The European Union Ambassador to the US, John Bruton, has said that the European Union and the United States were now working more closely to promote their joint interests globally.
However, he said differences remained on strategies for tackling climate change and over efforts to get concessions from the US on farm policy, which could break the deadlock on the Doha round of global trade talks.
Mr Bruton was addressing the National Forum On Europe in Dublin Castle today on the relationship between the European Union and the United States.
During the debate which followed his address, he also said that countries which opt out of justice and home affairs issues in the proposed EU Reform Treaty could expect to have less influence on policy.
Mr Bruton did not explicitly refer to the decision of the Irish Government to exercise the opt out, but said he believed the proposal to introduce majority voting in the justice area for the first time was very important if Europe was to act cohesively against terrorism, one of the major international threats.
Responding to calls from Sinn Féin for a Europe-wide referendum on the Reform Treaty, Mr Bruton said he believed in parliamentary democracy, not plebiscites.
"Complicated matters should not be decided by referenda," he said.
"Having served as a politician in an elected House for 35 years, I believe very strongly in the Dáil or the Senate - or whatever the relevant body is - taking the decision for the people and the people deciding whether they want to throw them out , on the basis of that decision, at the next election."
On climate change, Mr Bruton said the US policy of making promises and then returning a few years later to review them was "almost as good as an oral contract".
"It's not worth the paper it's written on," he said.
Minister of State for European Affairs Dick Roche told the forum it was a matter of concern that the negative European public perception of the US role in the world remained at odds with the positive nature of its engagement with Europe at political and Government level.
"This is perhaps something that the United States could play a role in trying to resolve," he said.