Home / Press review / Archive / Magazine / Current / Barack Obama / Debate

A new friend?

What are the Europeans expecting from Barack Obama, the new man in the White House – and what is he expecting from Europe?

Ever since Barack Obama, the 47-year-old son of an American mother and Kenyan father, ran for and won the US presidential election, the United States has experienced a historic high in the European popularity stakes. The press has fêted him as a "man of change” (Le Soir, Belgium), "our Hussein” (Devnik, Slovenia) and "Europe's Messiah” (Le Figaro, France), and even described him as "almost European” (Cotidianul, Romania). Many commentators wish they had a politician like Obama and have wondered whether a member of a minority would have succeeded in getting elected leader in their country.

Photo: AP/ Alex Brandon

Yet there have been some warnings as well – warnings against premature euphoria (Süddeutsche Zeitung, 3 November 2009). Le Monde remarked that Obama might be a difficult partner for Europe, saying "Europe knows Barack Obama well, but this is not true the other way round.” But, as Gabor Steingart wrote in a piece broadcast on Deutschlandradio on 26 December, "Obama does indeed have a chance, if not to redeem America, then at least to renew it," adding that he knows how to motivate people and that economically hard times will force him to make far-reaching and courageous decisions.

More partnership

Obama – and the Europeans – will not only have to overcome their internal troubles but also resolve foreign policy crises. Alongside the global financial crisis there is an incipient power struggle over energy in which oil and gas suppliers have the say, like the current conflict between Ukraine and Russia. The world has changed since the Bush government came to office. New economic and political forces like China, India and Brazil can no longer be ignored, and Russia has also acquired a new self-confidence. Following 9/11, first Afghanistan and then Iraq became the focus of world interest; at the end of 2008 war broke out in Gaza and continues to rage. What does Europe expect from the new US leader in the way of crisis management, and what stance does it expect him to take on climate issues? Will the trans-Atlantic relationship change under Obama? Indeed, what does the United States expect from Europe?

The different foreign policy approaches taken by the members of the European Union have been highlighted by the debate over the United States' rocket defence shield in Europe. The French publicist Jacques Rupnik criticised Poland and the Czech Republic for going solo in negotiating bilateral treaties with the United States. "First they made bilateral agreements with the US. Then when they noticed that Russia as well as some Europeans had problems with this, they tried to present the project as beneficial for the entire alliance. ... But now it is hardly possible to stop the project,” he wrote in the Czech weekly Respekt on 14 January 2009. The European press is relatively certain that Obama "will be making more demands on its European allies on security issues than Bush," as the Slovak daily Sme wrote on 2 December 2008. Not only will the rocket defence shield be on the agenda but also the European troop contingents in Afghanistan and Iraq. Writing in the Hungarian daily Népszabadság on 6 November 2008, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Hungarian parliament said he hoped the United States would make a clear commitment to East-Central Europe – also in view of increased Russian influence in the former Soviet republics: "We need the US, especially now that Russia's foreign policy is focussing on a new division of spheres of interest. The true security risk for Central Eastern Europe today is the fragility of the trans-Atlantic alliance."

Obama will profit from the growing foreign policy strength of the EU and from the existence of European politicians with leadership qualities, the Dutch daily De Volkskraant wrote in an analysis on 25 July 2008, and he should therefore work together with Europe: "In recent years America has had to face up to the limitations of its power in Afghanistan and Iraq, and also in other international issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian problem and the uranium dispute with Iran. Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy are assuming increasingly dominant roles in international diplomacy. What became clear after September 11, and is becoming ever clearer now, is that since the end of the Cold War our world knows no universal values of which the US is the main, or sole representative. ... America needs its old NATO allies once more, with whom it shares common interests and values." Portugal's Diário Económico and the Danish newspaper Information even hoped that Obama might use European success stories as his models, be they the welfare state or European approaches to alternative energy.

Different to Bush?

Others, like the Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat, doubted whether the United States would really be prepared to engage in closer dialogue. On 30 October 2008, it commented: "Obama will not act any differently to Bush on the key foreign policy issues, for the simple reason that there is cross-party consensus in this area in the US." It could also be difficult "to reconcile the unilaterality of the US with the flexibility of the Europeans," the Italian daily La Stampa conjectured on 13 November 2008.

Not having Bush to focus on as an "enemy” would not necessarily make things easier for the Europeans, some journalists believed. Le Monde warned on 3 December 2008: "Trans-Atlantic relations may become less tension-ridden than with Mr. Bush. But the Europeans will no longer have an excuse to disassociate themselves from the US. The new government will not be giving them any free lunches and indeed will demand much more from them," For this reason the Europeans should make use of the chance presented by "change” in order to actively reshape the trans-Atlantic relationship. "Until the situation in the US has become established there is a good opportunity for the Europeans to spell out their offer of a new partnership to Obama. Simply waiting to see what the new man in the White House asks of the Europeans will mean going back to a situation where one partner is the cook and the other the waiter," the Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote on 12 November 2008. El País came to a considered conclusion on 11 November 2008. We should not try to deceive ourselves. Obama will not give up the US position as "the most powerful country in the world, economically and militarily, and he will continue making his own decisions to this end." "And yet," it added, "the relationship with Europe will change for the better. Obama has grasped that there was nothing to be gained from America's current foreign policy."

The European press was divided in its reaction to Obama's personnel decisions, particularly his appointment of his former rival for the Democratic nomination Hillary Clinton as foreign minister. Since she introduced the concept of "smart power" to the US Senate on 13 January 2009 – a concept that espouses more diplomacy, no unilateral action by the US, and deeper trust in Europe – she has been viewed more positively. She signalled "a shift away from the militarisation of US foreign policy under President Bush," the English daily The Times commented that day. Europe will make a greater contribution in the future, the Portuguese daily Diário Económico predicted on 13 November 2008: "In the years to come the US will have to put its interests before those of the rest of the world. This is not necessarily bad news, but it will force the world to revise its power relations. Less US means more China, more Russia, more Iran and a little bit more Europe."

Nikola Richter

Nikola Richter, born 1976 in Bremen, lives in Berlin. She works as an editor for euro|topics and as a writer. Her latest publications were "Schluss ...
» to author index

Further articles on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Global, » U.S., » Europe
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Global, » U.S., » Europe