Location Rue Zinnerstraat 13
Brussels, Belgium Established 1956; 61 years ago (1956)
(as US Mission to the European Coal and Steel Community) Ambassador Anthony L. Gardner (since 2014) | ||
The United States Mission to the European Union is the diplomatic mission of the United States to the European Union; it is based in Brussels, Belgium. The US has maintained diplomatic relations with the EU and its predecessors since 1953. The first predecessor of the current mission was the US diplomatic mission to the European Coal and Steel Community in Luxembourg, which opened in 1956. In 1961, the US Mission to the European Communities was established in Brussels, which later became the United States Mission to the European Union, upon the latter's establishment in 1993.
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History
On August 11, 1952, the US became the first non-member state to recognize the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which was formed on 23 July and consisted of Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany. The following year, the US sent observers to the ECSC, at which point diplomatic relations with the ECSC were established. A formal diplomatic mission to the ECSC opened in the city of Luxembourg in 1956. In 1961, the United States Mission to the European Communities was established in Brussels, Belgium. The European Communities was the collective term for three supernational European agencies established in the 1950s—the ECSC, the European Atomic Energy Community, and the European Economic Community (also known simply as the European Community )—which were merged in 1967 into a body also known as the European Communities (EC). The EC had limited foreign policy roles, primarily consisting of trade relations, which were carried out by the European Political Cooperation (EPC), established in 1970. Relations between the US and EC were formalized through the Transatlantic Declaration in 1990.
In 1993, the European Union was established. Relations between the US and EU were defined in the New Transatlantic Agenda (NTA), agreed to in 1995. The NTA set forth four broad areas of cooperation between the US and EU: "promoting peace and stability, democracy and development around the world; responding to global challenges; contributing to the expansion of world trade and closer economic relations; and building bridges Across the Atlantic." The NTA was further extended to cover bilateral and multilateral trade in 1998, through the Transatlantic Economic Partnership (TEP). The Lisbon Treaty, ratified in 2009, established the European External Action Service as the EU's foreign policy institution. Since 2013, the US and EU have been engaged in discussions to create a free trade agreement, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.
Mission
The mission consists of representatives from the State Department, Office of the United States Trade Representative, United States Commercial Service (part of the Department of Commerce), USDA (Foreign Agricultural Service and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service), Department of Homeland Security, Department of the Treasury, Department of Justice, Department of Defense, USAID, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Ambassador
The diplomatic mission is headed by the United States Ambassador to the European Union, a position which has been vacant since 20 January 2017. The most recent ambassador was Anthony L. Gardner, who was sworn in on 18 February 2014 and presented his credentials on 18 March 2014, at which point he was officially recognized by the EU as the US Ambassador. Gardner resigned, effective 20 January 2017, at the end of the Obama administration.
Public diplomacy
The Mission's Public Affairs Office (USEU PA) is responsible for engaging Europeans in matters of US policies, society, and US-EU cooperation in various fields. To accomplish this task, the office supports exchange programs for professionals and students; organizes conferences with think tanks and NGOs to facilitate dialogue on issues of mutual interest to the EU and US; engage Europeans on US policy issues through social media outreach; and organizes interviews, speeches, and press conferences with Mission staff and visiting US officials and experts.