The European Parliament Liaison Office with the US Congress (EPLO) is the Washington, D.C. office of the European Parliament(EP) responsible for developing relationships between the US Congress and the EP on issues calling for trans-Atlantic legislative and political cooperation. It attempts to build a trans-Atlantic network of legislators and legislative staffers focused on issues of mutual concern. EP President Jerzy Buzek inaugurated the office on April 29, 2010. EPLO is the only EP office outside the [[European Union], residing at 2175 K Street, N.W. Washington, D.C.[1]
In January 1999 in Strasbourg at the 50th Interparliamentary meeting, EP and US Congress delegations agreed to establish the Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue (TLD), an ongoing effort to fortify the parliamentary ties called for in the New Transatlantic Agenda of 1995. (EP-US Congress ties date to 1972, when the first US Congressional delegation visited the EP in Strasbourg.[2]) EPLO facilitates this growing legislative exchange. Today, the TLD comprises bi-annual meetings (alternating between the US and EU capitals) on a number of topics of common interests (e.g., job creation and competitiveness, trade,internet issues, foreign policy).[3] The TLD brings together Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) with their US Congressional counterparts. TLD activities also include videoconferences, special working groups, and the facilitation of committee-to-committee exchanges between legislative committees of the European Parliament and the US Congress.
EPLO coordinates its efforts with those of the Delegation of the European Union to the United States, under the direction of EU Ambassador João Vale de Almeida.
The most recent round of the TLD has been the 73rd EU/US Interparliamentary Meeting and Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue Meeting, hosted November 30-December 1, 2012 in D.C.
The current Head of Office is Antoine Ripoll, and the Deputy Head of Office Geoffrey Harris. EPLO comprises a number of European staffers and policy experts and American interns.
