LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Autumn 2008

by Werner Hoyer

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David Calleo envisions a new kind of continental drift, where post-Cold War political tectonics increasingly divide America and Europe. His article is astute and it is hard to disagree with his observation that the transatlantic gulf is widening. But I cannot share his basic premise that the bond uniting Europe and the US is primarily a common - and narrowly defined - geopolitical interest.

As David Calleo notes, there have always been conflicts of interest between Europe and the US. Nor have Europeans ever been too shy or too afraid of the communist menace to voice their concerns. President George W. Bush is not the first US commander-in-chief to be unpopular abroad. At the height of the Cold War, Ronald Reagan inspired equal rage among many Europeans. Lyndon Johnson’s strategy in Vietnam drove thousands of protestors onto the streets of Berlin and Paris, and Richard Nixon was all but despised over here. No. Temporary estrangement between the US and the EU is not a new phenomenon. Yet there has always been something that helped transatlantic relations to endure even the most serious crisis – and that something is not fear.

We are, above all, united by a unique set of ideas. These ideas are older than the Cold War and rise above any particular dispute; they cut to the core of our self-image. I am, of course, referring to the unparalleled medley of Judaeo-Christian and Enlightenment values which we have shared since the 18th century. The values that we still cherish – human dignity, tolerance, pluralism, democracy, freedom and the rule of law – all have the power to transcend the inevitable disagreements about day-to-day policies. They are the cement that holds the West together, including its two main pillars: Europe and North America.

Admittedly, of late, this cement has suffered some serious cracks. The West appears to be loosing its appeal to people in vast swathes of the world. Terrorists abroad – and some fundamentalists at home - threaten values we have held dear for centuries. It is also true that we no longer face nuclear extinction as we did during the Cold War; the current threat is more subtle and elusive. However, its combined explosive and corrosive effects amount to a similarly worrying predicament.

So now is not the time to play some political balancing act or to give way to EU-US rivalry. It is, on the contrary, high time we realised what is at stake for both powers. We need a strong and unified West to face the challenges of globalization and to rekindle the appeal of Western values. Without a strong transatlantic partnership, the West will soon find itself on a downward slope. The election of a new US president this year will create the opportunity for a fresh beginning. We ignore it at our peril.