EU–US relations are not limited to contacts at government level; they are also about people. Parliamentarians, business people, scientists, academics, trade unionists and a broad range of citizens’ groups have been encouraged to reinforce links with their transatlantic counterparts, to learn more about each other, to share experiences on the challenges faced, and to make their own input to pursuing our shared aims.

The Transatlantic Legislators Dialogue (TLD) existing since 1972 was formalised in 1999; it aims to strengthen and enhance parliamentary ties between the European Union and the United States. It includes bi-annual meetings of the European Parliament and the US Congress delegations, and a series of teleconferences organised on specific topics of mutual concern. Working together, they can promote mutual understanding and seek solutions to common problems.

At the 67^th inter-parliamentary meeting between the European Parliament and the US Congress (New York, 4-7 December 2009) a TLD Working Group was asked to come up with a list of concrete proposals for the further work of the TLD. The joint statement of the meeting can be found here [581 KB] .

The 70th inter-parliamentary meeting took place in Budapest on 29 June-1 July 2011. The joint statement of the meeting can be found here . The 71st inter-parliamentary meeting will take place in Jacksonville on 2-4 December 2011 

Launched in 1995 by the European Commission and the US government, the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) is a business-driven process whereby the businesscommunity on both sides of the Atlantic develop joint policy recommendations. Its aim is to boost transatlantic trade and investment opportunities by removing obstacles to the efficient conduct of international business. Each year, it brings together over 100 EU and US business leaders and high-level representatives of the European Commission and the US Administration in a two-day conference.

The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) launched in September 1998 contributes also to the dialogue between EU and US by transmitting consumers’ views on policy issues of interest on both sides of Atlantic. It brings together representatives from some 65 consumer organisations in the EU and the US to discuss a wide variety of issues and present their views to representatives from the US government and the European Commission at the TEC and at Summits.

At the level of an EU-US civil society dialogue and in order to stimulate it, a call for proposals was launched in April 2010. As a result, 3 new dialogues were initiated in September 2010 and will be running until August 2012: a Macro-Economic Dialogue focusing on macro-economic and financial policy issues of common interest, a TransatlanticEnvironmental Dialogue on Climate Change and a public health dialogue (see dialogues’ description [17 KB] ). 

Other civil society Dialogues also exist on a different scale. A joint EU-US working group has been set up on employment and labour-related issues, following the Agenda set in a Memorandum of Understanding [276 KB] (1996) between the Department of Labour and the EU.