EU-DIGEST

US-European relations in 2009 - by Jeremy Black

Looking at developments in Europe and the U.S.-European relationship today, like all things in history, in part we have been here before but in part what we are seeing is new. The current strains and issues in U.S.-European relations in some respects are resonant of the situation in the late 1960s-early 1970s, when tensions in those relations were far worse than they are now.

The basis in terms of dealing with Europe is you have informed public's who are not inherently antithetical to American values, who are not run by authoritarian states, who are heavily influenced culturally by the U.S. In fact, America's influence culturally is very strong across Europe. Given that that is the context, the possibility for America to exert either soft or hard power in Europe is greater than the possibility to do so in most other parts of the world. The opportunity is there. Most of the faults are on the European side, but Europe is a large part of the world, with more than 400 million people and several of the top-10 economies. To write it off because one is worried about whether these states are sound is understandable as an emotional response, but it's not practical in a competitive world.

Labels: Atlantic Alliance, EU, US

Desperate Need for Serious Change in Transatlantic Foreign Policy - by Ali Fathollah-Nejad

Almost eight years of the Bush/Cheney Administration have plunged the world into a deep political, economic, and moral crisis, whose overcoming will probably require decades if a sharp turn does not immediately take place. That is why the newly elected Obama/Biden Administration must bring about serious change.For the time being, until Barack Obama's inauguration in January, American and European decision-makers would be well advised to undertake every necessary step to dissuade the current Bush/Cheney Administration from deepening the Middle East quagmire by launching another preventive war against its proclaimed Iranian archenemy -- a war which veteran U.S. foreign-policy expert William R. Polk characterized as a "great and present danger."

Labels: Atlantic Alliance, EU, US

Europe's Road Ahead - Europe needs to get over its crush on Obama - by Michael Elliott

"In the case of Turkey, the question for Europe is not, as with Russia, how to avoid a dangerous rivalry. It is, rather, how to institutionalize relations with Turkey so that it can be Europe's partner in a dangerous neighborhood. At a recent World Economic Forum conference in Istanbul, I was struck both by how creative Turkish diplomacy now is in the whole ring of instability to its east and south, from Armenia right round to Syria, and how much Turks wanted to work with Europeans to extend the area of peace and economic integration which has, since the Treaty of Rome 51 years ago, steadily moved from the North Sea eastwards.

It will take skillful diplomacy and sustained political and economic engagement for Europe to find new and better relations with Russia and Turkey. And here is the key thing: the U.S., however charismatic its new President may be, will be little or no help.

Russia and Turkey are Europe's neighbors, not America's. Washington will always see relations with its former superpower rival differently from the way Europe does — as, indeed, was demonstrated in its reaction to the Georgian war.And that, perhaps, is the best of all reasons why Europe needs to get over its crush on Obama. In the things that really matter to Europe, it doesn't help. Love is a fine thing; but as all who have loved know, it does not solve all the problems that life throws our way."

Labels: Atlantic Alliance, EU, Turkey, US

Europe's Road Ahead - by Michael Elliott

If Obama is as wise as he seems, non-Americans will appreciate soon enough that he has just been elected President of the United States, not Secretary-General of the United Nations. For Europe's great and good, this will not be easy. Europeans love thinking about America, part in longing, part in envy, part in disdain. You could spend a nice year trotting from Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire to Salzburg, from the Italian lakes to German castles, doing nothing but ponder in earnest detail the state of the Atlantic alliance. It's a monumental waste of time. Nearly six years after those passionate disagreements on the invasion of Iraq, U.S.-Europe relations are just fine, with a clutch of Atlanticists heading the governments of Britain, France and Germany — and leading the European Commission in Brussels, too. The thing now is to figure out what the world's collection of rich democracies can do with their substantial power. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the New York Times recently that she once said to European leaders, "Can we take the trans-Atlantic relationship off the sofa? And stop analyzing it and analyzing whether it's healthy, and actually put it to work in common causes?" She has a point.

Many in Europe know just what to do with this peace and prosperity: lie back and enjoy it. As Gideon Rachman argued in a provocative column in the Financial Times in May, Europe has become a "giant Switzerland." Its people do not consider themselves threatened by the turmoil in the world around it, and see little point in going out looking for dragons to slay. Barack Obama may be Europe's darling, but he will find that his suitor's ardor cools pretty quickly the moment he asks European parents to volunteer their sons and daughters to beef up NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Labels: Atlantic Alliance, EU, Europe, USA

EUROPEAN ECONOMY - EU ON THE RIGHT COURSE - FOLLOWING US STYLE ECONOMIC REMEDIES NOT APPLICABLE

While EU Finance ministers are presently in Luxembourg hashing out a common economic policy encompassing the 27 member European Union, a potentially dangerous Global financial sector drama continues to unfold around the world.

The US financial sector supported in the US press mainly by the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and Fox News, with hyped up, over-active, "testosterone induced" writers, commentators, and anchors, is not only very critical of the EU, but also keeps hammering on the fact that Europe is suffering the same financial problems as the US and should also use the same remedies. This basically is not correct. One can not compare the US financial problems with those of the EU. The US, apart from its collapsing financial market, also has a huge 13 trillion budget deficit, which if we ad to that the nebulous military budget and other hidden budget items it would probably come closer to 18 trillion. In comparison, the EU's deficit by agreement among the member states is not allowed to go beyond 3% of GDP. Another factor is that US financial sector is far more deregulated than Europe's. This fact, without a doubt, has proven to be one of the major causes of the present US economic meltdown. It comes therefore as no surprise that in the EU, most of the problematic banks and financial institutions are shown to be closely linked to the US sub-prime lending disaster.

Some of the EU countries presently experiencing financial problems, even though they are EU members, are not part of the euro zone - the 15 members and nine states and territories using the euro as their sole currency within the 27 member EU. Britain is one of those countries. The British mainly follow American style banking practices, with all the dire consequences this has recently brought with it.

Dealing with what can only be seen as a US imported problem, the overriding factor to guide EU politicians is to follow instructions spelled out in the EU Treaty of Rome (the basic and original EU governing guideline), which categorically states that "interests of the EU citizens override any other prerogative, including those of an economic nature". In other words, no EU blank check should be made available to the EU financial sector.

Some European politicians seem to have understood. Contrary to what the US is doing in trying to solve its financial crises, most EURO zone countries, rather than bailing out the whole financial system, have individually focused on saving those troubled banks which are still manageable and guaranteeing private citizens savings.

Looking towards the future, it is crucial for Europe to start plotting its own independent financial course if the US continues to put the interest of its financial sector above those of its citizens and seeks to shove this policy down its global partners throat. Once the US presidential election is behind us, Europe's first step should be to start negotiations with the new US Administration on these and other economic issues of vital importance, not only to the EU, but also for the restoration of a badly bruised Atlantic Alliance and the financially intertwined Global community.

Labels: Atlantic Alliance, EU, EU Economy, Financial Crises, NATO. US

Russia's War With Georgia May Revive U.S.-Europe Rift - by Mark Deen and Reed V. Landberg

Russia's attack on Georgia may reopen a U.S. rift with European Union leaders over how the trans-Atlantic alliance should deal with its main Cold War adversary. While President George W. Bush dispatched U.S. air and naval forces to deliver ``vigorous'' humanitarian aid to Georgia, the EU's foreign ministers have carefully avoided assigning blame for the conflict and plan to send non-military monitors to the region only later this year. Europe's caution in responding to Russia's first major offensive since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union illustrates differences with the U.S. over the military role of the EU and the development of trade and energy links with Russia.In parallel to the falling out over Iraq in 2003, divisions exist in Europe over how hard a line to take with Russia. Countries subject to Soviet rule during the Cold War are pushing for a tougher response, while the richer Western Europeans want to play down conflict.

Trade between Russia and the EU jumped 23 percent in 2007 to $284 billion, making the EU Russia's biggest trading partner and Russia the bloc's third-largest partner. The EU also depends on Russia to supply a quarter of its natural gas.

Labels: Atlantic Alliance, EU, Georgia, New Europe, Old Europe, Russia, US

Labels: Atlantic Alliance, Europe, Georgia, Russia

Rising To The Challenges! - A Conquered Continent: The True Relationship Between Europe and America

There is not now nor has there been at any time during Bush's tenure any significant estrangement between the ruling elites in Europe and the United States. UCLA historian Perry Anderson gives a very detailed analysis of the reality of the situation in the latest London Review of Books (via a steer from the Angry Arab). Much of the piece is given over to an examination of how post-Cold War Europe really works (and it has very little to do with the ignorant frothings of Mark Steyn and his comrades in fear of dark, manly, prodigiously breeding Muslims). But lower down in the piece, Anderson delves into the specifics of the U.S.-Europe relation today, and finds very little distance but a great deal of continuity – and a continuity that helps explain what Anderson rightly calls the "surrender of Europe" to the United States. This is expressed most sharply in the actions (as opposed to rhetoric) of European governments in regard to Bush's Terror War, where they have countenanced the war of aggression in Iraq and played a major role in the vile rendition program of Bush's gulag.

Labels: Atlantic Alliance, EU, US

"Europe Must First Come Together" - by Dennis Macshane

Does the welcome decline of European anti-Americanism mean Europe and the United States are converging? Not yet—and not for the foreseeable future. While government leaders in the European Union pay lip service to the United States and its ideals, they remain far apart on a slew of social and economic issues. But beyond that, a true alliance between the United States and the EU cannot take place until Europe finds a singular voice with which it can begin to build bridges across the Atlantic."

Poland has been showered with EU funds provided by taxpayers farther west, in the biggest cash transfer in Polish history. Yet instead of focusing on Poland's EU destiny, the ruling Kaczynski twins have accused their main political rivals of being in the pay of Germany. Warsaw's rhetoric mocks the idea that European convergence will one day replace the old nationalisms.

The French and Dutch rejections of the EU constitution in 2005 were symptoms of a Europe that does not know where it is going or what it wants to be. In Britain there is at best ambivalence, and often downright hostility, to Europe. The decline of anti-Americanism will not lead to a narrowing of the Atlantic until there is European leadership that is self-confident about the EU's future and can face down this kind of nationalist sectarianism, which sees Europe as a problem rather than as a solution.

Labels: Atlantic Alliance, European Unity, Nationalism