Posted by Kyle Atwell in
Transatlantic Relations on Tuesday, December 18. 2007
Nicholas Sarkozy stated last weekend that the issue of Kosovo's independence, "is not an affair of Mr. Bush or Mr. Putin, but one of Europe." (Le Figaro, in French). Another article by John Ward Anderson in the Washington Post reports:
"Kosovo's independence is inevitable," French President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters after the summit. "It's an issue for Europe to sort out."
Does Sarkozy mean to say that despite a recent history thick with US political and military engagement in the Balkans, Kosovo is now strictly a European issue? Has Sarkozy forgotten so quickly that the United States bailed out Europe in the Balkans even after the 1991 declaration by Luxembourg's foreign minister Jacques Poos that "This is the hour of Europe?"
Joerg recently cited the Jacques Poos quote in an Atlantic Review post he titled "Kosovo: Is the EU Home Alone in the Balkans?" Perhaps another question is, "Kosovo: Whose House is it?"
What is the benefit for Sarkozy or the EU of preemptively decrying American support, especially when the US and EU strategy for Kosovo seem to be in sync? Why not declare this the "hour of the allies" or the "the hour of cooperation", or perhaps be more candid: "this is the hour we will hopefully not f*** up again in the Balkans, but if we do we are glad to have our American friends to back us up?"
Sarkozy's statement is particularly frustrating to America's proponents of transatlantic cooperation, because it is exactly the type of churlish bombast that leads American Europhobes to argue that the pubescent EU Common Foreign and Security Policy aims to build the EU as a counterweight to the United States, rather than as a stronger ally.
Posted by Editors in
on Friday, November 16. 2007
This is a guest blog post about the European Union written by Pamela, who monitors EU agricultural policy on behalf of U.S. agricultural interests and thereby became familiar with the political and philosophical underpinnings of the European Union. It would be great to have a debate about the issues raised by Pamela.
What is This "mystical conception?" I'm not referring to a theological tenant. I'm recalling Harold Macmillan's swoon over the Schuman Plan, which has evolved into what we know today as the European Union. It would be churlish to expect Macmillian to have foreseen the hydra the object of his admiration has become. But surely contemporary Europeans are cognizant, yes? No?
If 'yes', then I must ask why it has come to this. If 'no', then I must ask how it has come to this.
Over the past two years or so, I have solicited the opinions of Europeans I've encountered. The negative opinions closely track my own. The positive views of the EU were more illuminating for me. They exposed premises in my own thinking about Europe and forced me to recalibrate my mental 'ear'. In the early days of the conversations I had, it would have been quite reasonable to tell me "I know you think you know what I said, but that's not what I said".
The gulf between the cultural conceptions of 'nationalism' held by Europeans and Americans could hardly be wider. To Americans it simply means the primacy of a nation's self-interest. It is an amoral political construct. Yet when Europeans hear the word, they hear one loaded with a cacophony of voices crying 'aggression', 'destruction', 'racism'.
Without exception, when the abolition of the nation-state is used as a justification for the European Union, it is the European concept of 'nationalism' that is the underlying premise. Still, from the perspective of this admittedly conservative American, the 'soft power' posture toward its global neighbors that supporters of the EU tout as one of its primary virtues is concomitant with a 'soft totalitarianism' toward its citizens.
Continue reading "What is This "Mystical Conception""
Posted by Editors in
Transatlantic Relations on Tuesday, October 16. 2007
Great quote by British Historian Timothy Garton Ash at the end of an interview with Spiegel International: "Brussels spends more money on cleaners than it does on people thinking about European foreign policy."
Asked whether the EU would strongly oppose a possible war against Iran, he responded: "It's safe to say that Europe would be nearly unanimous on that count." But that's not enough unity for Garton Ash, who is one of the founders of the new European Council on Foreign Relations, which should "do the European thinking" and suggest policies to enable Europe to "speak with a clearer and more united voice to the rest of the world."
The American (!) banker and philanthropist George Soros was "dissatisfied with the course of American foreign policy" and made a generous donation. So... Is the European Council on Foreign Relations supposed to come up with alternatives to US policy or even suggest opposition to the US?
Posted by Joerg Wolf in
Transatlantic Relations on Monday, September 17. 2007
"The US ambassador to Baghdad has said that he has seen a greater recognition from some European countries that they have a stake in the outcome in Iraq," reports Yahoo News. Ryan Crocker referred to the recent visits to Baghdad by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and his Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt:
"It seems to me that some major European countries are now taking another look, a new look at Iraq," Crocker said, "and recognising four-and a-half years after the fall of Saddam that they have long-term interests in how things turn out in Iraq." (...) "This expanded European engagement is a very positive thing," Crocker said. (...)
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has expressed an interest in travelling to Iraq.
I think Ambassador Crocker is too optimistic regarding European help.
A video clip with Crocker's statement is posted below the fold. There is some advertisement, but so far all ads were for a good cause.
Continue reading "Ambassador Crocker Sees Increased European Support for Iraq"
Posted by Joerg Wolf in
German Politics on Thursday, July 5. 2007
The European Commission presents itself on Youtube as EUtube. Nearly two million users have watched a short clip with sex-scenes from EU-funded movies in the last three weeks. So, the EU considers these sex scenes as justification and advertisement for its funding of the European cinema...? WTF?
Apparently Germans watch the wrong movies: 25% of Germans do not know the capital of the United States, writes Spiegel (in German) about an Emnid poll. [HT: David]
UPDATE: Check out Prof. Marcos Ancelovici's related blog post: Eroticizing the European Union.
Posted by Joerg Wolf in
on Tuesday, July 3. 2007
July 1, 2007 Portugal took over the EU Presidency from Germany. Ana Gomes, member of the EU Parliament, details the Portuguese agenda for EU external relations over the next six months in the Atlantic Community:
The flagship event for the presidency will be the EU-Africa Summit in December 2007. Portugal wants to strengthen the transatlantic alliance and organize the inaugural EU summit with Brazil. Renewed emphasis on the Euromed process and European Neighbourhood Policy is also planned.
Doug Merrill comments in A Fistful of Euros:
Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa will need all of his namesake’s wisdom, and none of his taste in last drinks, Related post in the Atlantic Review: US Think Tanker Considers the German EU Presidency Successful
Posted by Joerg Wolf in
Transatlantic Relations on Thursday, June 28. 2007
Wess Mitchell, director of research at the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington DC, grades the German EU Presidency. Merkel gets a B for "re-starting [European] integration and As for "re-calibrating ties with Russia" and "re-energizing transatlantic relations," because:
Many Germans wanted Merkel to do the same on CIA overflights and missile defense. Her decision to downplay these disagreements and focus on common interests has given U.S.-EU ties their biggest boost in a decade. Perhaps the CIA renditions will create some tension in the US-German relationship in the next few weeks, if (!) the Spiegel article mentioned in the Atlantic Review post Will Merkel Request the Extradition of CIA Agents? accurately reflects the perception in Washington DC.
Wess Mitchell's column let to an interesting discussion on the German-Polish relationship in the comments section. Read it all in the Atlantic Community. Full disclosure: I work for this new Open Think Tank on Global Issues. I'd appreciate your comments here on Atlantic Review and on Atlantic Community. Registration at the latter is real fast.
Personal comment: Germany has worked hard on reconciliation and a deepening of ties with Poland. Besides, without German support, Poland might not have been able to join the EU in 2004. The German and the Polish people get along much better than our politicians do. I think, the current problem in German-Polish relations are the Kaczyński twins and the obnoxious German association of displaced persons led by Erika Steinbach. When both parties have left the political scene the German-Polish relationship will be much better.
Posted by Joerg Wolf in
Transatlantic Relations on Sunday, June 24. 2007
The Washington Times let Paul Belien write the editorial "The 'EUSSR'" about the EU Summit: Liberty and democracy require limited governments, while supranationalism by definition tends toward unlimitedness. The former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky refers to the EU as the "EUSSR." He does so, he explains, because the former USSR and the EU share the same goal: the obliteration of nations. "The European Union, like the Soviet Union, cannot be democratized," he says. If the EU becomes a genuine state itis bound to be an evil empire, because there is no European nation. Belien concludes: "By seeking to extinguish national loyalty, the EU also destroys freedom, accountability and democracy."
Posted by Joerg Wolf in
International Economics, Transatlantic Relations on Saturday, April 28. 2007
In light of the EU-US Summit on April 30, 2007, José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, writes in the International Herald Tribune:
Americans invested four times as much in Belgium in 2005 as they did in China last year. Facts like this one remind us that sometimes, in periods of rapid change, it is important to hang on to the big picture. And the trans-Atlantic economy is as big as it gets. Collectively, the European Union and the United States register more than $3 trillion of commercial sales annually. Bilateral trade between the European Union and the United States accounts for 40 percent of all global trade. Fourteen million jobs are dependent on our economic links.
The EU and US leaders "will sign a framework for greater trans-Atlantic economic integration which sets out a clear vision of where we want to go, adds value to existing work, and provides continuity and accountability." writes Barroso.
Posted by Joerg Wolf in
German Politics on Sunday, March 25. 2007
Rosemary Righter writes in The Times about the EU's 50th birthday: "Now you're grown up, make friends with America." (HT: Don)
Radio Free Mike took a picture at the EU Council and comments that he "can’t think of a better parody of the EU."
IHT: "Merkel wins praise from EU partners." And Frederick Kempe, president of the Atlantic Council, adds some more admiration in his Bloomberg column:
Don't miss the most significant story in the noise around this weekend's 50th birthday bash for the European Union in Berlin. Party hostess German Chancellor Angela Merkel has emerged as the West's most influential and promising leader in her second year in office, due to deeply held principles, good timing and no competition.
The Economist got it right: "Germany's chancellor shines more brightly abroad than at home."
Posted by Editors in
Transatlantic Relations on Friday, February 2. 2007
EU Observer:
Speaking to EU officials in a Berlin conference hosted by the German foreign ministry on Monday (29 January), the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance's secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said it is "astounding" how far from the envisaged "strategic partnership" the two institutions have remained despite attempts to bring them closer. "Some deliberately want to keep NATO and the EU at a distance from one another. For this school of thought, a closer relationship between NATO and the EU means excessive influence for the USA."
"I do not share European instinctive fears about undue influence of the USA in European affairs anyhow. Europe is sufficiently self-aware – and they know it in Washington too," Mr De Hoop Scheffer argued. The NATO chief added that even the US has overcome original suspicions towards the EU's security and defence policy and does not view the policy as a potential danger or the alliance and the EU as rivals. (...)
The EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana - himself a head of NATO eight years ago - pointed out that defence spending still lags behind in Europe - in contrast to the US. "Only a handful of member states' defence spending is over 2 percent of gross domestic product," he said, stressing that the US spends twice as much with over 30 percent of budget put aside for research and equipment while Europeans invest less than 20 percent in new technology.
Related articles from DW World: NATO Head Criticizes Poor Cooperation with EU: "The European Union and NATO could not deal jointly and effectively with a world crisis, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer warned in Berlin."
And: Report: German Pilots Train for Combat in Afghanistan
ENDNOTE: Secretary Condoleezza Rice is interviewed about various issues by Germany's leading news program Tagesthemen (video).
Posted by Editors in
on Sunday, January 21. 2007
Iraq vs. Darfur: Foreign Policy Blog
Torture: "The European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that two Chechen brothers were tortured in their strife-torn Russian republic and that authorities there failed to investigate their allegations of abuse." The Washington Post
EU Military Capabilities: EU Observer:
Europe says it is ready for more military action under the EU flag in 2007 after its "success" in Congo last year, with the German EU presidency putting Kosovo, Bosnia, Lebanon and Afghanistan at the top of its defence agenda for the next six months. "We begin 2007 ready to take up our responsibilities if needed - which I sincerely hope won't be the case - but we are in a position of readiness," EU top diplomat Javier Solana said in Brussels on Wednesday (17 January), after recalling that the EU's "battle group" structure reached "full operational capacity" on 1 January.
I have not noticed any serious debate about more military and other commitments for Lebanon and Afghanistan. Did I miss anything? (I am not counting the German debate about sending Tornado reconnaissance jets for Southern Afghanistan)
Pakistan: "More Evidence of Taliban Leader Hiding in Pakistan" Christian Science Monitor
Iran: "U.S. officials, who asked not to be identified, say that the Iran policy has expanded from focusing chiefly on Iran's nuclear ambitions to challenging Tehran's suspected misbehavior across the Middle East. Indeed, one source said succinctly that the new policy is geared to 'confront Iran in every way but direct armed conflict, using all means short of war.'" National Journal
Insurgencies: "Vietnam taught many Americans the wrong lesson: that determined guerrilla fighters are invincible. But history shows that insurgents rarely win, and Iraq should be no different. Now that it finally has a winning strategy, the Bush administration is in a race against time to beat the insurgency before the public’s patience finally wears out." Foreign Policy
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