GLOBSEC United or Divided? The Future of US–EU Relations

AAU hosted a debate panel as a pre-session for one of Europe’s most influential platforms for shaping global security and stability, the 21st edition of GLOBSEC FORUM. The debaters discussed US and EU relations as the key topic, noting that foreign policy is such a driving force for domestic policy today. 

The panel included: foreign policy advisor to the President of Czechia and former Ambassador to the United States Michael Žantovský; political scientist, author, and Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute Dalibor Roháč; Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Blue Star Strategies LLC Sally Painter; Dean of School of International Relations and Diplomacy George Hays, II; and Slovak foreign policy expert, former Slovak Minister of Foreign Affairs, and moderator Pavol Demeš.

Two years ago, relations between the US and the EU were very different, very friendly, Demeš comments. Žantovský speaks more optimistically saying that while there is a lot of “unpleasant talk” from the US President, we are not in the “abyss”. Europe and the US share many similarities in culture and history, the relationship is deep. However, there is disbelief, distrust, and concern forming recently.

Roháč is more skeptical that the talk and decisions made by Trump are a fleeting phenomenon and that we will be able to go back to “business as usual” after his term. He sees the administration and its foreign policy decisions as “unfettered from reality and objective evidence.”

“I would like Czechs, Slovaks, and Europeans to be prepared for a mental and material growth for a world in which America at minimum cannot be relied upon and perhaps might even be a source of global instability,” Roháč said.

It must be recognized that Europe and the United States are structurally tied together in the most deeply integrated trade investment area in the world. Žantovský spoke of an analogy used during the communist era about Czechoslovakia’s relationship with the Soviet Union that applies in some ways: “are we friends or brothers. Brothers because you can choose your friends.”

Hays commented on the unpredictability of what is going to happen now and many students’ worries about their freedom of speech and safety in the US. There will be a long-term effect that the Trump administration has on the world which will outlive him.

“There is a perception of power in rejecting the common knowledge, in rejecting objective knowledge and in making use of extreme emotion as a tool,” Hays said.

All the panelists agreed that the allyship between Europe and the US will persist. The US has historically asked Europe to stand up and do more to create an equal partnership, and, while the US might not always like how Europe does this, they are catching up. Europe has the chance now to show that it is an independent actor, said Hays, and they do not have to always appease the US.

This year’s GLOBSEC FORUM brings together world leaders, innovators, and changemakers, under the auspices of Czech President Czechia Petr Pavel. AAU was honoured to host some of the speakers and open the discussion on the future safety of the world.

Photos from the event can be viewed here.