global. Says we're proud to foster cross cultural exchanges and we can see every day their greatness. The dialogues that we create we really try to work closely with our European partners. They're good. To send home. We're going to join in their building sometime soon. And also the center of excellence for your friends Center of Excellence which is a very vibrant proof of the relevance of Europe in Atlanta thank you. In our final panelist Jim Blair of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. Well good afternoon everybody. As a good European All Star Boy comments in the past. There's a good America I hope all. In the leading into the future from its beginning in one thousand seven hundred thirty three established as a military outpost a wall against the Spanish in Florida Georgia has been always about commerce and international relations but the threat from the Spanish was short lived and the settlers turned to commerce and trade and soon cotton was flowing down the Savannah River to Savannah and from there exported to major cities in Europe like Manchester and I kinda For example in Georgia further prospered as from more waves of Scottish English and Irish settlers Germans and other colonies called us from Europe moved into the interior of the state and all of this to say in fact that intrinsically Georgia is linked through its traditions its roots in its commerce to this part of the world called Europe. This is not in any way to diminish the impact of the African culture in Georgia in this region from our heritage of slavery and Georgia would not be what it is today. If it were also measured by the impact of the twentieth century immigration from Asia and South America and in fact if we look at Japanese an investment in Georgia today which started primarily Hades. The Japanese quickly became the largest investor investors in our state and remains the largest single country to invest in our state. But regarding Europe I could mention figures like the seven point six billion dollars in exports that we shipped to Europe last year. Representing about thirty percent of our trade with a one thousand one hundred European companies that have business operations in the state they employ more than one hundred thousand people here. The European Union certainly is a great role of. To Georgia in Atlanta but relationships cannot be measured by automotive components and containers and shipping bills of lading relations of go much deeper and so we can look at institutions like the European sort of exploits look here at Georgia Tech. It is a signal of the importance of with which this European Union takes this fine institution Georgia Tech and we have other examples Georgia Tech stablish For example one thousand nine hundred its first European campus in the rain in France and in two thousand and six a research center in Ireland we could talk about Georgia's partnership with Lorraine or the fact that the city of Atlanta has partnered with Bucharest Brussels to lose a Nuremberg important relationships or the Savannah River region that's partnered with Western or London Sweden and I could go on. Craig Avon in Northern Ireland Parker with a look. Range. These are important partnerships that were few looked just around Georgia ladder you can see Siemens and Perelli and Porsche Philips Electronics all very core European companies that have stablished their North American headquarters here in Georgia here in Atlanta these institutions these companies cement these solid relationships that are based on history tradition and commerce and so I say I say there's just absolutely no doubt that the European Union is of great relevance to Atlanta as a global city. Thank you thank you very much to all of our panelists for a very informative fan insightful set of comments. We started our program at ten minutes or so late. So we're going to alter our our plans a bit we had at home. To have some five to seven minutes for the panelists to react to one another's comments but I think. If I have permission of the panelists will turn it over directly to Q. and A with the audience to have your permission. Thank you very much. So all spend five to ten minutes with the questions from the audience we have a microphone circulating here. So we'll take questions first question Peter brekky Hi I have a question for the gentleman from the U.K.. I interpreted your comments to say that you were very let's say negative or at least not very positive about the constitution process for the E.U. but and you instead want to focus on solving various problems that affect people where it might not be the case that in order to better just solve those types of problems or at least manage them that you would want to change the institutions of governance and which is what the Constitution establishes that you. You know just the institutions and of the E.U. would be better suited to you know cope with the myriad problems that you addressed. Thanks for your question. I wasn't to give the impression that we don't see the need full a new structure for the you to enable it to be run more efficiently at its last size of three to seven members we do and that's I think was the thrust of my remarks about the way the awkwardness of the rotating six month presidency which has been operated so many years until now we do very much see the the advantages of having a permanent presence because the system of six month presence is. It's fine for parts for large countries like like Britain or France or Germany which have big administrations big civil service is tricky. Which you have done before and not once if not twice. But for smaller countries maybe like the Czech Republic who are running it. Now it's a it's a huge burden. It takes years of planning it takes a huge amount of of money and time and training their officials and so on and there's In a way there's a sort of a slightly unconstructive sort of tendency for one country which holds the presidency to try and outdo the previous one. There's too much emphasis on on sort of branding and logos and presentation and so on and there's not enough resources put in to actually carrying on the important business of of the E.U. So we're very much in favor of replacing that with with a more permanent arrangement. Having said that I think the majority opinion in the U.K. has has always been that facts should be enough and it doesn't require the whole of the E.U. to morph into something more resembling a massive state with a constitution I think the problem with our Constitution. For the British it is perhaps more difficult to deal with mentally you like than it is for citizens of our the you part the countries simply because of the fact that the U.K. is a rather odd country. In that we don't have a constitution. And we don't have a written constitution and we never have had and so fast the sort of the leap from having no constitution of our own to being governed by a super. Supranational Constitution is a bigger one than it is for many of our E.U. friends. Thank you. Do we have another question. Yes please. Please let people know three zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero is not really just so the process will prosper. They said they would be easier to sell and that's for sure. I wonder if I could do that. I think there is a fundamental difference between just because I first do. Greatly regret that const was used with the Constitution because it in a sense it was what we must understand is that the century. What was were pushed being attempted at the with the ill fated Constitution with Lisbon which will go again by the way to the Irish people towards the end of this year and there is every confidence that it will not go through it isn't a constitution in the sense of the elegant American document which you all know and love and understand. It is a tidying up of the enormously complex ramp of of administrative and treaty documentation that has grown over the fifty years with the European Union as it has progressed and it really is essential essential house work to clean up the way the system works and we couldn't even if we wanted to I don't think go make that leap to the elegant constitutional type document that you have because that body of organizations and structures and the minister did and treaty documents still exist in a sense we still have to honor those commitments that are made and so the Lisbon Treaty is a much more I think straightforward exercise because it is drop the pretense of being something that perhaps the original Constitution document was not up. I know we're not. I don't think we are what you're saying there is I think you know why isn't the option of a referendum offered to everyone on the Treaty of list but what this two reasons here. One is the Treaty of the. Isn't normally in most governmental systems something you would normally have a referendum on one number two referenda are very very very blunt instruments. You say that the French and the Dutch voted against the cons. Well no one's actually quite sure what was actually being voted on the best guess is that there was an unease that the process of enlargement which was nothing to do with the constitutional referendum but that the process of enlargement was perhaps going into too far too fast for most people and that was the real reason in the same way the referendum in Ireland. Absolutely. Wasn't a rejection by the Irish people of European integration. It was a rejection of all sorts of things. It was linked intricately with Irish internal politics referendum can be very unwieldy and inappropriate instruments to judge what people really want in terms of what they're voting on. That's not to say that the greatest challenge that we face is not a democratic one we talk a lot about the democratic deficit. We are addressing the issue of the democratic deficit with each change and Lisbon by the way will bring increased powers to the European Parliament. Just as every other treaty before it as done so it's still a huge challenge but I would absolutely dispute that the process of Lisbon and the process. Well the process of this because that's going on is a deliberate attempt to jump over what Europeans want on the contrary I think it's to provide what Europeans won in out there in a rather unwieldy fashion. If I may our sound was why we have a European Parliament just. Just something that gives you for to me. I mean we have some pause in weeks before the don't know you're being prestigious in was voted by the Greek parliament and it showed that over seventy seventy five percent of the Greek people were in favor of the Constitution while the question is why didn't we help hold a referendum as other countries may have that big is as you said before and I totally agree with you. The outcome referendum is very sad and we didn't have the opinion we were of the opinion that holding a referendum more than bringing domestic politics into the discussion of the Constitution and despite the fact that the majority of the overwhelming majority of Greek people were in favor of the Constitution we hear be produced in the question get so no wards camp to the and European consideration being voted down perhaps by the Greek people. So the integration process is a very complex process it's complicated and referenda is not the proper way in our view to humble this question. So it has to go through every national park know all of that decides. All of them decide Tell me do you agree or do democracy it's this film writing or sending everything all the notes search every national Go Charlie does Charlie I assume that every constitutional amendment here in the United States has to be put to a vote for for that to the American people is not correct or not on the part of the other hand if I may add I think you have a good point because it's obviously really easy. It's a very dangerous tool but I. I think that to feel it took for granted that everyone should agree with the Constitution because the Constitution was good and it was good but I think we need to OTHER me up but we didn't explain to the people enough. We didn't communicate enough to explain why it was good for every people and we didn't communicate in order for the river in the for the Constitution that we called Post attrition. Even if it's not a constitution but we're so lucky of communication. I think as you said when we are the big and mordant the ten year gun trees. We took that for granted the people would accept it. It was not explained enough and I think that to me many European citizens and it was the case in France thought that in the bit without explaining this it was good but they didn't explain why it was good and I think that's creating that greater bad with the reaction and the better reaction participators there may be no to the no to the Treaty of the Constitution into southern five. So what we wrote about that. I think it's to work to better communicate with the people that were better communication. If you communicate better UK I think with a bit of communication the the bouncer for France for instance would have been different but there is it just might have slipped by could exercise my professorial prerogative here. I'd just like to say out just tacked to quick things. And every year. Georgia Tech takes twenty five students to Brussels and throughout Europe to study this very complex thing that we call the. Paean union and I can tell you for two years and two summers in a row Georgia Tech students had the opportunity to participate and whip not participate but to witness the debates that were taking place in the concert at the Constitutional Convention. And while we were there. There was also a youth convention so youth throughout Europe had an opportunity to participate in the debates and propose initiatives. It was a very open transparent process very complex and still yes removed somewhat from the everyday lives of people and citizens throughout the European Union. However I think the European Commission did a phenomenal job and the national governments did a phenomenal job in trying to explain a very complex and perhaps a very unwieldy constitutional treaty and I will add that the French government had an abbreviated version of the European const The proposed Constitutional Treaty in every post office throughout the country metropolitan areas as well as rural areas. I brought these newspapers home to use them in my classrooms as I talk here on campus. So I think the European Union often gets a very bad rap by the media. It's a very you're you're posing very important questions that I think European leaders and citizens are grappling with and I appreciate your question but I wanted to just end with a more optimistic note of what the European Union elites. But also national leaders are doing to try to demystify what the European Union is all about and I think we probably should conclude our program. I look forward to many more opportunities to have this kind of dialogue. We're very honored and privileged to have such a robust and active European and diplomatic and cultural community here in Atlanta. So please join me in thanking our distinguished thank you thank you very much for coming.