No more special relationships: Europe is wasting its "Obama Moment"

Europe has the US president it wished for, but Barack ObamaBarack 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 They sense their increasing marginalisation yet cling to the outdated belief that they remain dependent on the US for their security.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.

Nick Witney says:
"Europeans know they should present a more united front to Russia and China. But the very idea of 'ganging up' on the US seems somehow indecent. Seen from Washington, they just look weak and divided."

Jeremy Shapiro says:
"The US is prepared to work with whoever can help it get what it needs done. But Europe's lack of capacity means that Europe's dream American president is treating it with what it fears the most - indifference."

Read the executive summary and full report: http://ecfr.eu/page/-/documents/towards-a-post-american-europe.pdf

The main findings of 'Towards a post-American Europe: a power audit of EU-US relations' include:

• In 2008 the EU contributed more troops to the NATO mission in Afghanistan, and nearly as much aid to the country, as the US. But despite more than 500 European soldiers dying in Afghanistan, the EU has little say over policy because the focus has been on pleasing Washington rather than asking what Europe's own interests are.
  
• Europeans have a huge stake in the success of the Middle East peace process, but have done little beyond exhorting the US to be more active, while writing cheques for over a billion Euros a year to finance the Israeli-Palestinian stalemate.
  
• Europe is constantly looking to Washington while dealing with Russia. EU member states first fell out over whether to support President BushPresident Bush's aggressive line on democratisation; now they are divided over whether President Obama's aim to're-set' relations with Moscow will leave them out in the cold.
  
• Europeans remain fixated on the idea that they need the US for their security, twenty years after the end of the Soviet Union. EU member states collectively spend twice as much as Russia on defence, yet they continue to believe their security depends on the Americans. For the US, Europe is no longer an object of security concern.
  
• Europeans fail to understand how annoyed the US is with ongoing 'consultations' rather than actually doing business. Europeans persist in believing that US policies of which they disapprove are down to American naivete. They see their role as to offer wise advice. In contrast, Americans understand that the two sides of the Atlantic are not always the same and would prefer disputes to a Europe that fails to step up.

Policy recommendations:

Shapiro and Witney urge Europeans to develop a more assertive approach to the United States - based on the defence of European interests rather than nostalgia. They use a few examples of how this could work in practice:

• Develop a European strategy for Afghanistan: Europe needs to have a proper pan-European debate to determine exactly what Europe wants and needs from Afghanistan, not that it thinks the US wants or needs. They should then either scale up their commitment or withdraw.
  
• Take responsibility for Russia: Europe should not wait to be told what to do by the US, but Europeans themselves should decide whether a higher NATO profile is needed in central and eastern Europe. Further effort needs to be put into the EU's Eastern Partnership initiative.
  
• Act in the Middle East: European countries have the economic clout to pressurise Iran over its nuclear ambitions and Israel over expanding settlements. They need to recognise that they have this power and take responsibility for using it. (EOM)