Transatlantic Political Issues

• Top 10 Things to Know about the New Treaty of Lisbon
  27 EU leaders have approved a new treaty that replaces the effort to establish an EU constitutional treaty some years ago. It must be ratified by January 2009. How is this treaty different? What does it mean for Europe? Click here for the Top Ten answers.

• The State of the Union, Schuman Report 2008
  This publication by the Robert Schuman Foundation offers unique analyses and maps along with vital data on Europe, just as the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty is underway and the French Presidency of the European Union is about to start. Essay authors include French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Junckerhave, and CTR's Esther Brimmer.  Click here for more.

• Obama and Clinton: Rescuing Transatlantic Relations?
  Will a Democrat in the White House positively affect the state of transatlantic relations?  Democrats are more international, but are they also more European?  CTR's Esther Brimmer comments here for Deutsche Welle (in German).

• The Baltic States: Still Punching Above their Weight
  Read CTR Director Dan Hamilton's article in the March issue of Current History here.

• Slovenia's EU Presidency
  Tiny Slovenia assumes the presidency of the European Union for six months. CTR Fellow Elizabeth Pond outlines its priorities here.

• Clio in the Balkans
  As tensions mount again over Kosovo, CTR Fellow Beth Pond reports on "perhaps the boldest effort at fundamental reconciliation the region has ever seen," a collaborative project by historians and educators from a dozen Balkan nations to review and present their history. Click here for her article.

• The Political Legacy of Lafayette for Franco-American Relations
  On December 14, 2008 CTR's Esther Brimmer gave a speech on Lafayette's legacy at a conference of the French-American Foundation.  Click here for the speech text or here for her interview with Laurent Zecchini in Le Monde (in French).

• A Janus-Faced Presidency?  Forecasting Transatlantic Relations under a Democratic U.S. Government
  CTR's Rana Deep Islam examines here the different policy implications of a possible Democratic Administration.

• The EU's invisible helping hand in Ukraine
  Brussels' position on Ukraine has achieved a reasonable, if understated, level of consistency, argues CTR's Fabrizio Tassinari in an op-ed for the EUObserver here.
  

• Sailing the Black Sea
  The EU is about to announce its policy towards the Black Sea region.  What can be expected? CTR Fellow Fabrizio Tassinari explains here and here.

• Western Balkans: What to Do?
  Despite 15 years of international engagement, the Western Balkans are still beset with major security challenges that will severely test NATO, the EU and transatlantic cooperation. What should be done? Read the analysis by Jeffrey Simon here.

• The Kosovo Impasse: Is There a Solution?
  CTR Fellow Elizabeth Pond address the challenges -- and some difficult choices here.
  

• Kosovo Countdown: A Blueprint for Action
  As the Troika presents its final report on the failed talks between Belgrade and Pristina draws closer and a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo appears imminent, the EU and U.S. should prepare to make its 'conditional' independence operational, a new International Crisis Group (ICG) paper suggests here.

• The Challenge of Islamists for EU and U.S. Policies
  How do the EU and the US approach Islamist actors and governments in the Muslim world? What might a shared transatlantic agenda towards the Muslim world look like? Read the analysis by SWP's Muriel Asseburg and USIP's Daniel Brumberg here.

• Is there still a Transatlantic Community?
  CTR's Esther Brimmer commentary is published in the Summer-Fall edition of the French journal Politique Americaine as "Que reste-t-il de la communauté transatlantique?"  Click here for more.

• Legislative Views of Transatlantic Economic Council
  How do U.S. and European legislators view the U.S.-EU Economic Council? Click each name for short commentaries by Senator Robert Bennett, U.S. Representatives Costa and English, and MEP Erika Mann from the Fall 2007 issue of Freedom and Union.

• Europe Watches U.S. Elections
  CTR's Rana Islam comments in Deutsche Welle Online (in German) here on Europe's bias towards the Democratic Party in the coming U.S. Presidential elections.

• Presidential Candidates and US-EU Relations
  How will Obama, Clinton and McCain approach transatlantic ties? Read an analysis with comments by CTR Director Dan Hamilton here.

• Seize the Opportunity with Russia on Kosovo
  SAIS scholar Edward P. Joseph and Janusz Bugajski of CSIS argue that Kosovo offers an opportunity to work with Russia, despite growing difficulties between the West and Vladimir Putin. Read their article from the Washington Post here.

• Russia and the EU
  European Commissioner Peter Mandelson identifies the key political weaknesses in the political relationship between the EU and Russia and for stabilising the EU-Russia relationship through closer economic integration, especially WTO entry, here.

• Advancing Equality of Opportunity in Education and Employment: What can Americans gain from French experience?
  Some U.S. states have begun to replace affirmative action with so-called "percentage plans" that parallel France's “color-blind” model. For more from the French-American Foundation click here for English and here for French.

• Sanctions on Iran's Guard are a bad idea
  Op-ed by CTR's Chantal de Jonge Oudraat and Jean-Luc Marret in the San Francisco Chronicle, August 2007 - click here.

• Resolving the Kurdish Dilemma
  When President Bush meets Turkey's leaders about the attacks by Kurdish PKK rebels, they should look beyond crisis management to deal with the wider Turkish-Kurdish agenda, argue SAIS scholar Edward Joseph and Brookings Fellow Michael O'Hanlon here.
  

• Seeing Blue?  American Visions of the European Union
  In September 2007, the European Union Institute for Security Studies published a monograph by CTR Deputy Director Esther Brimmer entitled Seeing Blue? American Visions of the European Union, in their Chaillot Paper series.  For ordering information or to obtain the PDF click here.
  

• Transatlantic Relations: The Role of the Media
  Gerhard Spörl and Gregor Peter Schmitz look here at the way European and American media cover the "other side" and examine how media sometimes accentuate transatlantic rifts.

• Taking the Long View: the Foreign-Policy Consequences of the French Elections in Historical Context
  CTR Visiting Fellow Erwan Lagadec argues here that the French presidential election is a generational turning point in the sense that its historical backdrop, beyond the Chirac years, has been the end of the Gaullist vision of France and of French foreign policy.

• Transatlantic Thinkers:  The US and the EU at the UN
  Thorsten Benner and Edward C. Luck examine approaches taken by Europeans and Americans towards the UN in recent years - and recommend how closer transatlantic cooperation can help to make the most of the "Ban years" in an essay here.

• Americas Forum on International Disaster Response Laws, Rules and Principles (IDRL)
  CTR Non-Resident Fellow Anne Richard participated in the IDRL Forum held on April 23-24, 2007 in Panama City. For a draft report and list of participants, click here.

• What Future for Kosovo?
  Serb and Kosovo leaders failed to agree on a UN plan to settle the future status of Kosovo. The UN Security Council is now set to make a decision. For details, click here and here.  For commentary by Vladimir Socor, click here.

• Islam and Identity in Germany
  Jonathan Laurence argues that Berlin should concentrate on practical problems that undermine social cohesion and avoid the temptation to score domestic political points here.
  

• Memo to Chancellor Merkel
  Working with the United States during Germany's Dual Presidencies
  CTR Director Dan Hamilton was asked to offer German Chancellor advice on working with the US during Germany's dual Presidency of the EU and the G8. Read his memo here.
  

• Golden Moment: The EU at 50
  Critics charge that Europe is fading. But as the EU celebrates its golden anniversary, Andrew Moravcic takes some stocktaking -- and discovers a bright future in Newsweek's cover story, March 26, 2007, here.

• Toward a More Independent Europe
  New publication by CTR Non-Resident Fellow Michael Brenner here in March 2007.

• Does America Still Want a Strong Europe?
  Read commentary by CTR Director Dan Hamilton in the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel on March 24, 2007, in English here and in German here.

• Transatlantic Thinkers:  Are we losing Latin America?
  Peter H. Smith examines US and EU approaches to Latin America in recent years and recommends how to reengage Latin America in a common transatlantic effort here.
  

• French Elections and the Future of the EU
  Click here for commentary by French scholars Emmanuelle Laloum and Stine Rasmussen.

• What do Europeans think about America?
  John Glenn, Foreign Policy Director for the German Marshall Fund of the United States, recently testified before the U.S. House of Representatives on European public opinion toward the United States and its policies. Read his views here.
  

• Transatlantic Priorities: The Short List
  Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried outlines transatlantic priorities in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Russia here.
  

• Ambassador Scharioth Hosts Transatlantic Celebration on EU’s 50th
  German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth invited Ambassadors of EU countries, Ambassador John Bruton, head of the European Commission Delegation in Washington,  and local university students for a discussion about the future of Europe.  Click here for more and to read the written student contributions.
  

• US Elections:  What Do They Mean for Foreign Policy?
  Analysis by CTR Senior Fellow Michael Haltzel - click here.

• Poland's Anti-German Launch
  German-Polish relations have hit a rough patch comments CTR Fellow Elizabeth Pond - click here.

• The Merkel Method
  Germany's Grand Coalition has been in office for one year. How has Merkel done? Click here for Dan Hamilton's essay "Methode Merkel" (in German) from the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger.

• Germany's New Vistas
  16 years after Germany's unification Angela Merkel is leading her country in new directions. How does today's unified Berlin Republic differ from the divided Bonn Republic? Listen to an interview with Dan Hamilton (in German) here.

• "Transatlantic Challenges for the 21st Century: Mending Fences with America’s European Allies" On October 17 2006, CTR hosted the Inaugural Conference for Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). Featured speakers included Leszek Balcerowicz, President of the National Bank of Poland; Adam Kobieracki, Assistant Secretary General for Operations, NATO; and Francis Fukuyama, Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy, Johns Hopkins University, SAIS.  Click here for the agenda, transcripts and related presentations.

• "When the World Wanted to Help America"
  Op-ed by Anne Richard appearing in the International Herald Tribune (August 30, 2006) on America's response to offers of foreign aid following Hurricane Katrina.  Please also see "From a Land Far Away, Help for Katrina Victims," by Anushka Asthana, Washington Post, September 8, 2006.

• Angie, Where Will You Lead Us From Here?
  What does the rise of German Chancellor Angela Merkel mean for German-American relations? Find out from CTR Director Dan Hamilton here; read first assessments of Merkel's foreign policy by leading commentators here; or listen to commentary by Dan Hamilton together with GMF Foreign Policy Fellow Karen Donfried and German Coordinator for Relations with North America Karsten Voigt from the April 3 Diane Rehm Show on NPR/WAMU here.

• Friends Again? EU-US Relations After the Crisis
  How far have the US and EU come from the days of 'freedom fries' and wine boycots? For one American view by Michael Brenner click here.  For a European view by Marcin Zaborowski click here.