Pelicans and marsh grass were not the only victims of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Another casualty was in Britain among some people there who felt aggrieved that their country seemed to get no specially gentle handling from the White House in the name of the “special relationship” between the U.S. and UK. That longstanding concept of a special bilateral tie has only slowly faded in London, even under the new government. But decision-makers in Washington have been saying privately for years that it no longer exists, except in special circumstances such as the wars in the Falklands and the Gulf.
When the U.S. government led a bailout program of $700 billion in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the money was generally described as bailout funds for U.S. banks and other major financial institutions. But in fact, substantial amounts went to foreign banks, according to a congressional watchdog, the Congressional Oversight Panel. Headed by Elizabeth Warren, the committee has just issued a report highlighting this dimension of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).
Hubert Védrine gets it right when he remarks that “there is a lot of fetishism in talk about the Franco-German relationship.” In saying that, France’s former minister of foreign affairs wants to make the point that the French-German couple long ago “lost that loving feeling” – meaning the commitment and energy that fueled their success as a pace-setting duo for Europe has died out. As his comment suggests, some ritualistic reflexes remain possible in dealings between Paris and Berlin. But the mutual passion has drained; the affair is over. In the current circumstances, where the EU is struggling financially and economically amid the continuing after-shocks of the crisis, the torment is not caused by a breakdown between Berlin and Paris. If there is trouble in the EU’s situation and future, it does not stem from some dysfunction in the two capitals’ political libidos. Nor is there any solution for Europe in seeing these two capitals “make up.” These two nations have become too dissimilar to maintain a “relationship.” Just to take one central issue, Germany now ranks as one of the leading global economic players while France has not yet been able to halt its tumble in the ratings.
For German leaders today, most born after 1950 and many since 1960, both the EU and the Franco-German relationship are now part of Germany’s policy choices, among others -- and no longer a central goal as it was for the post-1945 generation amid their determination to set Germany on a new course in a new Europe that precluded any return to past tragic failures. During the last two decades the political and economic geometry of Europe has altered in favor of a more dominant position for Germany. While France can continue to strut on the world stage of the UN as one of the five permanent veto-wielding members of the Security Council and aspire to position itself as a power with global reach, Germany has become the dominant player in Europe.
G-20’s Compromise Rhetoric Is Designed as Bridge to November Summit – Meant To Be Crucial G-20 Event
The outcome of the latest G-20 summit had something for everyone – mostly in the form of delaying any drastic policy changes by any of the governments involved. No binding decisions were taken on implementing any of the changes in financial systems that were on the table ahead of the Toronto meeting. Instead, the artful main decision offered a (non-binding) pledge that governments should focus on how and when to start curbing their pro-jobs stimulus and move toward budget cutbacks as the basis for more sustainable growth.
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