(Nov. 22) The three summit meetings last weekend resulted in what New York gamblers call a “trifecta” of three wins: the leadership of the NATO alliance set a framework for missile defense in Europe without undermining nuclear deterrence as an ultimate security guaranty; Russia returned to its special partnership with NATO for the first time since the Georgia war in 2008; and the EU fielded an effectively streamlined team (the result of its own Lisbon treaty last year) that has already bolstered the pace of EU-US cooperation.
An Obama administration failure to get ratification of the so-called New Start treaty – as now seems probable – will inject damaging tensions into U.S. relations with Germany and other key NATO allies in Europe.
On November 17, 2010, the European Institute hosted a luncheon meeting of the European-American Policy Forum in cooperation with Notre Europe, a Paris-based think tank devoted to European integration. The Honorable Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, President of Notre Europe and former Minister of Economy and Finance of Italy, presented Notre Europe’s recently released report, Reshaping EU-U.S. Relations. Informed by a task force of high-ranking former European statesmen and ministers, the report seeks to redefine the EU-U.S. relationship in the face of a rapidly evolving international context, fuelled by globalization. Many contemporary global issues, such as climate change and economic governance, can no longer be addressed on a unilateral or bilateral basis. Indeed, the Euro-American relationship should become a platform for forging global partnerships, rather than a means of asserting Western leadership. For both the EU and the United States, this new paradigm will mean working together in support of multilateralism as the basis for international negotiations, and promoting shared sovereignty in the management of global issues.
By Anthony Luzzatto Gardner
Top-level focus on the single topic of better transatlantic teamwork on humanitarian assistance and development aid could help re-energize the anemic institution of U.S.-EU summits.On November 16, 2010, the European Institute held a special breakfast meeting of the European-American Policy Forum with The Honorable Valdis Birkavs, Former Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia. Mr. Birkavs and Søren Gade, Former Minister of Defense of Denmark, co-chaired the recently released Nordic-Baltic 8 (NB8) Wise Men Report, which lays out detailed proposals to further cooperation between the Nordic and Baltic countries. Stressing the geopolitical significance of the NB8 partnership, Mr. Birkavs urged greater cooperation on foreign and security policy, and called for the NB8 to achieve greater cooperation with the U.S and Russia, within the context of NATO, and on such other areas of strategic importance as energy security and sustainable economic growth. Following Mr. Birkavs’ remarks, Pamela Quanrud, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, Karin Olofsdotter, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Sweden, and Anders Åslund, Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, offered their own perspectives on NB8 cooperation.
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