Euro-blitz: In search of the ties that bind
UNITED NATIONS — Diplomacy can be defined as many things, but basically it’s a process which boils down to accentuating the positive, attaining the possible, while often deferring the probable. In other words states will stress what unites them rather than what divides them. Based on that assessment President George W. Bush’s visit to Europe was a political success, precisely because the U.S. team tirelessly sought common ground not confrontation with our European allies.
Plainly stated there’s been a counterproductive Trans-Atlantic blame game raging for nearly three years now. There’s lots of collective faux pas to go around be they in Paris, Berlin or Washington. But given the central importance of American/European reconciliation, it’s time to turn the page.
If one foolishly views the entire U.S. /European relationship thorough the prism of Iraq — yes we do have serious challenges which given the current governments in Paris, Berlin, Brussels will not change appreciably. But mortgaging the entire post-WWII political partnership on a single policy in Iraq is simply shortsighted.
First France. Following up on the earlier charm offensive mission by Secretary of State Condi Rice, George Bush met with French President Jacques Chirac, the most articulate and obstinate opponent to the Iraq freedom operation. The discussion centered on many things but one of them was the ongoing Franco/American political cooperation on getting Syrian occupation troops out of Lebanon. This is a shared French and American policy objective and thus naturally brings common ground to an otherwise complex relationship. In other words discuss Beirut, not Baghdad.
While both Bush and Chirac have at least politely patched over their political rift, it’s clear to the governments in Paris and Berlin that Bush shall be the American President for the next four years despite Euro-yearning to the contrary. As the EU’s articulate President Jose Manuel Barroso said recently, “One thing the Europeans have to understand is that it is not Europe that elects the President of the United States, it’s the Americans. Sometimes the Americans have to understand that it is not the Americans that elect Europe’s leaders, that is the Europeans.”
The Europeans don’t have to like Bush but they have no realistic choice but to work with him. And the political obverse — with Chirac and Schroeder — is equally true.
Despite all the persistent pessimism about the Atlantic relationship on the rocks, there’s far more that unites the United States and the European Union than divides us — common culture, commitment to the rule of law, democratic principles etc. And well beyond the NATO military alliance which kept the peace and allowed Western Europe’s prosperity to thrive in the post-WWII era, there’s a vibrant and growing commercial relationship — especially with Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.
Defying the talk about boycotts in the wake of the Iraq war, there’s thriving business between the USA and Europe — in 2004 two-way trade with France was $53 billion, with Germany $108 billion, and with the United Kingdom $82 billion.
Now Germany. President Bush’s meeting with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the historic Rhineland city of Mainz allowed for a needed rapprochement. Not that Schroeder (whose Socialists are reeling from a series of self-inflicted electoral setbacks) is going to change course on Iraq, but that Germany and the USA supports common goals in Afghanistan, Iran and Tsunami Relief.
Though Bush does not share a good personal chemistry with either Chirac or Schroeder, keeping close American ties with France and Germany remains entirely another matter.
"We can't have good relations with Europe when we don't have a good friendship with Germany,” Bush said, ”This is a great country in the heart of Europe.”
Enforcing Islamic Iran’s nuclear non-proliferation, stressing the strategic dangers for the European Union weapons sales to the People’s Republic of China, and encouraging EU political support for Iraq’s rebuilding needs a common approach — not talking at each other but working with each other.
Viewing the Bush visit to Europe, Germany’s conservative Die Welt newspaper stated rather stoically “The encounters between Europe and America over the past few days are reminiscent of a pair of lovers who are now separated. They know that the affair is over, but shouldn't they try it one more time for the sake of the children?”
The German tabloid Bild editorialized in blunt but needed perspective, “Without the Yanks, Berlin would be Khrushchev-grad. Without the Yanks, we would still have the Berlin Wall and barbed wire. Without the Yanks, the Nazis would still be around.. You Americans are sometimes crazy guys, but you're also damned good friends.”
John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense
issues. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com.  |
