Will the European Union and the USA be friends or foes in coming decades? Will they be able to set a common Transatlantic agenda to answer the global challenges of the 21st century? Or will they keep on quarrelling on everything from GMOs to airplanes, from the international penal court to Kyoto, from Iraq to UN reform, … ? One thing though is for sure when we look at the last several years, when Europeans and Americans disagree, world order quickly falls apart. Without this order, the international community becomes fragmented and no leadership is left, not even that of the US.

Therefore for Americans who care for their country’s future, it is of the utmost importance to understand what’s going on in Europe. For starters, how did the European continent, over the course of fifty years, turn from a devastated, divided, poor, fragmented region into a single political entity boasting almost 500 million citizens, with a currency able to match the dollar’s strength, a GDP greater than that of the US and a will to build a democratic process compatible with the continent’s diversity containing more than 20 nationalities and languages?

During the past two decades, something changed in Europe. The Fall of the Berlin of wall was only part of the story. A new breed of European players in business, politics, culture, and beyond is rapidly emerging. Used to speaking foreign languages, to moving and living across borders, to working in a transnational context, these new Europeans (Newropeans) will be tomorrow’s partners for Americans. It is better to understand what they have in mind today rather than wait for another round of surprises like that which happened with the invasion of Iraq (huge public demonstrations in opposition to the war throughout Europe, the surprising rejection of the war by Germany, a close ally, and the eviction from power of one of the US’ strongest supporters, the former Spanish Prime Minister Jose-Maria Aznar). It is better to understand the consequences of the recent years of Transatlantic crises and their effects on European public opinion now than to wait and suffer later from lack of foresight.

One tends to still see Europe through the eyes of GI Joe liberating the continent in 1944/45 while expecting the Europeans to see the US with the eyes of the liberated people from that same period. Well, in that case, one is twice wrong! Europe is not what it used to be 60 years ago; and Europeans do not see the USA the way they used to.

Perspectives are changing. Threats as well. Today’s Europe does feel less threatened than during the Cold War, while the US, since September 11th 2001, is feeling the contrary. Those trends are not necessary antagonistic, but they need to be understood if we do not want to see the two continents drift apart.

And this understanding should extend beyond the leaders and elites in Washington DC . In a democratic society, and in a complex modern society experiencing the effects of globalization, foreign affairs should be citizens’ affairs because they impact our every day life (from job outsourcing to business opportunities, education of children, war and peace, …. ). Today, the world is in fact in everybody’s home and within everybody’s reach. Thus, a better understanding of your closest ally is a requirement when it comes to assessing whose foreign policy is the best or the most suitable for your country. To be a patriot means more than ever to be able to understand the outside world, starting with your main economic partner. As a matter of fact, the European Union is by far the greatest foreign direct investor in the USA – 52% of the total foreign direct investment in the States comes from Europe - and the same goes for the US in Europe (61%). The cumulated amount going both ways is $1.5 trillion, with each partner employing directly and indirectly about 6 million people on the other’s continent. Our common trade is worth $ 400 billion a year, figures that definitely show that there are more than 1 trillion reasons to take a look at what the Europeans have in mind for the future.

This new European continent molded by the last decades of European unification, together with the fast changing US landscape, is calling for a steep revision of Transatlantic relations the way they emerged from WWII, which will depend more on relations at the citizen level between communities from the European Union and from the USA. Meanwhile it is also calling for a new type of Transatlantic leadership, able to appeal to populations on both sides of the ocean. To achieve such an evolution, Transatlantic education is needed, as part of international education, a requirement for any 21st century citizen living in a globalized world.

Back to the top