No. 2521 February 16, 2011 How President Obama’s EU Policy Undercuts U.S. Interests Sally McNamara Abstract: The European Union has not been working with the United States as a partner, but against the U.S. as a global counterbalance. One of the main features of the Talking Points EU’s counter-strategy is its advancement of a non-NATO • Europe has not been a policy priority for Presi- defense identity, the Common Security and Defense Policy dent Obama. To the extent that Europe has fea- (CSDP). The CSDP is not strengthening the transatlantic tured on his Administration’s agenda, the alliance, instead shifting resources from NATO to the EU, President has supported further EU integration. making it a rival military system. However, the Obama • The Lisbon Treaty has significantly advanced Administration continues to praise this and other integra- the Common Security and Defense Policy as tionist policies as alliance-builders and historic milestones. an independent defense alliance, separate While anti-NATO developments on the part of the EU are from NATO. certainly milestones, they do not foster greater stability or • Rather than strengthening the transatlantic alli- security. Heritage Foundation European affairs and trans- ance, the EU’s defense policies have resulted in atlantic security expert Sally McNamara explains how the what former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Administration’s current EU policy undercuts U.S. inter- Albright warned as “the three D’s”—duplica- ests—and how it can change course. tion, decoupling, and discrimination. • The purpose behind the EU’s drive for a sep- arate defense identity is not a military one, Since the introduction of the European Union’s but one of restraining American action on Lisbon Treaty on December 1, 2009, the Obama the world stage. Therefore greater European Administration has proclaimed the value of the defense resources have not been, and will treaty—which significantly advanced the EU’s Com- not be, realized through the EU. mon Security and Defense Policy as a defense alliance • The EU is pursuing the “multilateralisation of separate from NATO—for the transatlantic relation- multipolarity” in order to refashion the inter- ship. President Barack Obama welcomed the treaty’s national system into a highly regulated system ratification, stating, “I believe that a strengthened and where U.S. power is constrained. renewed EU will be an even better transatlantic part- ner with the United States.”1 U.S. Secretary of State This paper, in its entirety, can be found at: Hillary Clinton went further, describing the Lisbon http://report.heritage.org/bg2521 2 Treaty as “a major milestone in our world’s history.” Produced by the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom In November 2010, the Obama Administration Published by The Heritage Foundation 214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE agreed to a new Strategic Concept for NATO, which Washington, DC 20002–4999 (202) 546-4400 • heritage.org Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of The Heritage Foundation or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before Congress. No. 2521 February 16, 2011 upgraded the EU to a “strategic partner” of the alli- The Obama Administration’s ance without restating the primacy of NATO in Europe Policy 12 Europe’s security architecture. Europe is not a priority for President Obama. As Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher the first self-identified “Pacific president,” President described a separate EU defense identity as “at best Obama has often been ambivalent to America’s an alternative and at worst a rival military structure strongest allies in Europe. His indifference to the and armed forces [to NATO].”3 Rather than Anglo-American Special Relationship has been strengthening the transatlantic alliance, the EU’s especially marked. Beginning with an uncomfort- defense policies have resulted in what former U.S. able gift exchange with then-British Prime Minister Secretary of State Madeleine Albright warned as Gordon Brown—where President Obama was pre- “the three D’s”—the duplication of NATO’s role and sented with an ornamental pen holder carved from structures, the delinking of the NATO and EU alli- the timbers of the HMS Gannet, only to hand over a ances, and discrimination against non-EU members box-set of 25 DVDs—the Obama Administration of NATO.4 compounded the diplomatic faux pas when a senior In today’s age of fiscal austerity, the division of State Department protocol official stated to a Sunday defense resources between the EU and NATO repre- Telegraph reporter: “There’s nothing special about sents a considerable challenge to the future of the Britain. You’re just the same as the other 190 coun- transatlantic alliance. tries in the world. You shouldn’t expect special treatment.”6 President Obama also refused five The EU has also found itself at odds with U.S. requests to meet with Prime Minister Brown on the interests on a number of strategic issues. EU High _________________________________________ Representative Catherine Ashton’s drive to lift Brus- sels’s arms embargo on China, in contravention of The division of defense resources between the strong American objections, is but one example of EU and NATO represents a considerable challenge the growing transatlantic divide on important secu- to the future of the transatlantic alliance. rity questions. The Lisbon Treaty has given the EU ____________________________________________ greater latitude to pursue its wider objective of fringes of the U.N. meeting in New York in Septem- refashioning the international system into a highly ber 2009. And in January 2011, President Obama regulated, multilateral system where U.S. actions declared that France, not Britain, is the United can be constrained. The “multilateralisation of mul- States’ most important ally.7 President Obama has tipolarity” approach that Brussels is pursuing dam- also neglected America’s previously strong ties with ages America’s bilateral relationships with critical Central and Eastern European nations in favor of European allies, undermines Washington’s leader- “resetting” relations with Russia, cancelling the ship of the international system, and threatens U.S. Third Site missile defense installations in Poland sovereignty.5 1. “Obama Welcomes ‘Strengthened’ EU,” EUBusiness, November 3, 2009, at http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/treaty-czech-us.1a8 (February 10, 2011). 2. Hillary Rodham Clinton, “Remarks with EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Catherine Ashton After Their Meeting,” U.S. Department of State, January 21, 2010, at http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/01/135530.htm (February 10, 2011). 3. Margaret Thatcher, Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World (New York: HarperCollins, 2002), p. 355. 4. Madeleine Albright, “Transcript: Albright Press Conference at NATO HDQS,” USIS Washington File, December 8, 1998, at http://www.fas.org/man/nato/news/1998/98120904_tlt.html (February 10, 2011). 5. Alvaro de Vasconcelos, “After Lisbon: The States of the Union,” EU Institute for Security Studies Newsletter No. 31, March 2010, at http://www.iss.europa.eu/uploads/media/ISSues-31.pdf (February 14, 2011). 6. Tim Shipman, “Barack Obama ‘Too Tired’ to Give Proper Welcome to Gordon Brown,” The Telegraph, March 7, 2009, at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/4953523/Barack-Obama-too-tired-to-give-proper- welcome-to-Gordon-Brown.html (February 10, 2011). page 2 No. 2521 February 16, 2011 and the Czech Republic without any prior consulta- Foreign Secretary William Hague that the Conserva- tion with Warsaw and Prague.8 tive Party might undo the Lisbon Treaty, were a new 10 President Obama has also proved willing to let British government to hold a referendum on it. In the EU advance defense arrangements indepen- January 2011, U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Louis dently of NATO. He is understandably frustrated by Susman also told a meeting of European Parliamen- tarians from the U.K., “Let’s be clear: all key issues Brussels’s frequent summitry—even going as far as 11 cancelling his attendance at the EU–U.S. biannual must run through Europe.” Publicly recognizing summit in Madrid in May 2010. However, U.S. the EU as a global foreign and security policy player interests in Europe are far too important to lose has been a consistent message of the Obama focus. President Obama must be more sensitive to Administration. Speaking prior to the U.S.–EU new EU-led assaults on U.S. bilateral relations and summit in Lisbon in November, Assistant Secretary to the EU’s unpicking of the foundations of the of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip transatlantic relationship. Gordon stated that Obama’s EU Policy. To the extent that Europe The U.S.–EU summit…will be the first since has featured on his Administration’s agenda, Presi- the EU strengthened itself via the Lisbon dent Obama has supported further European inte- treaty. Leaders will talk about a range of gration. This position matches his instinctive issues, focused mainly in three categories. support for multilateralism as well as his gratitude The world economy, and the U.S.–EU eco- for European support before his election. His pre- nomic partnership remains one of the most election speech in Berlin in July 2008 provided important to the world and certainly impor- then-Senator Obama with an international platform tant to the United States.…Security, includ- to establish his fledgling foreign policy credentials. ing the critical question of counterterrorism