European Union - Obama Presidency Oral History

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Anthony Gardner

...administration as ambassador to the EU from 2014 to 2017. Before that, h...
...in one of the core areas of the EU , i.e., competition law. I had been...
...that you found US relations with the EU to be fascinating because it was lik...
...that reason; that an ambassador to the European Union has to look after not only E...
...Union has to look after not only EU institutions—particularly th...

...were dealing with, specifically at an EU level. So trade is a good one becaus...
...want to have a US ambassador to the EU sort of roaming around Europe talkin...
...a deep and personal connection to the European Union that goes beyond your time in th...
...and that was to be ambassador to the European Union . And that's really how it cam...
...terms of your close relationship to the European Union and this—you having traveled so much a...
...would say, “Ah, our ambassador to the EU is taking their side,” when in fact ...
...even when I robustly defended the European Union on occasion, knew that I was doing i...
...views. And on occasion, I thought the European Union was right in defending their views. Bu...
...to imagine a more pro-European, pro- EU , and pro-German speech. I could se...
...on several occasions, talk to the EU . But sure, there was that concern, an...
...Greece to be ejected from either the EU or the eurozone. Jack Lew also played ...
...that colored your relationship with the European Union ? Well, that's a huge question. It'...
...media, were being undermined within the EU . Because if the EU is not capable o...
...within the EU. Because if the EU is not capable of defending its guys a...
...the United States to engage with the EU on those topics, for obviou...
...preaching about these topics with the EU . We will certainly try to do so unde...
...metric, clearly doing a deal with the European Union will be considered to be mor...
...that really is a domestic issue of the European Union . It is harder there to say that th...
...did work very effectively with the European Union behind the scenes in speaking about th...
...occasion saying that [laughs] the European Union was essentially out to punish U...
...simply does not reflect the facts. The EU had launched a number of antitrus...
...on the president to be critical of the European Union , but all of those cases are highly...
...in terms of which member states of the European Union would actually come out well. Th...
...an agreement between the US and the EU would serve as a template for othe...
...to get a yes, effectively, from the European Union ? And where were you in thos...
...agenda, let's put it that way, and the EU had its aggressive agenda as well. S...
...an area where I was very doubtful the EU would make any movement. And the...
...thought it was very dubious that the EU would change its way of passin...
...of a free trade agreement. And the EU was attacking us about publi...
...an issue which I repeatedly told the EU member states there was zero appetit...
...at a federal or state level. And the EU was attacking us about maritim...
...of other areas, as well, where the EU was beating us about. And o...
...an opportunity for us, the US and the EU , to write the rules on global trad...
...conflicting standards. And since the EU is such an important market, they'...
...This is not the only instance where EU regulatory activities, which can star...
...that they host. A lot of what the EU has done has come in for ver...
...of the legislative proposals that the EU has been talking about, particularly i...
...to non-US citizens, in this case to EU citizens. I was told there was n...
...extended some of the protections to EU citizens before US federal court t...
...to do more bridge building between the EU and the United States. We have two ver...
...the relationship between the US and the EU . How did you balance those tw...
...fundamentally misunderstanding what the EU could and could not give. And I made m...
...we should be, but was misunderstanding EU law. We at the mission were fa...
...far better placed to understand what EU law demanded than they were at th...
...the—your sort of counterparts in the European Union . Well, yes. These things are, ...
...the policy choices amongst the EU states to accommodate refugees comin...
...someone handling migration issues. The EU did reach out to us in the middle o...
...was being reerected, even within the EU , and that would have meant also a lac...
...at the White House asking me when the EU was going to fall apart. I wrote i...
...are absolute core elements of the European Union . And I didn't see the EU allowin...
...European Union. And I didn't see the EU allowing those things to disappear. S...
...knowledge to member states and to the EU . I want to move away from th...
...ensuring a coordinated effort with the EU , particularly the European Commission...
...represents the member states in the EU decision-making process. So there i...
...process. So there is an EU sanctions regime, but the member state...
...sanctions. So my role was to work with EU institutions and work with ou...
...Now, sometimes the US said, “Well, the EU is simply going to take too long. We'r...
...an undersung achievement of the US- EU relationship during those years, tha...
...do. So not only do you have US and the EU having to agree, you have to bring o...
...with the Ukrainian ambassador to the European Union . And by the way, I should say my ver...
...with the Ukrainian ambassador to the European Union . It capped off my experience. Yes...
...Obama administration and indeed by the EU ? How was this perceived? Sorry, ...
...the reaction to that by the US and the EU ? Oh, it was clearly considere...
...cared more about the situation than the EU did or the United States did. We wer...
...to even support a fellow member of the EU , a fellow member of NATO [Nort...
...perfect. So the Iran nuclear deal. The EU was one of the partners in th...
...just an observer. I should say that US- EU sanctions, which predated m...
...And particularly, Europe's decision— EU 's decision to cut off oil imports fro...
...is important. Had it not been for the EU in both situations, we would not hav...
...and what we should be doing with the EU going forward, and what we've failed t...
...administration's policy toward the EU , I, for the life of me, could no...
...not understand why this disdain for the EU —what purpose did it serve? And i...

Andrew Herscowitz

...we committed to a fund that the European Union was doing called ElectriF...

Thomas Holst

...religious stakeholders. Fourth, the European Union . I can talk about the interactio...
...fourth stakeholder was the European Union . I traveled quarterly to Brussels t...
...to meet with Romanian delegates to the EU . The shale gas issues in Romania wer...
...and Bulgaria, who were members of the EU . There's a lot in there that I wan...
...I don't think it was perceived by the EU . But certainly religious stakeholders...

...for the moratorium was in waiting for European Union environmental studies around th...
...I understand Romania and Bulgaria are EU 27 and EU 28 respectively. They wer...
...Romania and Bulgaria are EU 27 and EU 28 respectively. They were the last tw...
...the last two countries to enter the European Union . Romania and Bulgaria wanted to han...
...to anything that they could find at the EU level that would support being slow t...
...not only Romania but we see all of the European Union , the twenty-eight member states of th...
...the twenty-eight member states of the European Union , as part of a single marketplace tha...
...of any conversations, either with the EU or with other industry colleagues o...
...of interconnected markets. I see the European Union as one trading block. Typically, when ...
...local stakeholders. The benefit of the European Union is that, yes, there are a lot of area...

Richard Nephew

...I was in Brussels briefing the EU on the sanctions ideas and the playboo...
...because at the time they were still the EU presidency—when that meant something—t...
...sanction that's imposed by the EU , then people can say, “Yes, but I'...
...I care?” or, “I'm not a citizen of the EU . Why do I care?” It's a little bi...
...ambitions they might have, then we, the EU , can take action against it.” We pu...

...Those two bits were enough that the EU was able to translate that into legall...
...that into legally binding language on EU members, and the decision they took i...
...then translate that into action by the EU , Japanese, Koreans, Australians...
...would be unveiled. I believe the EU sanctions were announced in January o...
...with some of this language at the EU Council. We were left saying, “We wer...
...down. But I didn't discuss it with my EU counterparts or the Russians or anybod...
...Every once in a while, there are—the EU guy, at the time, who ran sanctions wa...

Ernest Moniz

...Germans, US, Russia, China, and the EU . We were all in the room and feelin...
...you consider six countries plus the EU trying to stay on the same page...
...the convening responsibility. So the EU was the convener of our meetings, P5+1...
...negotiations—there was a very senior EU person, Helga Schmid, present as ...
...the foreign minister of the EU , Federica Mogherini, was the convener...

...get enough credit. When she became the EU foreign minister—again the technica...
...course, you had six countries plus the EU , foreign minister plus th...
...twenty-eight percent by 2025, and the EU thirty-two percent by 2030, etc., etc...

European Union - Obama Presidency Oral History

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