The crisis in transatlantic relations

Summary:

From September 9-11, 2004, 57 former fellows of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., and many of their spouses met at the Center for European Integration Studies, Bonn, to ana- lyze and exchange views on the topic “The Crisis in Transatlantic Rela- tions.” The general attitude of this group of intellectuals and policymakers does not differ from the results shown in the recently released Transatlantic Trends 2004 from

The German Marshall Fund of the United States. Most attendees are critical of U.S. policy in Iraq and of U.S. policies toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some felt that France, Germany, and the new Socialist government of Spain had gone too far in continuing to place ob- stacles in the way of reconstruction aid to Iraq. Almost all hoped that transatlantic relations would improve, and felt that this would be facilitated by a change of administration in Washington in this coming November’s election.