The German presidency of the European Union is aiming at a framework agreement on a transatlantic economic partnership during a summit with the United States in Washington next week, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday, according to dpa. Speaking before a meeting with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at Schloss Meseberg near Berlin, Merkel outlined long-term plans for a common market uniting the EU and US. The German chancellor first referred to the partnership, which aims initially at setting common standards to facilitate trade and improve compatibility in services, when she met President George W Bush in Washington on January 4. There were still barriers between the EU and US that "today cost us a lot of energy, a lot of time and a lot of money," Merkel said. "We belive that we can improve economic growth in both the EU and the US this way," she said, noting that the two together constituted 60 per cent of the global market. Barroso said the commission would lend its full support to Merkel's initiative to be discussed in Washington on April 30. "This is an important signal for better integration of the US and European economies," the commission president said. Turning to the stalled EU partnership with Russia, Merkel said prospects for agreement were less good. Weekend talks had not produced a result, she said, but added that she hoped a difficulty over the importing of Polish meat into Russia could be resolved by the time of the EU-Russia summit in the southern Russian city of Samara in mid-May. Other themes on the agenda of the Washington summit would include climate change and the environment in general, Merkel's spokesman said earlier Monday, adding that further details would be released Thursday.
