04/07/2011
Fred Kempe: “There is nothing to replace the continued primacy of the transatlantic relationship, which remains the world’s largest economic space, accounting for half of the world’s economic output and 40% of its trade. It remains the largest community of common democratic values, and it is the only anchor of stability and generator of global policy solutions we have in a time of global upheaval”
“Those who are predicting the decline of American and European influence around the world are wrong: despite the welcome rise of other nations like China, India, and Brazil, we should not forget that they are growing in a world that has been largely created by the West”
“We will have a dim and dismal future if we do not do the following four things: attend to our common economic problems; reinvigorate the EU-US relationship and reform NATO; complete the unfinished task of building a Europe that is ‘whole and free’; and reinvent the transatlantic relationship so that it is more able to tackle global problems, particularly in the Middle East”
“The events that began in Tunisia and Egypt and have spread, in different forms, across the Middle East and beyond, are a reminder that our common values possess remarkable global resonance, from Misrata to Shanghai. As authoritarian dictators respond with state violence to their citizens’ aspirations, the Arab Awakening poses new questions about the role, and potential mission, of transatlantic leadership in the region. The Arab Awakening presents the transatlantic community with what, if framed properly, could be the most significant transatlantic project since WWII: to assist the Arab Spring in a manner that will allow it to become a long-lasting and expanding season of freedom”
“There has been a dramatic shift in the EU-US relationship and it is going to be felt for a generation to come. The US policy toward Europe can no longer be centered on Europe, and it follows that European policy toward the US cannot be just about the US either. Our policies, together, have to be about the rest of the world and, most urgently now, about the Middle East”
“The US no longer sees Europe as the center of the world. If Europe will not come to the world with us, we have to go alone, which is what we don’t want to do. The US wants Europe as a cornerstone of global policy, but Europe has to want to be a global partner, Europe has to rise to the challenge. The transatlantic relationship has to ‘operationalize’ its values”