High TEC

Congressman Darrell Issa introduces the TEC strategy paper on Capitol Hill.

The Bertelsmann Foundation and the Atlantic Council of the United States (ACUS) have released a strategy paper that proposes 15 steps to strengthen the Transatlantic Economic Council. The paper, "Resetting the Transatlantic Economic Council: A Blueprint", was unveiled at a panel discussion in the US Capitol attended by Congressmen Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Darrell Issa (R-CA). Both Congressmen are members of the US House of Representatives' EU Caucus. Panel members were C. Boyden Gray, former US ambassador to the EU; Fran Burwell, ACUS vice president; and David Lustig, Unilever vice president.

The TEC was established during Germany's EU presidency in 2007 and is designed to foster trans-Atlantic economic integration. It aims to achieve better regulation, barrier-free trade, protection of intellectual property rights, and financial-market integration.

The paper's recommendations include placing greater focus on renewable energies, using the TEC as an informal platform to coordinate EU-US positions within the G20, and naming as TEC co-chairs the US vice president and the European Commission president.

The paper is the culmination of background discussions with government officials on both sides of the Atlantic and corporate stakeholders such as the Transatlantic Business Dialogue, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Bundesverband der deutschen Industrie and Business Europe.