The new decade could not have begun under more auspicious circumstances for the Euro-American partnership. With the Treaty of Lisbon in force and a new legislature in place, the European Union is at last poised to embark on a new stage of its journey towards unity; meanwhile, with the election of Barack Obama, the United States has recovered the image and international credibility it had forfeited. The American President is again admired in Europe and the United States has returned to an approach based on the principles of multilateralism, dialogue and negotiation by which the Europeans set such store. The combined power of the two partners, which together account for more than half of the world's wealth, and the interdependence of their economies in the current crisis both betoken the need for - and the importance of - close Euro-American cooperation. The stage has thus theoretically been set for the renewal and further development of a strong partnership between Europe and the United States.
But this partnership has yet to get off the ground. Confronted with the
numerous international challenges the world faces today - climate change, the
risk of new economic crises, strategic tensions in the Middle East and Russia -
the Euro-American partnership, though indispensable, cannot deliver; it remains
of central importance but fails to work in practice, as demonstrated by the
failure of the
Copenhagen Climate Conference in December 2009. The paradoxical nature
of the Euro-American relationship does not stem from a failure of diplomacy or
a systematic clashing of views. It is rather the evolving international context
and the changes brought about by globalisation, and their impact on all the
players in the international arena, that sap the political will of both sides.
The result is that the partners refocus their energies on domestic politics. In
the last decade, the foundation of American power (military force,
technological excellence, economic success) has been severely shaken, as have
the core beliefs of the European project (continued prosperity, citizen
allegiance, the attractiveness of their model). An overarching understanding of
the effects of globalisation is needed if we are to devise and implement a successful
new Euro-American partnership suited to the world of the 21st century.
Globalisation is neither an inexorable force pushing all nations in the same direction, nor a collective guarantee of prosperity. It is, and will be, the result of political strategies and compromises, voluntary or not, peaceful or not, which emerge from the complex game of international relations. Developing and implementing a system of governance for globalisation that is relatively stable and consensual has become an imperative for all international stakeholders, in the economic, financial and political arenas.
The European Union and the United States have a role and a major responsibility
in this new concert of powers that is taking shape. But Euro-American relations
can no longer be approached and practiced in the way they were for more than
half a century. That is why a high-level European reflection group comprising
former Ministers and Heads of Government was brought together by the Think tank
Notre Europe to review the future of the Euro-American partnership, and propose
a new approach that could enable the Euro-American partnership to become a
springboard for a global partnership.
The European Union, its member states and the United States, must
urgently adopt a new common approach to
managing globalisation, based on the following principles: Supporting
and practicing multilateralism as the basis of international negotiations;
Actively promoting and endorsing shared sovereignty in the management of global
issues; Strengthening the Euro-American partnership as a platform for forging global
partnerships with all the players on the international stage, rather than as a
means of asserting Western leadership; and, foregoing, in Europe, the primacy
of national sovereignty and in the United States, the claim to unilateral world
leadership.
The EU urgently needs this new approach since the effects of
globalisation are putting it to the test and straining its capabilities. Europe
runs a real risk of being left by the wayside as the process unfolds. This
report is designed to avert that risk. If Europe is to maintain its influence
with the world at large and with the United States, the European Council must
urgently reaffirm the goal of greater political unity within the European
Union. In the age of globalisation, political Europe is a fresh idea.
Nicole Gnesotto is a former deputy chief of the French Foreign Affairs Ministry's think tank, the Centre d'Analyse et de Prévision (1987 - 90), Ms. Gnesotto directed the WEU's Institute for Security Studies (1999-2001) before becoming the first director of the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EU-ISS) until 2007. She is vice-president of Notre Europe.
In collaboration with Jerzy Buzek, Etienne Davignon, Jacques Delors, Joschka Fischer, Paavo Lipponen, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, Romano Prodi and Guy Verhofstadt, for Notre Europe.
Related Material from Atlantic Community:
- Robert Hutchings: US-EU Co-operation is Key to Global Governance
- Matthew Yglesias: How to Repair Our Relationship with Europe
- Dorl Castaneda: Unity in Diversity: EU-US Collaboration in Colombia
- 0
May 18, 2010
Olaf Theiler, Political Scientist, German Armed Forces, Platinum Contributor (173)
Yes, diplomatically spoken it is correct to state that the developments internationally and economically have forced the Nations to “refocus their energies on domestic politics”, as Nicole Gnesotto does. In more frank terms you could say that Nations became increasingly egoistic in recent years. Egoistic about money, about influence, about their own national power relative to the other European actors. Despite all hopes of institutionalists and integrationalists, practically all European Nations acted as cold hearted realists.
We can only imagine how bad things would have gone if the EU institutions would not already have existed. In a way one could argue that the EU proved its value by limiting the damage in a situation that could have followed the same devastating path of the financial crisis in 1929. Nevertheless, regarding the window of opportunity that is rightfully described by Nicole Gnesotto, the chance to shape the effects of globalization, it is a very disappointing result to see that neither the U.S., the only surviving superpower, nor the European Union, the strongest potential soft power, were (and are) able to take up this challenge.