Europe and the USA: a Conditional Partnership

Abstract

New America, new Europe. In just under one year the Euro-American relationship has indeed changed radically in every sense of the term. Barack Obama took over management of the USA and marked the first months of his mandate with unprecedented charisma. The Europeans for their part finally managed to close the chapter on a paralysing institutional saga: at the start of 2010 Europe with the Lisbon Treaty was finally able to face the world in good working order. A priori all of the ingredients were to hand to restore and contribute to a grand partnership between the Union and the USA: the American President is adulated in Europe; there was convergence on multilateral principles, dialogue and negotiation became the rule and not the exception; the joint power of both partners — which represent more than half of the world’s wealth — as well as the interdependence of their economies in the present crisis reasserts the need and importance of perfect Euro-American cooperation. However the reality of the situation is not quite that. Between Europe and the USA the relationship appears excellent and sterile, still central, but increasingly difficult to set in motion.