New Faces, Old Problems, Familiar Solutions?
Kurt D. Volker, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs (May 2): "Yet we need a strong and dynamic NATO today no less than in the past. We need it for hard, practical reasons, and because it is also a key part of the glue of our transatlantic community. This is why President Sarkozy’s announcement that France will fully normalize its role within NATO and co-host next year’s NATO Summit is so significant. We also need a strong European Union, and a close U.S.-EU partnership. There should be no question: the United States fully supports a strong EU. This is still a relationship in its infancy, however, and the sense of being a single “U.S.-EU community” is not a phrase that usually rolls off the tongue. It is somehow different when Europeans decide only among themselves on policies, and then exchange views with the U.S., versus when we sit together and make joint decisions together. That is what we do at NATO, and what we need to do better in our U.S.-EU efforts." Full Text









