European Institute

Most of America’s partners seem to judge that the electoral blow to President Barack Obama is bad news for a leader they like and proof that the U.S. public is moving farther away from the social values and other center-left views that amount to a broad consensus in much of the EU.

Conservative control of the House of Representatives weakens the already-flagging momentum on climate-change legislation. Many new Congress members – Republicans (including Tea Party activists) – will expand the ranks opposing environmental action as too expensive or even denying the existence of global warming as a man-made problem.

The European Institute has received permission to publish a briefing (see text) given Wednesday to the All-Party Group on Transatlantic and International Security about the broad political implications of the U.S. vote this week. It is a group drawn from all three political parties in the House of Commons and in the House of Lords.