U.S. And European Relations, Irrelevance On The Global Stage
Towards a post-American Europe: A Power Audit of EU-US Relations, No more special relationships: Europe is wasting its “Obama Moment”
As EU leaders headed to Washington last week for their transatlantic summit, an unsentimental President Obama has already lost patience with Europe. In a post-American world, the United States knows it needs effective partners. At present, Europe lacks coherence and purpose. If Europe cannot step up, the US will look for other partners to do business with.
The US no longer dominates the world as the sole superpower. It knows it must turn to China on the economy and Russia on nuclear disarmament. Yet Europeans remain in denial about how the world is changing. They make a fetish out of the transatlantic relationship, anxiously pursuing harmony for harmony’s sake without questioning what it is good for.
The mistaken belief of most European nations – not just the obvious Atlanticists like the UK and the Netherlands – that they have a ‘special relationship’ with the US further distorts the transatlantic dialogue. These member states deploy different strategies to ingratiate themselves with Washington in a competition for American favour, believing that this works better for them than any collective European approach. The result is a frustrated US and an impotent Europe: Europe has 30,000 troops in Afghanistan yet virtually no say in strategy.
The truth is, the US would prefer a more united EU, but expects so little that it cannot bring itself to greatly care. When the EU is hard-headed, as with trade negotiations, the US listens. When it is not, Europeans are asking to be divided and ruled.
For Europe to become a credible and strategic partner for the US, Europeans need to shift their political psychology away from fetishising the transatlantic relationship. European governments need to get over the mistaken belief that their individual ‘special relationships’ matter in Washington, and learn instead to act together and speak to the US with one voice.
Europeans will have to discuss big strategic issues – like Afghanistan, Russia and the Middle East – as Europeans, in relation to European interests, within the EU. Instead of merely attempting to persuade the Americans, Europeans need to approach their political differences with the US by negotiating strategic compromises.
The transatlantic relationship is not what it once was. What it becomes is largely up to Europe.
Europe has the US president it wished for, but Barack Obama lacks the strong transatlantic partner he wants. As European Council on Foreign Relations analyst Nick Witney and Jeremy Shapiro from the Brookings Institution warn in ECFR’s latest report, ‘Towards a post-American Europe: A Power Audit of EU-US Relations’, national governments in the EU must shake off illusions about the transatlantic relationship if they want to avoid irrelevance on the global stage.
With EU leaders heading to Washington for their transatlantic summit on 3 November, Shapiro and Witney caution EU member states: an unsentimental President Obama has already lost patience with a Europe lacking coherence and purpose. In a post-American world, the United States knows it needs effective partners. If Europe cannot step up, the US will look for other privileged partners to do business with. Yet the report reveals that a large majority of EU member states still believe they enjoy a ‘special relationship’ with the US and compete for access and favour as if the transatlantic relationship remained the dominant foreign policy paradigm in Washington.
ECFR’s report, published today, argues that:
- Europeans are in denial about how the world is changing. They sense their increasing marginalisation yet cling to the outdated belief that they remain dependent on the US for their security. They make a fetish out of the transatlantic relationship, anxiously pursuing harmony for harmony’s sake without questioning what it is good for.
- European governments’ desires to gratify the US rob the EU of influence. A number of European nations – including the UK, the Netherlands and Portugal – like to think they have a ‘special relationship’ with the US which works better for them than any collective approach. They deploy different strategies to ingratiate themselves with Washington in a competition for American favour. The result is a frustrated US and an uninfluential Europe: Europe has 30,000 troops in Afghanistan yet virtually no say in strategy.
- The US needs strong partners in a world that it no longer dominates. It knows it can turn to China on the economy and Russia on nuclear disarmament. In comparison, Washington is disappointed with Europe and sees EU member states as infantile: responsibility shirking and attention seeking.
- The US would prefer a more united EU, but expects so little that it cannot bring itself to greatly care. When the EU is hard-headed, as with trade negotiations, the US listens. When it is not, Europeans are asking to be divided and ruled.
- Institutional fixes are not the answer. The solution is not more summits, forums and dialogues. Europeans need to decide what they want when it comes to Afghanistan, Russia and the Middle East peace process and approach Obama with clear objectives. The ‘hobbled giant’ that is Europe needs to understand that both sides of the Atlantic will stand to gain from such a cultural shift.
Read the executive summary and full report: http://ecfr.eu/page/-/documents/towards-a-post-american-europe.pdf
Topics: Atlanticists, EU, Europe, Governance, government, Netherlands, Obama moment, politics, post American Europe, Post American World, transatlantic dialogue, transatlantic relationship, U.S., UK, United States
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