Euro-Boss Barroso Complains about Obama Administration

José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, has gone on record as saying the Obama administration's relationship with Europe is "not living up to its potential." He clarified this by saying, "I think we should do much more together. We have conditions like we have never had before and it would be a pity if we missed the opportunity." Indeed, however, the EU needs to look at the plank in its own eye before worrying about the mote in Mr. Obama's.

To give Mr. Barroso (a committed Atlanticist and good friend of the USA) his due, the Obama administration is not as concerned about European relations as its predecessors. Some of this is due to the fact that, like most Democratic politicians, the Obama team focuses largely on domestic issues. Its foreign policy focus is on those disasters it inherited from the Busheviks (Iraq-Nam, Afghanistan, trade imbalance with China, etc.). Part of the problem is also that Europe matters less to the US now than when it was the central front in the Cold War. Nor is Europe alone in feeling ignored; Latin American leaders make the same kind of statements.

That said, most of the blame for the current status of the Euro-American relationship lies east of the Atlantic. At a time when America needs economic growth on a global scale, European governments, without consultation of any meaningful kind, have decided to attack their deficits, which will hamper growth there and cut demand for US goods and services. Europe's inability to cope with the debt bomb of its own making is eroding the value of the euro and making the US dollar artificially strong, thus aggravating America's trade deficit and hampering US export industries.

Moreover, Europeans failed to acknowledge that US foreign policy does not change radically from one administration to another when it comes to Europe. Mr. Bush's regime was a mutant variety of this, but it was not a separate species. Hugo Brady of the Centre for European Reform hit the nail on the head when he said, "Obama was always overblown as a symbol because US foreign policy interests tend not to change. The US does not understand the need for everyone to be around the table at the EU, which they find as frustrating as a mini-UN where people want to talk about the good things they have done." One might add, "and where they accomplish so little for their time."

The real problem remains, as Dr. Kissinger once said, when America wants to talk to Europe, who gets the call? Creating the posts of President of the European Council and of High Representative for Foreign Affairs helps the EU in creating some kind of foreign policy structure, yet these positions are not the equal in power as, say, Chancellor of Germany or British Foreign Secretary. And even if the offices were of that stature, Herman Van Rompuy (the current President) and Baroness Ashton (the current High Representative) are, with all due respect, lightweights compared to President Sarkozy, Prime Minister Berlusconi and Chancellor Merkel.

Yes, the Euro-American relationship is coming up short. Yes, the Obama administration bears some of the blame. But also, Europe needs to decide whether it expects to be led as usual or whether it wants finally to be an equal partner. If the latter, it needs to start acting like it.

© Copyright 2010 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.

Kensington Review Home