(The Day) After the US Presidential Election: Prospects for Transatlantic Relations

On November 4, 2008, the US voters will choose between John McCain and Barack Obama as their next president. In the eyes of many Europeans, the Bush administration has not only blundered seriously in its foreign policy, it has also caused a deep transatlantic estrangement between Europe and the US. Europe is longing for a change, a new partnership. If McCain will become the new president, US foreign policy will hardly change fundamentally. Will it still be possible to come to a common strategy in conflict areas like Iraq, Iran, the Middle East or Transcaucasia? Will it be possible to sort out the problems between NATO and the EU or would it mean that transatlantic relations will continue to deteriorate? On the other hand, will there be really fundamental changes in case Obama wins or is former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer right when he claims that Europeans are likely to be disappointed in their hopes for a fundamental change in US foreign policy after the presidential election, that “it would take a medium-sized political miracle for these hopes not to be disappointed, and such a miracle will not happen – whoever is elected” (Project Syndicate). If so, what would be the right EU strategy to approach the new US administration regardless of who the new president will be?

Panel:
- Eva Gross, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for European Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel;
- Christiane Hoehn, Transatlantic Relations, Council of the European Union;
- Bart Kerremans, Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Institute For International and European Policy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (tbc);
- Bert Lanting, Journalist, De Volkskrant;
- John Miller, Journalist, Wall Street Journal;
- Marc Vanheukelen, Head of Unit 'United States and Canada', DG RELEX , European Commission;
- Toby Vogel, Reporter (foreign affairs), European Voice

Moderator:
Claude Weinber, Director EU Regional Office Brussels,  Heinrich Böll Stiftung