Friends Drifting Apart? The EU and its relations with the US

Just a few years ago, there would probably have been astonishment about this title, as it was the US (and often forgotten, the Soviet Union) that liberated Europe from the Nazi regime. This historical experience laid the foundation for a long-lasting alliance between Europe and the US. So how come these old friends are now drifting apart?

For many decades, EU countries and the US were strong allies in building international security and defense, strengthening international trade and economic development, and supporting democratic values – including respect for internationally-recognized human rights and the rule of law. The approach most suitable for reaching common goals and creating a “friendly environment” was a common understanding that these goals can best be reached through multilateral approaches – an ideal that the EU strives to maintain until today.

At the core of this multilateralism was the idea of confidence-building and trust through transparency and the conviction that everyone benefits from cooperation – even while acknowledging to what extent this might differ between countries and regions.

However, Europe sees itself confronted more and more with a US leadership that seeks to destroy multilateral agreements in accordance with its slogan from the 2016 Trump campaign “America First”. Even if it might be a fair argument of the US that it is not its sole responsibility to pay for the security of its NATO allies, the US fails to understand that while the demolition of good relations and international agreements can be done quickly, to restore alliances and renegotiate new agreements can take a long time and might not lead to the expected results. Quite the opposite might happen – weak alliances on the one hand and no international agreements concluded on the other hand might create more tension than opportunities.

The maximum pressure politics against Iran might instead strengthen conservative and reactionary forces rather than the reformist forces, and the unilateral withdrawal of the US from the JCPOA (the so-called nuclear deal with Iran) further threatens the belief that international agreements are valid, that pacta sunt servanda. The loss of trust in international agreements is the logical consequence.

The suspension of the INF Treaty, the end of the Open Skies Treaty, sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), the threat of sanctions in the context of Nord Stream II on EU governments or public companies, the attacks on the German export surplus (esp. in the automobile industry), and now the withdrawal of one-third of US troops stationed in Germany clearly show that the spirit of cooperation and compromise after WWII and later the Cold War has vanished. These recent developments mark a new low point in transatlantic relations between the EU and the US, and the decision of the Trump administration to allow its military to use anti-personnel landmines – weapons that are especially inhumane and cruel and were restricted during the Obama era since 2014, with the exception of the Korean Peninsula – is another concerning development when it comes to respect for human lives and physical integrity.

Even though it is questionable whether Germany needs these 9500 US troops for its defense capabilities, since an attack from Russia on a NATO country is quite unlikely anyways, it is more the lack of consultation and talks between the US and Germany that reveals the deepening of the division. This is simply not how allies treat each other. The EU and its leaders understand that they cannot count on their old ally unconditionally, and it is no coincidence that Ursula von der Leyen wants the EU to be more geopolitical in the years to come, instead of focusing solely on resilience and interconnectivity. This implies that the EU must be active in its own neighborhood – be it more proximate areas such as the Western Balkans, where some countries have a more immediate EU perspective, or the countries of the Eastern Partnership and the Mediterranean in the South and in the East.

With international arms control dying a slow death, the US shifting its focus towards China and Asia, and conflicts ongoing in the European neighborhood – in Ukraine and other post-Soviet countries as well as in North Africa and the Middle East – the EU needs to bridge internal and external challenges.

The Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, the lack of stockpiling of sanitary and health-related goods, natural disasters, international crime, terrorism, blackouts, famines, poverty, as well as an estimated 70 million people who were forced to flee their homes (not only towards Europe but mostly in their own or bordering countries) have made it painfully obvious that global threats demand global answers. Without cooperation, the international community will not be able to tackle any of the aforementioned global threats. The EU and the US – as well as all other international actors, including Russia, China, India, and Brazil and middle- and small-sized countries – need to look for what unites us rather than what divides us. Even though we may never be able to restore or even establish confidence and trust, we can still look for possibilities for cooperation and compromises where we share the same interests.

It is of the utmost importance, however, to look at global developments with a long-term perspective rather than through the lens of one or two governing periods. But the question of leadership is another topic.


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Mag. Stephanie Fenkart MA is Director of the International Institute for Peace (IIP) since 2016. She has an MA in Development Studies from the University of Vienna and an MA in Human Rights from the Danube University, Krems. She is furthermore a member of the Advisory Committee for Strategy and Security Policy of the Scientific Commission at the Austrian Armed Forces (BMLV). She is also a board member of the NGO Committee for Peace, Vienna.