Policy Schism Widens Between U.S., Europe

When a succession of European leaders visited this city after Sept. 11, they came to express a new-felt solidarity with their U.S. partners.

But as they arrive for today’s annual U.S.-European summit, they are struggling with frictions that have erupted on issue after issue since and have raised questions about the fundamental strength of the transatlantic alliance.

European leaders differ sharply with the Bush administration on the Middle East, believing that U.S. policy has been too sympathetic to the Israelis. The Europeans have challenged the administration’s willingness to mount a military campaign against Iraq and its seeming inclination to use military force to deal with other threats as well.

They are battling the Bush administration on steel tariffs in a dispute that threatens to become a full-blown trade war. And they complain that America no longer consults Europe first on global security issues, as it did during the Cold War.

Frictions between these huge powers are a perennial part of the relationship. Yet this year’s strains seem unusually intense and pose at least two urgent questions: How much political and material support will Europe give the United States in its campaign to displace Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and in the broader anti-terror campaign?

The frictions spring from a growing gap between the opinions of Americans and Europeans. Polls suggest that the Bush administration’s approach to the Mideast and the anti-terrorism fight has deepened transatlantic disagreements, and it is leading Europeans to demand a foreign policy distinct from that of the United States.

The differences also point to a longer-term divergence between the interests of a wealthy and ever-more-unified Europe and a United States that is increasingly focused on fast-growing Asia, experts say.

The schism between the allies came jarringly into view earlier this year, when European leaders began speaking with uncharacteristic bluntness about the U.S. approach on terrorism.

There was predictable criticism from French and other diplomats that Bush’s focus on the “evil” of rogue regimes was simplistic. More surprising, and perhaps more wounding, was criticism from a conservative British politician, EU foreign policy commissioner Chris Patten, that Washington had moved into “unilateralist overdrive” in its pursuit of its terrorist adversary.

As Washington has gotten more involved in the Middle East crisis, the criticism from Europe has become more muted. The Europeans are now deeply engaged in trying to get the White House to step up its peace efforts there, and to at least put off until next year a military confrontation with Hussein.

A senior State Department official contended this week that U.S. officials were laying to rest European worries.

“I think most of the European fears and apprehensions have been taken care of,” this official said.

Yet a European diplomat in Washington made clear that differences remain.

Terrorism Seen as

Distorting U.S. View

Regional problems such as that in the Middle East have long and complex histories and cannot be solved by military means, the European said. The Bush administration, he said, “has tended to see all the problems of the planet through the prism of the war on terrorism.”

Anthony J. Blinken, a foreign policy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said it was widely believed after Sept. 11 that the war on terrorism would be the glue that held the transatlantic alliance together, as the Cold War had held it together in the past.

Instead, “what we’ve seen is there are very different perceptions of the threat depending on which side of the Atlantic you’re on,” he said.

A poll by the Pew Research Center, conducted in early April, found that while the Sept. 11 attacks brought a welling of European sympathy for the United States, Americans have not convinced Europeans that the war on terrorism is their fight too.

The poll indicated that in Britain, France, Italy and Germany, majorities ranging from 68% to 80% believe the United States is waging war on terrorism for its own interests, rather than for its allies or humanity in general.

The finding is significant because the United States is relying on help from Europe to conduct various aspects of the anti-terrorism campaign.

The survey also showed marked differences on the Middle East.

Europeans, whose countries include growing Islamic populations, were notably more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause than to Israel’s. Europeans were also highly skeptical of U.S. plans for military action in Iraq.

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, contended that European concerns are growing, too, because of the view of some administration officials that U.S. security and economic interests should now be focused on Asia rather than Europe.

“There’s a significant part of this administration that [thinks that] Europe is no longer as relevant as it was a couple of years ago,” he told reporters at a recent lunch.

But some argue that U.S.-European differences are not something to fear.

Ivo H. Daalder, a former National Security Council aide now at the Brookings Institution think tank, said that during the last century, U.S. foreign policy was focused on seeing that no single European country dominated the continent.

Now that this effort has succeeded, Europe is prosperous and unified, and America and Europe don’t need to suppress their differing interests to maintain unity, he said.

“There’s been growing irritation in Europe at the way the U.S. has been throwing its weight around,” he said. “But now there’s no necessity to agree; we can wallow in the luxury of disagreement.”