A Fractured Partnership?

Book excerpt: In the view of the Select Committee, relations between the EU and the USA are at their lowest ebb for at least a generation. International security is at the top of the US agenda, because of the incidents of 11 September 2001. EU member states agree with the US about key objectives, but there are divergences about how to achieve them. This divergence was highlighted by the Iraq crisis of 2003. The EU should:- share the post-conflict burdens, without arguing about whose fault this might be; support the Middle East peace process, and re-double its effort against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; build up its own military capability; improve the way in which it handles and communicates EU foreign policy; explain EU policy more clearly to the US; exploit NATO as the best forum for transatlantic dialogue in defence and security