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Mogherini travels to Washington to discuss bilateral relations

World Materials 7 November 2017 12:12 (UTC +04:00)
Federica Mogherini starts her two-day visit to Washington
Mogherini travels to Washington to discuss bilateral relations

Federica Mogherini starts her two-day visit to Washington. In the American capital, Mogherini is planning to meet with the US Vice-President, Mike Pence, and a number of Congressmen to discuss EU-US bilateral relations and security issues, NEW EUROPE reports.

The visit of the EU’s top diplomat to the US is taking place against a backdrop of a rift between European powers and US President Donald Trump over the 2015 Iran’s nuclear deal. The Trump’s earlier call to toughen the conditions on Iran and amend the agreement in significant ways under the risk of being ripped up, have already pushed Mogherini’s to rebuke Trump in strong statement and caused a discontent in Germany, France and the UK, who explicitly expressed their support of the agreement.

“ The aim of the Mogherini’s visit is to try to convince her interlocutors in Washington that nothing dramatic should be done in that field and that we need to avoid at all costs undermining the current nuclear deal. It is important not only from the EU perspective but from the perspective of Russia and China that also signed the agreement,” Pierre Vimont, a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe and former Executive Secretary-General of the EEAS said. The question at stake is the security in the Middle East, which may worse even more if the Congress decides to revoke a deal.

“ The whole question is whether the Americans decide to take a unilateral decision. In this case, Iran will decide that it will not respect this nuclear deal, when at the same time five other signatories intend to go ahead and not to break up the deal. Moreover, if the agreement breaks down, instability and fragmentation in the Middle East will intensified because Iran won’t be bound by any agreement,” Vimont added.

Nevertheless, the Trump’s intention to toughen sanctions on Iran and amend the deal are not the only issue, dividing two strategic allies who go through turbulent times and have to address a number of issues simultaneously. The problem of stalled TTIP, rising tension on the Korean peninsula, unceasing conflicts in eastern Ukraine and Syria will also be addresses during the visit.

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