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The Americas

The transatlantic relationship has been the cornerstone of the EU’s foreign and security policy. However, in a context where some in the US are looking inwards and questioning the values and institutions their country has built at the international level, expectations on Europe have increased. The rise of new global power centres has added a new dimension to transatlantic debates, and both partners must redefine the relationship to preserve security and prosperity, as well as maintain influence in an emerging international system where the 'West’– may no longer be such a dominant, nor united player.

The EU has also cultivated and institutionalised relations with Canada and many countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Recent changes in the international context have made the EU a more attractive partner to LAC countries, which facing economic slowdowns, rising criminality and problems related to the rule of law. However, the increasing contestation of democratic values (which used to bind LAC countries together) has put regional institutions under pressure, as well as strained relations with the EU.

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  • 18March 2012
    Visit of US Journalism Students to Brussels

    In March 2012 the EUISS and the EU Delegation to the United States organised a briefing session for a group of aspiring American journalists in Brussels. Following this event, the EUISS, in partnership with the Medill School at the Northwestern University in Chicago, published the best work of selected students here online.

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    30December 2011
    Edited by
    The EU-US security and justice agenda in action

    The increasing levels of transatlantic security cooperation since 9/11 have given birth to new policy instruments. These have often been criticised for shifting the balance between liberty and security. This paper explores new policy avenues worth pursuing in the broader security context.

  • 27October 2011
    EU-Washington Forum 2011

    A keynote speech by H.E. the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic opened the 2011 EU-Washington Forum which welcomed high-ranking officials and well-known experts from both sides of the Atlantic.

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    13October 2011
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    The Agenda for the EU-US strategic partnership

    This volume brings together contributions based on reports originally presented at the 2010 EU Washington Forum and is divided into four main chapters which focus specifically on Europe’s ‘unfinished business’ in the Western Balkans and the eastern neighbourhood, the Middle East, transatlantic cooperation on the economy and nuclear non-proliferation.

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    20September 2011
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    Q: The Arab democratic wave and the Middle East: a window of opportunity?

    A: Not for Israel

    After losing Turkey and Egypt, evacuating its embassy in Jordan and awaiting further conflict on the eve of a looming Palestinian statehood, Israel’s foreign policy is in ruins.

     

    The deterioration of the Turkish-Israeli relationship is often linked to Turkey’s democratisation. Will a post-revolutionary and potentially democratic Egypt follow a similar path? And what are the consequences of this for Israel?

  • 16September 2011
    Beyond terrorism and privacy: a transatlantic agenda for global security?

    What strategic direction should Euro-Atlantic security cooperation take? And what are the major challenges that need to be addressed? This roundtable, taking place in Brussels on 16 September 2011, reflected upon these crucial issues faced on both sides of the Atlantic.

  • 15September 2011
    US Task Force 2011 EU-US counter-terrorism cooperation since 9/11: challenges and perspectives

    This first US Task Force, organised with the support of the European Commission and the United States Mission to the European Union, stimulated an interesting debate at transatlantic level on the development of homeland security, focusing in particular on the future balance between liberty and security.

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    10September 2011
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    Fears trump freedoms

    The commemoration of 10 years since the attacks of 9/11 is an opportunity to both remember the victims and their families and to reflect on the evolution of our society since those tragic events.

    We can all recall the day the towers of the World Trade Center were attacked, but the memories of life before that day seem to be fading away. This is perhaps the reason why news of Osama bin Laden's death was for some a reason for celebration. Repeated triumphalist shouts in front of the White House felt improper.

    Defending our way of life

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    09September 2011
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    Ten years after: the War on Terror was not inevitable

    Ten years after the barbarian attacks against the Americans, have we even understood its long-term impact? Was the Bush administration right in thinking that 9/11 changed the world?

  • 10November 2010
    EU-Washington Forum 2010: giving new impetus to the EU-US agenda

    The third annual EU-Washington Forum, held on 8-9 November 2010 in Washington DC, addressed the challenge of strengthening the EU-US relationship post Lisbon and explored options for reinvigorating the common agenda.

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    01April 2009
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    Europe's NATO

    This issue focuses on NATO, ahead of the summit of heads of state and government on 3-4 April. Álvaro de Vasconcelos and Daniel Hamilton give two perspectives. Also in this issue, Walter Posch writes about Iran's political landscape ahead of the country's June presidential election.

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    20January 2009
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    European perspectives on the new American foreign policy agenda
    With contributions from

    This collaborative effort of the EUISS research team highlights what it considers to be the major political event of 2009: the election of President Barack Obama and the impact that the change in the American administration will have on the world. It covers the priority areas for US-EU cooperation of global governance, climate change, disarmament and non-proliferation, Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and transatlantic relations.

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    07November 2008
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    Obama's change and America's relations with the world

    Barack Obama won the election of 4 November because he communicated effectively to the Americans that he is the candidate of change. Indeed in all major respects Obama could not be more different from the outgoing and unpopular President Bush. Unlike Bush, Obama is a man of humble origins, brought up outside mainstream America: in Indonesia and Hawaii.

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    29September 2008
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    Bush's legacy and America's next foreign policy

    EUISS’s transatlantic researcher looks back at US foreign policy over the last 8 years. He argues that whether Obama or McCain wins the upcoming presidential election, there will be considerable continuity in America’s foreign policy. The paper focuses on US relations with Iraq, Iran and China, as well as touching on Europe and Russia.

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    30July 2008
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    A better and stronger Europe

    Following Ireland’s ‘No’ to the Lisbon Treaty, echoing the French and Dutch voters’ rejection of the Constitutional Treaty in 2005, the EU needs to consider carefully how to win back citizens’ support and thus overcome the fears that are crippling its ability to shape world politics.

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    28March 2008
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    Why Kosovo?

    The newest ESDP mission to Kosovo is a display of unity by the European Union, focused on the goal of ensuring stability grounded on the rule of law, including strict respect for minority rights, in the newly-independent state. The EU must achieve its objective while remaining a magnet for Kosovars and at the same time for the Serbs.

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    20March 2008
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    Transatlantic relations under an Obama administration

    Europe, like virtually every corner of the world, has been closely watching the US election campaign, looking for clues as to what might change in its relationship with the United States when a new president emerges from among the triumvirate of Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain.

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    22February 2008
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    US policy on Iraq: past, present and future

    George W. Bush will be remembered first and foremost for starting the war in Iraq and the destabilisation of the country that ensued. This means that, unless there is a dramatic improvement in Iraq before 2009, which appears highly unlikely at the present time, Bush will not be remembered as a successful President. Bush took his country into this war although he did not have to – as argued by Zbigniew Brzezinski, this was a ‘war of choice’.

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    18February 2008
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    The year of Europe?

    ‘1973,’ declared Henry Kissinger in late April of that year, ‘is the year of Europe’—a time, he insisted, for the allies to join in ‘a fresh act of creation … equal to that undertaken by the postwar generation of leaders of Europe and America.’ Now, in 2008, we are on the eve of a new era that awaits the decisions that will define Europe and its relations with the United States after the departure of George W. Bush, Europe’s least-liked postwar US president, and take us beyond the war in Iraq, one of the most divisive issues in Euro-Atlantic relations ever.

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    07February 2008
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    After ‘Super Tuesday’. McCain is clear leader, Democrats in a dogfight: Iraq likely to determine General Elections

    The Primary Elections in 24 states across the US on 5 February 2008 – otherwise know as ‘Super Tuesday’ – have produced a clear winner on the Republican side, John McCain. However, the same is not true for the Democrats, with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama remaining tied in their race for the nomination.

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