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Map of Europe |
Summer/Fall 2003 Volume 4 - Number 3
European Perspectives
Britain Is Still in No Hurry to Join the Euro
William Keegan, Senior Economics Commentator, London Observer
Norway and the EU: No, No . . . Yes?
Knut Vollebaek, Ambassador of Norway to the United States
Boycotters Beware: "French" Products Are Often American
T. Allan McArtor, Chairman and CEO, Airbus North America Holdings, Inc.
Leader in Focus
The Path to European Integration Has Reached a Critical Point
Franco Frattini, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy
Italy appreciates the difficulties of its task as it takes over the EU Presidency for the second six months of 2003. But it will work hard to make progress on a new constitution for Europe, due to be signed in Rome next year, to strengthen the European Union as an actor on the international scene and to rebuild relations with the United States.
Transatlantic Relations
U.S.-European Differences Are Many, but Manageable
Dieter Dettke, Executive Director, Washington Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation
The United States and Europe differ in many areas, in addition to Iraq. But they maintain enough common values and common interests to manage their disagreements. A reformed NATO and an enlarged European Union with a new constitution will be better prepared to face future challenges.
The EU Starts to Find its Voice in New York
Paul Luif, Austrian Institute for International Affairs
Worldwide attention this year has focused on spectacular Transatlantic and intra-European clashes in the UN Security Council. But a study of longer-term voting patterns in the UN General Assembly reveals a strikingly different picture. The EU is beginning to find a common voice, although two "outsiders," the UK and France, have traditionally voted more in line with the United States.
European Integration
The EU's Draft Constitution Should Not Be Unraveled
Ulrike Guérot, Head of the EU Unit, Research Institute,
German Council on Foreign Relations
An EU intergovernmental conference is due to start this fall to consider proposals for a first-ever European constitution. The draft constitution that was agreed by a special convention in June provides for incremental, rather than revolutionary reform, and is far from perfect. But EU governments should endorse all its main provisions, so as not to reopen contentious issues as the Union is enlarged from 15 to 25 members.
The EU May Have Missed a Chance to Become More Democratic
Erik Berglof, Director, Stockholm Institute of Transition Economics (SITE), Stockholm School of Economics
The European Union's draft constitution represents progress in some areas, but it has failed to make the Union's institutions as democratically accountable as they should be. The Union should decide which tasks need to be allocated to its central institutions and which do not, and get rid of its current built-in bias toward ever-deeper integration.
Crisis with the U.S. Is Moving Turkey Closer to Europe
Yalim Eralp, Former Ambassador of Turkey to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
The crisis between Turkey and the United States over the war in Iraq has drawn Turkey closer to the European Union, and increased support in Turkey for EU entry. Despite its roots in traditional Islam, the government is working hard to prepare the country for membership; but Turkey and the EU may have gotten themselves into a chicken-and-egg dilemma over Cyprus.
Opinion
New Members Will Make the EU More Competitive
Mart Laar, Member of the Parliament of Estonia
The Central and Eastern European countries that will enter the European Union in 2004 will put pressure on the Union to make economic reforms and become more competitive. The new member countries are more committed to free-market policies than the old members, and the radical idea of a flat rate of income tax is rapidly taking hold in Central and Eastern Europe. It is crucial that member governments maintain the freedom to set their own tax rates.
The Middle East
The EU Needs to Update its Mediterranean Policy
Philippe Lemaître, Brussels Correspondent, European Affairs
The difficulties encountered by U.S. and British coalition forces in Iraq are making it easier for the European Union to overcome its internal differences and mend its fences with the United States. Europe can make a contribution to stabilizing the Middle East, but it needs to update its Mediterranean policy, launched in Barcelona in 1995, which has become ineffective and overly bureaucratic.
Special Report: Allies Against Terror
Discord among the United States and some of its leading European allies over Iraq has not stopped Washington and the European Union cooperating successfully in increasing homeland security and stepping up the fight against terrorism. The United States and the European Union have signed a number of new agreements to combat terrorism and international crime, and the EU countries have increased their own collaboration on issues ranging from border controls to the inclusion of anti-terrorism clauses in trade and cooperation agreements with other countries.
In this special report, leading U.S. and European experts examine the new steps that are being taken, and assess what still needs to be done. Otto Schily, the German Minister of the Interior, provides a German perspective, in which he suggests that German companies are pioneering new techniques to counter terrorist activities, and argues for new public/private partnerships. Douglas Browning, Deputy Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection at the Department of Homeland Security stresses the need to create a safer global trading system by ensuring the security of international supply chains from the point of manufacture to final delivery. Philippe Coessens, Head of the Political Section at the Delegation of the European Commission to the United States, describes the measures that the EU is taking to improve cooperation, both internally and with the United States; and two senior business executives, Edmund Woollen of Raytheon and Robert Ahlborn of Hapag-Lloyd (America) discuss concrete new measures that could help to make the conduct of trade and business safer.
Working Together, We Can Defeat the Terrorists
Otto Schily, Minister of the Interior, Federal Republic of Germany
The Transatlantic relationship is not an alliance of convenience but a partnership between friends with the same values and interests, which include the need to fight terrorism together. Germany and German companies are leading the way toward developing new techniques in this fight; it will also be essential to expand the use of public/private partnerships around the world.
Cooperation on Trade Security Must Be a Top Priority
Douglas Browning, Deputy Commissioner, U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security
In the effort to create a safer global trading system, it will be crucial to ensure the security of international supply chains from the point of manufacture to final delivery. The United States is devoting high priority to this challenge, but it will need the help both of European governments and of the private sector. It will also be essential to strike a balance between making trade more secure and keeping it flowing smoothly.
At Least in Fighting Terrorism, Transatlantic Cooperation Is Working
Philippe Coessens, Counselor, Head of Political Section, Delegation of the European Commission, Washington
While the United States and the EU disagree on a number of international issues, they are cooperating successfully in the struggle against terrorism. The EU has signed some important new agreements with the United States, and its member states are working more effectively together in police, judicial and intelligence work, border controls, measures to combat the financing of terrorism and in introducing anti-terrorism clauses in EU trade and cooperation pacts with other countries.
Private Business Must Bear the Brunt of Providing Security
Edmund Woollen, Vice President, Homeland Security, Raytheon Company
Concerns about homeland security are shared in every region of the world, including the Muslim countries. But today's terrorist targets are mostly in the private sector, meaning that private business will have to bear most of the cost of thwarting attacks. With new technology this should prove possible, even if it will sometimes be controversial.
Electronic Seals Could Tell if a Container Is Safe
Robert Ahlborn, Director, Security and Dangerous Goods, Hapag-Lloyd (America), Inc.
Economy and Business
Critics of EU Budgetary Limits Are Wrong
Vito Tanzi, Former Undersecretary, Ministry of Economy and Finance of Italy
With European economies in the doldrums, critics want to change or scrap the European Stability and Growth Pact to allow a Keynesian boost to demand. But the pact continues to serve a useful purpose in guiding EU economic policies, and many aspects of Keynesian economics have anyway been discredited in recent years.
The EU Wants Free Skies over the North Atlantic
Michel Ayral, Director for Air Transport at the European Commission
The European Union has reacted to the recent crisis in the airline industry in a far less protectionist manner than the United States. Both Brussels and Washington, however, basically believe in deregulating markets, and the aim must now be to negotiate an Open Aviation Area in the North Atlantic that would set the standard for a more efficient, liberalized global market.
Book Reviews
NATO's Death-Defying Act Goes On
Opening NATO's Door: How the Alliance Remade Itself for a New Era.
By Ronald D. Asmus
Reviewed by Helle Dale
A Labor Leader Praises Globalization
A World without Walls: Freedom, Development, Free Trade and Global Governance.
By Mike Moore
Reviewed by Jeffrey J. Schott
Letter to the Editor