Ambassador Angelos Pangratis, deputy head of the delegation of the European Commission to the United States, lectured on E.U.-U.S. economic and political relations to Mississippi State University students and faculty in the Dorman Hall auditorium Wednesday.
He spoke about cooperation between the E.U. and the U.S., addressing how both presidential candidates will bring further cooperation.
“They have announced initiatives and policy that will certainly go in the direction of European positions,” he said. “[For example they have outlined plans to address climate change], like emission control, where both candidates have indicated willingness to accept targets of emission reductions, and eventually accept cap and trade systems for emissions.”
In a cap and trade system, the government puts a limit on CO2 emissions, and companies that go above the limit must buy emission rights from companies that do not exceed the limit.
“It is a very important issue for the Europeans, and we consider it an important instrument to control CO2 emissions and climate change,” Pangratis said.
The chair of International Security Studies Janos Radvanyi said when Pangratis spoke in Jackson two years ago he found it was important for Americans to have a clear view on where they stand with the Atlantic Alliance, the alliance between the U.S. and the E.U. He said he learned from Pangratis that some countries have made great progress by joining the E.U.
Director of the Stennis Institute of Government Marty Wiseman said it is important for Mississippi to recognize the global economy.
“The days are long gone when a country or certainly a state could isolate itself and survive without contact with the rest of the world,” he said. “What happens in Europe, what happens in Africa or what happens in east Asia invariably is going to have an impact not only on the U.S. but on the state of Mississippi.”
He said Mississippians have to realize the world is the market now.
“That’s a lesson we probably — like a lot of things – are somewhat slow to learn, but I think we’re getting there,” Wiseman said.
Pangratis said the E.U. is the most important foreign investor in the U.S.
“There are, in all of the U.S., something like seven million jobs that are provided as a result of the investments made by European companies,” he said. “In fact, of all Americans who work for a foreign investment company, 70 percent work for European companies.”
Radvanyi said he thinks it was good idea to bring Pangratis to MSU.
“That way, the university students and faculty, but mainly the students, will benefit from his expertise and will know more about the E.U., what it really is, what is the Atlantic Alliance, and in addition, right now it is an extremely topical good time for him to come,” Radvanyi said. “The E.U. got together Tuesday and made a resolution asking the U.S. to fix the economic crisis we are in.”
Pangratis said the crisis illustrates the need for expanding cooperation.
“One of the important lessons of the crisis is that it is not easy to distinguish between domestic aspects and international aspects,” he said. “We have here a crisis which will lead to a global scale that was basically created because of the domestic practices of the U.S. financial institutions.”
He said it is impossible to draw a clear line between domestic concerns and policy making and international concerns.
“In fact, it illustrates that we need to look further, think further and review a lot of the practices of the past,” Pangratis said.
Vice president for research and economic development Kirk Schulz said it is important for prominent diplomats like Pangratis to come to MSU because the university’s reputation is not strong nationally.
“We bring in these folks, they’re impressed and leave and go, ‘Wow, what articulate students and what a beautiful campus. Mississippi is a much more progressive place than I thought it was,'” he said. “They leave with a much more positive impression of us as a university and our state.”
Sophomore biological science major Brittany Anderson thought the speech was direct and honest.
“I learned how genuine the relationship was between Europe and the United States when Dr. Pangratis stated that, ‘Even though Europe and the United States do not agree on certain things, they will not let that jeopardize their relationship,'” she said.