Mr Donohue,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I am delighted to be in Washington again today and I am also very pleased to visit the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

This context serves as a reminder of just how closely the United States of America and Europe are connected with one another – on a social, political and an economic level. Our transatlantic relations are based on common values and mutual interests. We know that it is only together that we can overcome the great foreign policy, secu-rity and economic challenges of our globalised world.

A quarter of a century, or 25 years ago, the Berlin Wall fell and the bloc confronta-tion of the Cold War came to an end. At that time, some even spoke of the end of history. Yet now, 25 years later, most recently with the crisis in Ukraine, the post-war order in Europe is being called into question. This post-war order is founded on the principle of territorial integrity. Nearly 70 years after the end of the Second World War, borders in Europe are being altered in a manner which makes it seem as if the law of he who is strong is superseding the strength of the law. This is the case in the short-term at least, as we have been forced to see when Crimea was annexed by Russia. However – and I am convinced of this – in the end the strength of the law will prevail.

Still, that will require both patience and perseverance. Russia is quite clearly chal-lenging European and transatlantic unity and resolution to stand up for our values and interests. Our answer is clear – since the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine, Eu-rope and the United States of America have worked together – unitedly and reso-lutely – for a democratic solution which complies with the rule of law. In our efforts we have been guided by the principle that Ukraine and its citizens have a sovereign right to make their own decisions regarding their future. This applies as much to the country’s constitution as it does to the direction that its society will take.

The option of resolving the crisis with Russia by means of dialogue is and remains on the table. If however, the situation in Ukraine is further destabilised then Europe, the United States and all partners will not hesitate to adopt further sanctions. A cru-cial test – and this is something which I have also discussed with American Presi-dent Barack Obama today – will be the presidential elections on 25 May, which will take place on the same day as the European Parliament elections.

Elections in Ukraine which are free, fair and held by secret ballot could mean a new start, could create new legitimacy and could help to breach divides. They could pave the way for a process of constitutional reform which includes all Ukrainians. Anyone who wants Ukraine to have a positive future will help to ensure that the elections on 25 May take place in a safe environment. The OSCE plays an important role in this – both through its election observation mission as well as through the mission that we have set up especially for Ukraine.

Of course the matter of financial assistance for Ukraine must not be forgotten, and so it is quite right that the International Monetary Fund, the European Union, the United States and Japan have all pledged extensive financial support to the country.

But ladies and gentlemen, even if all eyes are currently on Ukraine we must not for-get that the transatlantic partnership also faces the task of resolving the dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme. With the Rohani Government in place, the E3+3 has a chance to reach a negotiated solution to this conflict. Yet, beyond having complied so far with the agreements of the Geneva Joint Plan of Action, in order to achieve this Iran now needs to follow its words with actions. If Iran fails to fulfil its obligations in whole or in part, then we are still prepared to repeal the current strictly-limited suspensions of sanctions and to impose new, further-reaching sanctions on Iran. That said, we should first give the negotiations a chance.

The terrible civil war that has been raging in Syria for the past three years also de-mands the close coordination of action across the Atlantic. This humanitarian catas-trophe has already cost 140,000 people their lives and has turned millions of people into refugees. The stability of the neighbouring countries, in fact the stability of the whole region is at risk and this is something that we will not tolerate. Germany is tak-ing part in the multinational escort operation to protect the American ship MV Cape Ray, where Syria’s inhumane chemical weapons are being neutralised. Moreover, some of the toxic chemicals will be destroyed in Germany.

Another reason why we cannot and will not tolerate the tragedy in Syria is because respect for human dignity, freedom of the individual, democracy and the rule of law form the bedrock of our societies on both sides of the Atlantic. As a matter of fact, these principles also spark debates in which we disagree, or further still, in which the transatlantic partnership itself is put to the test. This is certainly the case in the debate over reports of mass data collection by the American NSA in Germany as well as in other countries.

To state it unequivocally: everyone in a position of political responsibility knows that intelligence services carry out vital work for the safety and protection of our citizens. Now to make another unequivocal statement: we are responsible for protecting our citizens both from terrorist attacks and from attacks on their privacy. This touches on the very core of how we understand freedom and security.

We all know that in democracies, freedom and security have always been somewhat conflicting concepts. This makes it all the more important to continually re-assess the balance between freedom and security – above all in this digital age. The equi-librium between the two must be constantly maintained by justice and the law. In addition to this our citizens, quite rightly in my opinion, expect their governments to adhere to the principle of proportionality at all times when safeguarding freedom and security.

Ladies and gentlemen, let us not beat around the bush, in recent months we have seen significant differences of opinion and interest between Germany and America with regard to this issue, and these differences will not have disappeared after my visit to Washington, they will still be there. In fact they cannot be resolved solely at the level of intelligence services, but only through a political process in which we must take full stock of just how dramatically the digital revolution is impacting not only the work of our intelligence services, but how profound this impact is on our entire lives, our work and our economies. Today we agreed on a first step – a “cyber-dialogue” between Germany and the United States of America, and I am pleased that we are going to take this step.

We must face up to just how demanding the task is, of not only making use of the almost never-ending possibilities of the global flow of information, but of doing it in a way which ensures that in the future we can fully protect the human dignity of the individual. This is indeed what our democratic societies are about – the individual’s human dignity and, equally, his freedom and security. In a nutshell: not everything that is technically possible is permissible and the end never justifies the means. This is the spirit in which we conducted our discussions on NSA data collection and on the balance between freedom and security. We are doing this at home in Europe and it is also taking place between the United States and the European Union.

Yet in my view despite all differences, the irrefutable fact remains that Germany, Eu-rope and the United States of America could not wish for better or more reliable part-ners than those that we have in the transatlantic partnership. Transatlantic relations are of paramount importance to all of us and indeed they also form the foundation of our extremely close economic cooperation.

Transatlantic economic relations provide for a total of 15 million jobs on both sides of the Atlantic, jobs which are key to our prosperity. German companies alone have created over 600,000 jobs in the United States. American companies and their sub-sidiaries employ approximately 800,000 people in Germany.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is an expression of a network of American busi-nesses which spans the globe. Since my last visit seven years ago the global econ-omy has changed dramatically. On the one hand, we have seen a significant in-crease in emerging countries’ clout in the global economy and in international co-operation – for instance within the framework of the G20. On the other hand, the international financial and economic crisis has had a profound and lasting impact on economic development in industrialised countries.

Currently – and happily – economic growth is gaining momentum around the world. The International Monetary Fund is forecasting 3.6% global growth for the current year and 3.9% for the following year. However we must not sit back in satisfaction upon hearing this. On the contrary – in Europe, the United States and in other in-dustrialised countries we are still facing serious challenges. These are excessive sovereign debt, stiflingly high unemployment in many countries, above all amongst the young, growing competition on international markets and the persistent vulnera-bility of the international financial system.

We will only be able to tackle these challenges if we cooperate closely and in a spirit of trust within the framework of transatlantic relations and of course multilateral insti-tutions – the IMF, the World Trade Organization, the OECD, as well as in the format of the G7 and G20.

As Mr Donohue noted, the Transatlantic Economic Council was established in 2007. It did not only make a contribution to smoother cooperation between American and European business in important fields such as electric mobility. Above all, it proved to sow the seeds of a project which many at the time considered to be pie in the sky – the project to launch negotiations on a transatlantic free trade agreement.

We have been in negotiations since last summer now. Negotiations on the Transat-lantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a key project within our transatlantic coop-eration. It will bring the European and American markets closer together than ever before, and it has the potential to strengthen them both. I am very grateful for the words that you chose to use: it is in the interest of both sides.

The European Union and the United States both already have a dense network of free trade agreements with third countries and are currently negotiating numerous further agreements. Now we must and will manage to reach agreements between ourselves and with each other in order to create a transatlantic free trade area. From our side we are quite clear that we want to achieve this by the end of 2015. This would clearly signal our determination to extensively remove trade barriers and would provide significant impetus for the development of the global economy.

Succeeding in reaching a truly ambitious as well as comprehensive agreement is crucial to this. Moreover, we want to abolish customs barriers between the European Union and the United States which are still in place but long out-dated. And yet we want to go further still, we also want to reduce non-tariff trade barriers as far as pos-sible. Over decades, a myriad of different standards and regulations have arisen on both sides. Companies involved in transatlantic trade often incur great cost comply-ing with such double regulation which does not present any identifiable benefit for our citizens.

Let me give you an example: today, a German mechanical engineering company which wants to export its products to the United States must design and manufac-ture numerous individual components specifically for the American market – from wiring to safety valves, despite the fact that their function and safety standards are identical. Naturally, this bureaucracy leads to resources being wasted, something which we could eliminate with a free trade agreement, enabling us in turn to use them to improve innovation.

In order to conclude a truly ambitious agreement however, we must go further than simply removing classic trade barriers. This is why we want to liberalise trade in ser-vices and the awarding of public project contracts. We want to achieve better coop-eration in developing innovative technologies and we want to better integrate small and medium-sized enterprises in transatlantic trade, as it is precisely SMEs in both of our countries that find it particularly difficult to branch out into the market of the other. For example this is the case for a German brewery from the Mittelstand, for whom even today, marketing its beer in the United States is nearly impossible due to high customs duties and onerous import regulations. I dare say you don’t know what you’re missing ...

Ladies and gentlemen, when negotiating the free trade agreement it is not only the competitiveness of our own firms that we have in mind. For us it is equally important to ensure that the agreement brings gains to employees and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic. They will benefit from the lower prices and wider range of prod-ucts brought by the common transatlantic market. For example, under the auspices of the Transatlantic Economic Council we have already reached an agreement on the mutual recognition of organically-produced food which has made trading organ-ic products of equal quality significantly easier.

I know that many people in Europe as well as in the United States are critical of or sceptical towards the negotiations on a transatlantic free trade agreement. We can therefore only achieve a successful outcome to the negotiations if we conduct them with complete transparency and the involvement of the public. This makes it im-portant for both negotiating parties to make it clear that a free trade agreement will not lead to the removal of regulations which protect consumers, employees or the environment. And of course there must remain leeway for new regulation to be in-troduced in the future.

Indeed the aim of the free trade agreement is not to serve the interests of companies at the expense of the interests of our citizens but rather to learn from one another and, in close dialogue, develop new standards to further improve their standard of living. If we succeed in this then Europe and America will be able to set global standards for better sustainability and consumer protection, because if we manage to conclude this transatlantic agreement, we will have unmatched power in the global economy which will put us in a position to determine the standards.

Our partners in the World Trade Organization are closely following the negotiations for the free trade agreement. I can assure them that our goal is and remains the most extensive possible removal of trade barriers – including within the multilateral framework of the WTO. We have recognised however, that at the moment, bilateral negotiations show most promise.

I believe that all progress in the negotiations for a transatlantic free trade agreement can enhance rather than limit prospects for progress in the WTO. The recent suc-cess of the WTO conference in Bali was a promising sign of a new spirit of coopera-tion within the organisation. Both the European Union and the United States played a significant role in the success achieved there, showing that our bilateral coopera-tion is in no way leading us to neglect multilateral affairs.

Ladies and gentlemen, trade policy can only be one building block in a comprehen-sive strategy to boost growth in our countries. In my view, it must come in addition to four further fields:

Firstly, we must get our public accounts back on an even keel once and for all.

The sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone clearly shows us that long-term prosperity can only be built on a foundation of sound public finances. We have certainly made significant progress in overcoming the crisis in the euro area – by agreeing new rules to ensure a stable monetary union, through successful rescue packages for crisis-hit countries and by setting up a European banking union. At the same time however, we know that the European public debt crisis has not yet been definitively overcome. The mistakes which were made when the economic and monetary union was founded over 20 years ago have not yet been rectified in a lasting manner. We must work on this and our aim must be to ensure that such a crisis in the euro area can never happen again.

Consolidating our budgets is an ongoing task. This is the case for many countries in Europe but of course also for our non-European partners such as the United States and Japan. It is also the topic of conversation when we talk amongst ourselves.

Secondly, we cannot slacken our efforts on implementing structural reforms.

In European countries as well as in the United States we are often faced with a wide range of different challenges – be it for the labour market, education policy or for optimal framework conditions for investment and innovation. Nonetheless, in all of our countries the fundamental task remains the same, namely to enable our compa-nies to hold their own in a competitive global economy.

Europe and America can greatly benefit from one another in this regard. Just as Germany and Europe are able to learn a great deal from the United States in terms of promoting young and innovative companies, I am also pleased that the positive experience that we have had with our dual system of vocational training has started to serve as a model in the United States.

Thirdly, we are both tasked with the challenge of guaranteeing a sustainable, safe and affordable energy supply.

We are very interested in cooperating even more closely with the United States in undertaking this task. We should indeed view the negotiations on the transatlantic free trade agreement as a chance to further intensify our energy relations. In light of the crisis in Ukraine, Europe is currently considering how to become less dependent on a unilateral energy supply, from Russia for example, and this is an area in which the transatlantic partnership offers a sterling opportunity.

Fourthly, it remains our duty to ensure that international financial markets are able to better withstand crises.

In this respect we have already achieved a lot – above all in the G20. Yet numerous areas still urgently need to be reformed. A particularly important aspect for me is re-forming shadow banking. We must reinstate the principle that if it gets into difficulty, every financial institution, regardless of its size, can be wound up in an orderly manner without recourse to the state. A certain amount has been achieved and a certain amount remains to be done. Europe has made a lot of progress in this re-cently, and America has been developing the relevant solutions for some time now.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am convinced that at the end of the day, we will only over-come all of these foreign policy, security and economic challenges together. For us, the transatlantic partnership is the key to peace, freedom, security and prosperity, and will remain so in the future.

We are all the more aware of this fact in 2014, in this important year of commemora-tion – 100 years after the start of the First World War, 75 years after the beginning of the Second World War and 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. We must never forget what a treasure peace and freedom, peace in freedom, is. We have a respon-sibility towards this treasure, politically as well as economically, both in Germany and in the United States of America. This is what forms the essence of this wonder-ful transatlantic partnership. Thank you for your attention!