Rudolf G. Adam
I attach most importance to the transition from a patron-client-relationship to one between equals. During the Cold War the United States assumed ultimate responsibility for the freedom and survival of Europe. Now, Europe has to care not only for her own security but engage in projecting security beyond her frontiers. The USA is overstretched, Europe is underperforming. The USA believes itself to be the sole superpower; Europe is on the way to becoming a global actor. During the next decades we will have to recalibrate capabilities, technological innovation, global responsibilities and still preserve the congruence of political values and the smooth working of transatlantic consensus building.
Christoph Bertram
The most important transatlantic issue is the health of the United States of America. But America is in crisis, a crisis much deeper than merely the current problems in Iraq would suggest. The US needs to overcome this crisis by:
- reforming its constitutional system to enhance democratic control over federal policies;
- understanding that the US is only one, though a central member of the international community, not a power apart but bound by the same rules as others; and
- making use of its prominent role to engage with others, in particular with Europe, in building institutions capable of addressing the challenges of the globalized world.
Philip von Boehm-Bezing
A transatlantic alliance must make it its goal to connect, protect and develop our common basic western values. Although we acknowledge our common value system based on our ancient history, the differences which have developed over the past two hundred years have been neither worked out nor accepted. At present, long-term success in such a transatlantic alliance begins with a common understanding between Americans and Europeans of their basic common values while respecting their differences, not only on the higher political and economic echelons, but at all levels. To do this requires considerable education and exchange early on. Europe and America will have to join together if they want to play any role in the international concert of the future.
John Hulsman
The real problem in the relationship is the dirty little secret of perception: Europe thinks it’s the future, and the United States thinks it’s the past. When America looks at Europe collectively it sees political division (witness the country schism over Iraq), economic sclerosis (anemic private sector growth rates for over a decade), and a nonexistent military capability (beyond France and the UK). For many Europeans, Iraq signals the utter failure of the unipolar world. The sad truth is, both sides are right.
Eckart von Klaeden
Freedom and its protection against any threat remains the most important transatlantic issue. Today’s threats, however, are different. International terrorism, proliferation, energy supply, global imbalances and regional hot spots currently set the security agenda in a unilateral world. Only a strong transatlantic partnership based on common values will enable us to face and solve those challenges. It is therefore essential that the EU and the US pursue their cooperation by multilateral means within the framework of NATO and the UN. Based on this approach a joint EU-US cooperation should, for example, enforce the peace process in the Middle East, find solutions for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, assist in non-proliferation and hold, or rather develop, strategic partnerships with Asian countries and Russia.
Hans-Ulrich Klose
Let’s work together in the future as we did in the past. Let’s define global and regional challenges and work out common strategies for intelligent crisis management and sustainable solutions. Let’s contribute to a better world, living up to our values.
Norbert Otten
One of the most pressing issues is the new transatlantic economic partnership, already announced by Chancellor Merkel and welcomed by President Bush. Transatlantic economic relations are not only by a wide margin the deepest and broadest between any two continents in history but have also always been the ties that—even during periodic episodes of stress and strain on both sides of the Atlantic—really bind the United States and Europe together. Fostering these ties through a new initiative for the further development of an open and barrier-free transatlantic market will strengthen this transatlantic platform. The transatlantic market could become a pathfinder and pace-setter, promoting not only further economic integration, but the innovation necessary to meet the challenges of globalization while assuring its benefits to everyone.
Related Material from the Atlantic Community:
- Brussels Forum 2007: Frank Talk on Transatlantic Relations
- GMFUS Foreign Policy Director Glenn Briefs Congress on Transatlantic Relations
- CSIS on Recasting the Euro-Atlantic Partnership
- Rosemary Righter on America’s Pampered Godchild
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