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Let America, Europe Rediscover Common Values
Thursday, July 18, 2002
By Ralf Dahrendorf
Institute for Human Sciences

Ralf Dahrendorf is a member of the British House of Lords



Sometimes the two methods -- consultation without action in Europe, actions without consultation in the United States -- can be turned to mutual advantage. If Europeans do not want to go to war, and mericans do not want to get involved in protracted processes of institution building in distant places, an obvious potential for an international division of labor emerges. To some extent, it is practiced already both in Afghanistan and in the Balkans.

Hardly a week goes by without some addition to the long list of European-American gripes. One week it’s the United Nations Security Council vote about a continued U.S. presence in the Bosnia peacekeeping mission. Before that, the setting up of the International Criminal Court without U.S. participation set both sides on edge, and then there was the question of whether the Palestinians should be told whom not to elect as their leader. Israel and the Palestinians remain a subject of profound Europe-U.S. disagreements, as are issues surrounding the environment and the idea of sustainable development. Add to these U.S. trade sanctions, America’s latest farm bill, and of course the whole question of alleged or real U.S. unilateralism.

Fortunately, such spats are not the whole truth. American unilateralism is in fact a form of “multilateralism la carte.” Where it suits U.S. interests, international institutions are used, and they usually serve European interests. Keep in mind, too, that we are talking about democracies, where viewpoints abound.

When U.S. and E.U. representatives meet for consultations, they arrive at the table with different perceptions. U.S. participants represent a country at war in which energies are concentrated on defeating the enemy -- “terrorism” -- whether of the al Queda or Iraqi variety.

E.U. participants represent . . . well, what exactly? If the issue is trade, then the answer is clear. Insofar as the E.U. Is a “single market,” it’s represented by Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy. If the issue is competition, Commissioner Mario Monti represents the E.U., stridently so, as Americans have learned to their surprise. If we move to issues of foreign and defense policy, Xavier Solana, the high representative of the E.U. Council of Ministers, is the spokesman for the E.U.
(More: The Miami Herald News Source)
2002 © Project Syndicate.

Dan