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2020 | Book

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Stars with Stripes

The Essential Partnership between the European Union and the United States

Author: Anthony Luzzatto Gardner

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

For sixty years, the United States has supported European integration on a bipartisan basis—not only because this has served European interests, but because it has promoted American interests as well. As core partners in transatlantic efforts to address regional and global economic, political and security challenges, the US and the EU have collaborated critically over the years to make the world a less turbulent place. That is, until the 2016 election of Donald J. Trump. In this era of Brexit and President Trump’s incendiary rhetoric regarding Europe, it has never been more important to understand and defend the EU as a significant and valuable American ally. Written by President Barack Obama’s Ambassador to the European Union, Stars with Stripes provides an analytic yet accessible look at how the US and the EU have worked together effectively on numerous core issues such as trade, the digital economy, climate change and more. In blending humor, personal experience, references to popular culture, and incisive analyses of the major issues and players in the diplomatic relationship between the US and the EU, former Ambassador Anthony Luzzatto Gardner tells an illuminating story of this essential partnership, and provides an exclusive insider look at US/EU diplomacy as well as the Brussels political scene.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
As US ambassador to the European Union during 2014–2017, I had to deal with a number of critical European and transatlantic crises, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, allegations of US government data privacy infringements, deadly terrorist attacks in many European cities, mass migration into Europe that threatened to undermine the solidarity of the EU, a referendum in the UK on leaving the EU, frantic negotiations to keep Greece from leaving the Eurozone, intensive negotiations to replace a critical US–EU data privacy agreement, and an Ebola outbreak in West Africa. I was also tasked with the responsibility of promoting a US–EU free trade agreement. Although we failed in that objective to my great regret, the US and the EU successfully addressed the other challenges, as well as negotiated a landmark climate change agreement. These are some of the topics addressed in this book.
Anthony Luzzatto Gardner
Chapter 2. A Personal Mission
Abstract
My appointment was not only professionally rewarding, it was a personal mission because of my long connection to Europe and to Italy in particular. For three decades, my career has been linked to the European Union. My early experiences as an intern in the European Commission, a lawyer practicing EU law in an international law firm in Brussels, and a Director for European Affairs in the National Security Council under President Clinton’s administration all confirmed my belief that the US–EU partnership is critical and widely underappreciated. For six decades, US administrations of both political parties (until the Trump administration) have rightly concluded that European integration is in the political and economic interests of the United States. The Trump administration’s active efforts to undermine the EU amount to a strategic blunder.
Anthony Luzzatto Gardner
Chapter 3. Brexit
Abstract
Brexit is the greatest act of self-harm any nation has committed in living memory. It will also weaken the EU, complicate efforts by the US to partner with the EU and undermine the UK’s utility to the US as a partner on regional and global issues. Nearly all of the arguments deployed by the Leavers to justify Brexit are factually incorrect or highly misleading. Prime Minister Cameron’s decision to call a referendum and his campaign to win it were deeply flawed. Similarly, Prime Minister May mismanaged the negotiations with the EU to leave with a deal. Brexit, especially one without a deal with the EU, will inflict significant economic and political costs on the UK and undermine US economic and political interests. The Trump administration’s delight in Brexit is deeply misguided.
Anthony Luzzatto Gardner

Economic Ties

Frontmatter
Chapter 4. Trade
Abstract
The failure to conclude a US-EU free trade deal was a strategic error. The environment in Europe was never going to be easy; the US and the EU committed multiple errors of communication and strategy. It is highly unlikely that any significant transatlantic free trade deal can be struck during the Trump administration. While it is also highly unlikely that a future administration can simply restart negotiations where they left off under the Obama administration, there are many valuable lessons to be learned from the TTIP failure. Both sides need greater realism about what can be achieved. Rather than attacking the EU and undermining the international rules-based trading order, the US should be working more intensively with the EU to reform the WTO and address the challenges that China poses. Shunning multilateralism for bilateral trade deals and unilateral trade sanctions (even on allies) harms US interests over the longer term.
Anthony Luzzatto Gardner
Chapter 5. Data Privacy
Abstract
After EU courts invalidated the Safe Harbor Agreement that since had given a legal basis for the transfer of EU citizens’ personal data to the United States, the US and the EU had to work intensively to negotiate a new agreement called Privacy Shield that provides numerous improvements to Safe Harbor. Reforms under the Obama administration to US government surveillance practices and legislation granting EU nationals the same rights as US nationals to seek judicial redress with regard to the certain types of privacy violations were critical to concluding the negotiations. But the future of this agreement and alternative means of transferring EU citizens’ personal data to the US is uncertain as they are being challenged before EU courts. The US and EU need to continue cooperating to ensure that Privacy Shield and other tools for the transatlantic transfer of personal data remain in place.
Anthony Luzzatto Gardner
Chapter 6. The Digital Economy
Abstract
The EU has successfully resisted occasional pressures to use the EU’s Digital Single Market as a protectionist tool against the United States. The US has rightly supported the program as hugely beneficial for European growth and innovation. There is no evidence of anti-Americanism in the EU’s competition or tax investigations into US technology giants’ European businesses. On many key battlegrounds of the digital economy, such as copyright and the obligations of online platforms, US firms have been on both sides of many key issues. As the EU continues to be an active regulator setting global standards in many sectors, many US firms are concentrating their advocacy in Brussels rather than Washington. The US and the EU should not allow short-term conflicts over issues such as a Digital Sales Tax to prevent them from collaborating on the digital economy, especially the development of international standards in the Internet of Things.
Anthony Luzzatto Gardner

Security Ties

Frontmatter
Chapter 7. Sanctions
Abstract
Cooperation between the United States and the European Union to implement restrictive sanctions on Russia and Iran represents one of the greatest achievements of the transatlantic partnership. Without the sanctions on Russia, Putin would likely have been tempted to exploit Russia’s military advantage even farther. Declining oil prices certainly contributed to weakening the Russian economy during 2014–2016, but sanctions had a major impact. In light of diverging economic exposures and historic ties to Russia, it is remarkable that transatlantic unity held firm. Neither the US nor EU acting alone could have crafted sanctions that were equally effective. Similarly, US-EU cooperation on Iranian sanctions was instrumental in bringing Teheran to the negotiating table to limit its nuclear ambitions. The US can inflict short-term serious pain on Iran (and other countries) on its own through unilateral sanctions, but only at the cost of transatlantic disunity and the long-term ineffectiveness of these sanctions.
Anthony Luzzatto Gardner
Chapter 8. Energy Security
Abstract
For decades the United States and the European Union have collaborated to enhance European energy security. Their efforts have largely focused on addressing Europe’s high degree of reliance on imported Russian gas. Gazprom’s dominance has long enabled Moscow to engage in price gouging and politically motivated behavior. By focusing on diversifying Europe’s sources of supply and import routes for gas, as well as promoting the free flow of gas within the EU to eliminate “energy islands” in Central and Eastern Europe that have been highly dependent on Gazprom supplies, the US and the EU have driven down consumer costs and enabled many countries to regain their sovereignty. One of the most impressive examples of US-EU cooperation on energy security is their assistance to Ukraine to improve energy efficiency, reduce the demand for and diversify the supply of energy, and improve the transparency of its notoriously opaque and corrupt energy sector.
Anthony Luzzatto Gardner
Chapter 9. Law Enforcement Cooperation
Abstract
The terrorist attacks that swept Europe in 2014–2016 underscored the vital importance of US–EU law enforcement cooperation. Nearly all the attacks had an international component and occurred because of dramatic failures of police and intelligence services to share information on a timely basis. The United States has gradually built up its cooperation with Europol, the EU’s police agency, because of Europol’s growing contributions in the joint struggle against serious crime and terrorism. US–EU Agreements, such as those dealing with the exchange of passenger name records, data privacy protections for the transfer of law enforcement data and US access to records of financial transactions held by SWIFT, have made a substantial contribution to enhancing transatlantic and even global security. The US and the EU now need to negotiate an agreement on their reciprocal access to electronic evidence to assist law enforcement authorities to respond quickly to serious crime and terrorist acts.
Anthony Luzzatto Gardner
Chapter 10. Military and Security Cooperation
Abstract
Although the EU plays a relatively modest role in military and security issues, US–EU cooperation in this field is important, especially in Africa. In some difficult conflicts in its southern and eastern neighborhood, the EU provides capabilities that the United States lacks and therefore makes an important contribution to regional stability and even US security. Its growing military and security identity have proven so far to be complementary to, not competitive with NATO. Urging Europe to spend more on its own defense is only one part of the picture; Europe must spend more effectively and it needs to have a defense industry that has greater scale and ability to innovate. Talk of a European army is premature and a costly distraction from the real work of building battlefield capabilities, a coherent defense doctrine and focusing on limited but high value-added areas where Europe can contribute to security in its neighborhood.
Anthony Luzzatto Gardner

Saving the Planet

Frontmatter
Chapter 11. Climate Change and the Environment
Abstract
The US and EU are essential partners in addressing the critical challenges of climate change and environmental degradation. Until the Obama administration, they alternated in taking leadership roles to protect the thinning ozone layer and to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases. During Obama’s two terms, the US and the EU worked together to achieve a very significant agreement at the 2016 Paris Climate Accords. While the Paris Agreement was not perfect, it represented a finely tuned balance between the diverging requirements of the key stakeholders, committed key developing countries to take action and put the world on a trajectory to address rapidly increasing global warming. Whether it will succeed depends, in part, on successful implementation of detailed rules and a virtuous cycle of rising expectations and private sector innovation. The US and the EU are also critical players in the search to protect the world’s oceans and endangered species.
Anthony Luzzatto Gardner
Chapter 12. Foreign Aid and Humanitarian Assistance
Abstract
Together the US and EU provide two-thirds of global humanitarian assistance for the alleviation of emergencies arising from natural and man-made disasters and 80% of global foreign aid for longer-term development assistance programs. It is therefore vital that they continue their close partnership to ensure their dollars and euros are spent as effectively as possible in an era of increasingly tight budgetary constraints. The outbreak of Ebola in West Africa in 2014 is a good example of how the US and the EU successfully addressed (albeit belatedly) a major health crisis that could have turned into a global pandemic. In many areas in Africa, they are collaborating closely on the foundation of shared priorities, including on food security, resilience, and electrification. They are also among the largest donors to the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria and to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation.
Anthony Luzzatto Gardner
Chapter 13. Conclusions
Abstract
For sixty years prior to the Trump administration, US foreign policy pursued a bipartisan goal of promoting European integration because it has benefited European and American economic and political interests. Similarly, during this period the US actively promoted (together with its allies) the multilateral rules-based order that it helped build after World War II out of enlightened self-interest. Undermining the EU and multilateralism, as the Trump administration has sought to do, makes no sense. America First has too often meant America Alone. The US cannot address some of the most pressing regional and global challenges by acting alone. It needs its European allies, not only the member states but also the EU institutions that provide a unique range of value-added capabilities. Understanding these capabilities, the reason for this book, will be crucial to repairing the damage in transatlantic relations.
Anthony Luzzatto Gardner
Metadata
Title
Stars with Stripes
Author
Anthony Luzzatto Gardner
Copyright Year
2020
Electronic ISBN
978-3-030-29966-8
Print ISBN
978-3-030-29965-1
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29966-8