Fresno Leader

WASHINGTON – Congressman Jim Costa (CA-21) released the following statement after co-leading a bipartisan congressional delegation to Stockholm, Sweden. The delegation held the 86th Inter-Parliamentary Meeting (IPM) of the Transatlantic Legislators’ Dialogue (TLD) focused on strengthening the NATO alliance, global security challenges, and supporting Ukrainians in defending their sovereignty. Costa serves as the Ranking Member of the Transatlantic Legislators’ Dialogue.

“It was two days of constructive exchange between our counterparts of the European Parliament and Swedish leaders on important issues affecting the Transatlantic partnership. This is a critical time in world history with threats to democratic nations globally. Therefore, it is imperative that the United States Congress work together and collaborate with our allies in Europe. I believe the future success of Democracies in the 21st century depends on bold, strategic engagement. I want to thank Co-Chairman Moran for his strong and steady leadership on behalf of our bipartisan delegation. We have more work to do, and I look forward to our next TLD Dialogue in the United States.” said TLD Ranking Member Jim Costa. 

“I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to engage in face-to-face, meaningful conversations with our counterparts from the European Union and with the Swedish government. I was especially pleased for the opportunity to reaffirm the commitment of the U.S. to support Sweden’s accession into NATO, and state emphatically that Turkey and Hungary should immediately drop any objections, clearing the way for full admission into NATO before the upcoming Vilnius Summit. Sweden, a country that maintained neutrality for over 200 years, has taken the courageous step to join NATO’s critical military alliance, and it has met or exceeded all conditions precedent for admission into NATO. The U.S. should do all possible to support this courageous step and secure this alliance immediately,” said TLD Chairman Nathaniel Moran. 

During these meetings, U.S. Congressional Members discussed several matters with their EU Parliament counterparts, including the security of the European continent, Russia’s unprovoked war on Ukraine, threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party worldwide, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), and potential areas of cooperation between the United States and the European Union that would strengthen our shared commitment to freedom and democracy. 

After Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO. Finland was approved and joined in April 2023. With Sweden’s bid for NATO entry still pending, the TLD is advocating to push Sweden over the finish line to be NATO’s 32nd member.

For more detail on the meeting, read the joint statement of the 86th Inter-Parliamentary Meeting of the Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue here.

The members of the delegation included: Chair Nathaniel Moran (TX-01), Ranking Member Jim Costa (CA-21), and U.S. Representatives Ed Case (HI-01), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), Bill Huizenga (MI-04), Andy Barr (KY-06), Victoria Spartz (IN-05), Barry Moore (AL-02), Ben Kline (VA-06), and Del. Amaya Radewagen (AS-AL).

The Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue (TLD) supports relationships between members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the European Parliament. The inter-parliamentary group meets twice per year, once in the United States and once in Europe. Created in 1999, the dialogue is committed to bipartisanship and focuses on issues of mutual concern between the United States and the European Union: including trade, economic policy, energy, and climate policy, data protection, counterterrorism, and cybersecurity.  

Original source can be found here.