Category: US-EU Relations

Good report on Newsnight tonight about Romano Prodi’s visit to Washington for the annual US-EU summit, and the current state of US-EU relations. Scroll to the 40th minute. Tom Karver has the story. Click here for the latest Newsnight programme or go here to see the Newsnight website.

With relations still strained over the war in Iraq and other issues, the United States has warned European Union countries not to lobby actively against a U.S. campaign for bilateral national agreements that put U.S. citizens beyond the reach of the new International Criminal Court.

The Bush and Blair administrations are trying to silence critics – many of them current or former intelligence analysts – who say they exaggerated the threat from Iraq. Last week, a Blair official accused Britain’s intelligence agencies of plotting against the government.

On his trip to Europe last week President George W. Bush showed that his administration is capable of rising above its resentment. But it would be a mistake to think this means that the Americans have turned the page on the Iraq war, or that French-American relations have become normal again.

America will defend human rights successfully only when its own key interests are threatened writes Philip Bobbitt Those who favour humanitarian interventions must bear this in mind: without mixed motives, without American participation, such interventions will bear the stamp of Srebrenica and Ituri, not Kabul or Baghdad. The best way of persuading governments to risk…

John Vinocur again on why Europe still has no confidence in foreign relations. He believes that because it was the South African president that announced the EU’s initiative on HIV/AIDS, Europe lacks leadership.

Giles Merrit, director of Forum Europe and secretary-general of Friends of Europe, has another article today in the Herald Tribune. He believes Europe can salvage something from the fallout over Iraq, being able to forge a new a strong United Europe with its new Constitution. But he also see problems ahead. In the meantime, a…

I have finally found the article in the Atlantic on the prospect of an EU-US war. You can read Charles Kupchan’s piece here. The consequences of the growing rift between the United States and Europe are only just becoming apparent. The two sharply disagree on the Middle East: the EU opposes both America’s steady support…

Matthew Engel has a funny take on the ‘French Fries’ story. He wonders why the French have become the enemy when the war is being fought against the Iraqi regime. He hints that making France the enemy was a pursued policy of the UK and US. I would be inclined to agree. Many of the…

Joe Fitchett in the Herald Tribune writes about the repurcussions of the French stance on Iraq. Relations between France and the US are at an all time low – following Chirac’s promise to veto any resolution on military action against Iraq. Fitchett sites many problems that have arisen – French products boycotted by US companies…