Uncle Sam and the Europe Risk

The American president and his European hosts, Herman Van Rompuy, Manuel Barroso and Cathy Ashton, have launched into a glowing praise of American-European relations in Washington on Monday. “[T]he best allies, the best partners, the best friends, the best customers,” is how European Union ambassador Joao Vale of Almeida summed it up during a briefing held in front of the international press with American counterpart William Kennard in Washington, insisting on “the quality,[…] the depth, intensity and value of the transatlantic relationship.”

But if Barack Obama has “the United States stand[ing] ready to do our part” in helping their main economic and political partner resolve the financial upheaval which threatens to explode the euro zone, Kennard was eager to emphasize that this good wish will not lead to a financial contribution at all.

What the Americans are ready to provide, hardened after getting through the 2008 storm, is “advice” on “the important issue” which represents the future of the euro zone for the American economy and the rest of the world. But it is not a question of publically exposing these points of view. “Our position is that we don’t disclose publicly the details of the advice that we give to European leaders,” explained Kennard in the current context. The Americans therefore stick to the fairly vague formulations which they have not had to stop repeating since the beginning of the crisis. President Obama wishes for “he would like to see bolder, quicker, more decisive action” adds Kennard. During his daily briefing, White House spokesperson Jay Carney reminded us that “this is a problem that Europe has to solve and has the capacity and resources to solve it, and Europe will solve it in its own way by finding its own political solution.”

If the Americans keep themselves from being too specific, a diplomat confided to me, it is because they do not feel themselves to give any lessons to Europe, as they themselves are bogged down in a major budgetary and political crisis, which reduces the development and creation of jobs. “European pride is only skin deep and they know that they will have a lot more impact with a low profile,” says this source.*

Do the Americans wish to see Germany ignore its wise prudence in order to go faster and leave it to the action of the European Central Bank, as the other European countries advocate? Would they prefer that Berlin soften its policy position on the need for limited changes of treaties in order to engrave here more budgetary discipline and more restrictive sanction mechanisms? Without a doubt, even if their annoyance remains discrete.

Their position seems for the moment essentially dictated by the fear of a short-term catastrophe, which will come to bring a faltering American and world economy back into ruin. Outside of pessimistic analysis from the hands of journalists and experts who start to envisage a fragmentation of the euro zone and see an end to the journey for a single currency, no one in Washington seems really pressed to ask themselves such a question on the subject of Europe: federal or not? — something which the United States would need in the long term. The time is to put out the fire and consolidation, not for great visions, which Washington distrusts on principle. This is not a good bit of news.

It is true that America is in campaign mode. This evening it devoted much more clout to the sexual adventures of Republican candidate Herman Cain than to the problems of the European Union. Seen from across the electoral and notably Republican spyglass, Europe is above all perceived as a risk. As a nuisance rather than a power, also as a how-not-to model. With great maneuvers in place backstage of the Franco-German wings, the next few days will be crucial to deny or confirm this hardly flattering feeling.

This point of view can be starkly contrasted with Asia, where President Obama has very recently orchestrated a triumphant week-long campaign, and where his administration sees him very clearly move himself toward the strategic center of the world’s gravity.

*Editor’s Note: Quote could not be verified.