madam president the ecr group is strongly atlanticist and seeks ever closer economic trade and political ties with america which we consider to be the eu's foremost ally and not competitor
we also remain in debt to the usa for its contribution to nato which is based on our shared democratic values and we welcome america's belated commitment to fighting climate change
however we should not pretend to agree on everything
i am concerned for instance about the conflicting messages coming out of the us administration regarding russia
washington's emphasis on resetting us-russia relations appears to excuse the kremlin's blatant interference in its neighbours affairs notably in georgia and in ukraine
the scrapping of the us missile defence shield due to be deployed in poland and the czech republic was also questionable
the recent discovery of a secret nuclear facility in iran could well confirm this judgment but we must now all redouble our efforts to curb iran's nuclear ambitions and as allies of the us we strongly support their military struggle against jihadi terrorism in iraq and afghanistan and their strong efforts to bring lasting peace to the middle east
