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My nearly 30 years of foreign service assignments at home and abroad taught me that America's partnership with Europe, resting on shared democratic principles, remains the center of American foreign policy. Together, the United States and Europe mobilized our values to defend ourselves during the Cold War, ultimately to prevail in that struggle, and finally to build a Europe whole, free, and at peace after the fall of the Berlin Wall, helping people throughout Europe find their own path to freedom. I saw this in my service in the Soviet Union, in Yugoslavia, and in Poland during the intense years of its democratic transition. Our common values—and the hard-won knowledge that freedom, security, and prosperity within the Euro-Atlantic community depend on their extension throughout the world—drive our mutual commitment to promote democracy and freedom, bring peace to troubled regions, and foster global prosperity.
As in any long-term partnership, Europe and the United States have occasional differences, but these are secondary compared to the values and common interests that bind us. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) remains our principal security alliance, and many of our strongest multilateral partnerships are with Europe-anchored organizations: the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Our common values ensure that the European-American partnership will endure even as it evolves to meet new challenges. Many of the 20th century's great international questions were essentially about the political and economic organization of Europe, but the post-9/11 world poses challenges about whether freedom can stand and grow throughout much of the world.
As a result, the Euro-Atlantic partners now work together in troubled regions across the globe.
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The Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA)
For too long, the world's democracies accepted a stagnant and undemocratic status quo in the Broader Middle East. We sought stability, but instead authoritarianism and dysfunctionality incubated a hostile, anti-democratic ideology and brought the world greater instability. Our long-term interests in this part of the world depend on the advance of freedom and justice, and the spread of functioning market economies throughout this region. We must be realistic about the near-term difficulties but bold in our mid- and long-term objectives.
Europe and America share a vision of a democratic Middle East. Together we have launched initiatives to strengthen reformers there. The Forum for the Future brings together government and nongovernmental representatives from countries of the broader Middle East and North Africa and the G8 (leading financial/industrial) nations. Two new institutions established under the forum's auspices work to strengthen the civil society institutions on which democracy and prosperity rely. As Secretary Rice has said, the Foundation for the Future "looks to indigenous reformers to draw upon their ideas and their ideals to nurture grass roots organizations that support the development of democracy. The Foundation will provide grants to help civil society strengthen the rule of law, to protect basic civil liberties, and ensure greater opportunity for health and education." An accompanying Fund for the Future aims to stimulate economic growth and job creation. With initial contributions from Egypt, Morocco, Denmark, and the United States, the Fund supplies promising small and medium businesses the capital they need to create jobs and spur economic growth. It reflects, Secretary Rice says, "new international consensus that greater democratic and economic reform is essential for this region."
The United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations are committed to finding a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We are pressing the Palestinian leadership to act decisively against terror, recognize Israel's right to exist, meet its international commitments, and build a practicing democracy based on tolerance and liberty. We encourage Israel to do its part to support Palestinians to establish a state rooted in democracy and the rule of law, living in peace and security with Israel.
The U.S.-European partnership provides critical support for the rapid, historic transformation of Afghanistan, which remains under pressure from terrorists. As NATO troops increase their presence across that nation, they bring security and the possibility for development to the long-suffering population. U.S.-European cooperation in the war on terror starts with giving Afghanistan, the one-time home of al-Qaida, the chance to build a democratic and prosperous nation at peace with itself and its neighbors.
The United States has worked closely with the "EU-3" (France, Britain, Germany) to convince the Iranian regime to cooperate with the international community and abandon its efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Because a more democratic Iran will be a better, more responsible partner in the region and the world, the United States and Europe are determined to reach out to the Iranian people and society.
Europe and the United States support the new democratically elected government of Iraq and its efforts to bring security, prosperity, and lasting democracy to the Iraqi people. Our differences with some European countries over the decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power belong to the past. Success in Iraq is our common interest, and will set the stage for the advance of freedom in the heart of the Middle East.
The United States and Europe are working together urgently both to stop the fighting and to create the conditions for a lasting settlement between Israel and Lebanon, meaning among other things that Hizballah must no longer be free to attack Israel at will. We want to see Lebanon fully sovereign and free of foreign domination and foreign forces, at peace with Israel, and living in security.
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Young Democracies
The United States and Europe are working together to support the young, still vulnerable democracies in Ukraine and Georgia. The Orange and Rose revolutions inspired freedom-seeking people around the world. We are committed to help Ukrainians, Georgians, and others along the "Frontiers of Freedom" consolidate their democratic gains. In Belarus, where the illegitimate Lukashenka regime has suppressed free speech and cracked down on those who seek democratic development, the United States has worked hand-in-hand with the European Union carefully to apply pressure; travel bans and financial sanctions target the clique helping Lukashenka maintain the last dictatorship in Europe. We continue to reach out to the people of Belarus.
The United States and Europe support Russia's development into a vibrant, market-oriented democracy and aim to deepen a partnership to advance global security, peace, and prosperity. We cooperate with Russia to pursue common interests, including nonproliferation, ending terrorism, and promoting health. At the same time, we have concerns about worrying trends in Russia's democratic development and about Russia's approach toward some of its neighbors, including some aspects of Russian use of energy resources.
The United States and Europe have joined together to resolve the last major issue in the region: Kosovo's final status. As part of this effort, we are prepared to reach out to all the countries of the region, especially Serbia, and bring them into Euro-Atlantic institutions.
The United States and European allies are working in concert to achieve a final peace agreement in Southern Sudan. We are determined to end the killing in Darfur, and are working with the U.N., NATO, the EU, and African Union on an urgent basis to stop the violence.
Security and Peace
The United States and Europe are working together to extend in the world the peace that the transatlantic community has known for decades.
NATO is America's premier alliance, the strategic link between North America and Europe, and the core security arm of the transatlantic democratic community. Together, Europe, Canada, and the United States are transforming NATO to meet 21st-century challenges. At the start of 1994, NATO was a military alliance of 16 countries, oriented toward countering a Soviet Union that no longer existed; it had never conducted a military operation. By 2004, NATO had 26 members and 31 partnerships across Eurasia, the Mediterranean, and the Persian Gulf. It was engaged in eight simultaneous military operations, from the Balkans to Afghanistan, performing tasks ranging from humanitarian assistance to stability operations. NATO is an alliance in action.
We work every day with European partners to strengthen our anti-terrorist efforts and jointly to help other states improve their counter-terrorist abilities. Our cooperation extends to information- and intelligence-sharing, dismantling terrorist cells, interdicting terrorist logistics, and pursuing anti-money laundering efforts.
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The most acute danger we and Europe face is the prospect of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of terrorists and their sponsors. Under the global Proliferation Security Initiative, the United States and Europe join other countries in agreeing to take effective measures to interdict the transfer or transport of weapons of mass destruction, their delivery systems, and related materials.
The United States and Europe have steadily deepened law enforcement cooperation. We work together to combat organized criminal activity including human trafficking, narcotics distribution, border enforcement, and financial crimes.
The United States and Europe advance global prosperity through our commitment to open markets, a stable and reliable financial system, and integration of the global economy. Whether through the Doha Round of World Trade Organization negotiations to lower trade barriers, or through our U.S.-EU initiatives to improve economic effectiveness, America and Europe seek to create new opportunities for our people and others, help alleviate poverty, and provide hope, dignity, and progress to hundreds of millions around the world.
The United States and the European Union are each other's largest trade and investment partners. Together our economies account for more than half the global GDP and one-third of global trade, generating roughly $2.5 trillion in annual commercial sales and employing an estimated 12-14 million workers on both sides of the Atlantic.
The United States and Europe are crafting an international engagement strategy to prevent the spread of avian flu. It stresses preparedness, prevention, and containment. Americans and Europeans have made the fight against HIV/AIDS a top priority for humanitarian reasons, and also because HIV/AIDS threatens prosperity, stability, and development around the world. Since 1986, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has funded almost $6 billion, more than any other public or private organization, to combat the virus in nearly 100 countries worldwide.
The United States and its European partners are working closely to increase energy security. Our agreed-on principles and objectives include diversifying suppliers and sources, affording investors transparency and openness, developing new technologies, and promoting efficient energy consumption.
The discovery, capture, and consumption of energy is inseparably linked to responsible stewardship of the natural environment. At the 2006 U.S.-EU Vienna Summit, both parties agreed to address jointly the problems of climate change, biodiversity loss, and air pollution.
Conclusion
Never before have Europe and the United States worked so closely and so effectively. While skeptics have offered theories of divergent interests, strategic drift, or even incipient rivalry, these dissolve before the reality of close policy cooperation grounded in common values, common purposes, and a common vision. Europe and the United States are allies in action, determined together to make the world freer, more secure, and more prosperous.
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