A New Transatlantic Moment?

I have spent the last four months in Europe talking with diverse people - from students to government figures - about the future of U.S.-European relations. Despite frequent criticisms of U.S. policy in Iraq, the vast majority of Europeans are more pro-American than ever before. What do I mean?

First, they show frequent and sincere admiration for the dynamism of our society - our ability to adapt to a new global economy so much better than they have. Second, Europeans display a continued recognition that their long-term security and prosperity depends on military and political partnership with the U.S. Third, and perhaps most significant, Europeans are modeling their emerging political union (the European Union) on what they interpret as many of the successful institutional accomplishments of the United States. They have followed the dollar, the Federal Reserve, and the Supreme Court with the Euro, the European Central Bank, and the European Court of Justice. Imitation is indeed the highest form of flattery.

In all of these areas critical disagreements on principle and practice linger between Europeans and Americans, but the foundational areas of agreement far outweigh the differences. In response to a lecture I gave about American foreign policy in Milan, for example, I was struck by the frequent audience references to a common transatlantic, some said "Western," world. Europeans know that their future remains deeply tied to America's. They wish us well out of basic self-interest.

Within eighteen months the transatlantic community will experience one of the most important leadership transitions in its history. The figures who have towered across the Atlantic for much of the last decade - Jacques Chirac, Tony Blair, and George W. Bush - will be writing their memoirs, rather than running their countries. They will cede political authority to a new cast of characters who will set the agenda for transatlantic relations in the aftermath of the Iraq War.

This is a moment of great opportunity. We need leaders who are prepared to mobilize the deep reservoirs of friendship, cooperation, and mutual interest across the Atlantic. We need leaders who will build on commonalities, rather than over-emphasize differences. We need another generation, like the one at the end of the Second World War, that created enduring transatlantic institutions for new challenges. Where are the men and women who can design a new Bretton Woods system, a new Fulbright cultural exchange program, and a new NATO?

We need leaders on both sides of the Atlantic who understand the stakes. Security and prosperity for Europeans and Americans require renewed partnership. Rivalry and recrimination will feed the forces of economic dislocation, social fragmentation, and terrorism. My four months in Europe have convinced me that we can avoid this dark scenario.

My travels have also left me increasingly frustrated with the shallowness of our leaders - those in office, and those seeking office. Isn't it time we ask for more? Isn't it time for the transatlantic community to demand real transatlantic vision?