European Institute

On March 26, 2015, The European Institute held a luncheon discussion with His Excellency David O’Sullivan, Ambassador and Head of the European Union Delegation to the United States. Ambassador O’Sullivan highlighted key initiatives within the European Union to spur sustainable economic growth such as the EU Investment Plan, the Energy Union, and the Digital Single Market, but he also acknowledged that Europe has its challenges, including countering Euroscepticism, negative attitudes toward migration, and such core foreign policy issues as the Ukraine crisis and growing instability in the Middle East. Ambassador O’Sullivan emphasized the need for the U.S. and the EU to take advantage of opportunities for greater transatlantic unity, such as cooperation on climate change policies in the walk-up to the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference, moving forward in addressing data protection and privacy concerns, as well as advancing the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) initiative.