United States - Europe relationship

Résumé du document

Three days ago, President Nicolas Sarkozy and President Barack Obama met in Washington to address economic issues and the European role in the sanctions against Iran. This meeting has been the main news in the European media, the American media barely spoke about it. This difference of views is very symbolic in the current asymmetry between the importance given by Europe to the United States and by the United States to Europe. After December 1991, the world order has been constantly changing and still has not stabilized. The United States remains the only world superpower but as you all know new poles have emerged and still are emerging. In this uncertain international system, transatlantic relations have become much more complex. On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean there has been a growing need for redefining strategies and alliances and we still are in a period of redefinition. Therefore, I think that saying that the United States is a priority for Europe is a fact that must be tempered. To understand more precisely what the priorities of Europe and the United States are, we need to strongly focus on the recent histories and the current situations of Europe and the US. What balance of power is there in the US-EU partnership?

Extraits

[...] Furthermore, ESDP remains one of Sarkozy's priorities. In 2008, in Cherbourg, he even reaffirmed that the nuclear arsenal of France was not meant to deter in the NATO framework but to assure the European security vis-à-vis external threats. This current voluntarism of France in the strengthening of ESDP might lead one to consider that there is still a chance for the European common defense to take an independent shape in a near future. But France's voluntarism is not going to be sufficient for the strengthening of ESDP as long as the other member states of the EU do not support the project as much as France does. [...]

[...] Therefore I think that saying that the US is a priority for Europe is a fact that must be tempered. To understand more precisely what the priorities of Europe and the US are, we need to strongly focus on the recent histories and the current situations of Europe and the US. And the question I'm going to try to answer now is: What balance of power for the US-EU partnership? Therefore first, I'm going to speak about the recent evolution of Europe and try to assess its power and its priorities. [...]

[...] But this apparent unity actually hides major tensions between European countries. A very illustrative example of the tensions that can exist between national interests or obligations and ESDP is the one of France in Chad. When in December 2007, the EU decided to lead a common military mission in Chad (called EUFOR CHAD), three objectives were supposed to be fulfilled. The ESDP-troops should protect the refugees of the Darfur Sudanese region, facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance and protect the personnel, the equipment and the facilities of the United Nations. [...]

[...] United States - Europe relationship Introduction: Three days ago, President Nicolas Sarkozy and President Barack Obama met in Washington to address economic issues and the European role in the sanctions against Iran. Whereas this meeting has been the main news in the European media, the American media barely spoke about it. This difference of views is very symbolic of the current asymmetry between the importance given by Europe to the US and by the US to Europe. Since the beginning of the European construction, Europe has been perceived in Washington as a subsystem within an alliance in which the US would enjoy an undeniable primacy. [...]

[...] Then concerning international relations the US needs to deal with the urgent crises in Irak and Afghanistan but also in Israel. And, to maintain its leadership, the US wants to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, appease the relations between the West and Islam, build a true geopolitical partnership with China, improve its relations with Russia, show more respect towards South America, engage in reducing its nuclear arsenal, and finally create a collegial partnership with Europe. B. What type of transatlantic partnership for tomorrow? [...]