KARACHI: US, EU pursuing same political agenda, says expert
By Our Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 18: Egyptian scholar Mohammad El-Syed Selim on Thursday stirred a controversy, when he told participants at a seminar that France and Germany, in fact, had not opposed the US invasion of Iraq.
“If they wanted, they could have moved a resolution in the Security Council,” Mr Selim emphasised, at the seminar on US-European relations in contemporary international setting: implications for the developing world.
The Karachi University’s Area Study Centre for Europe, in collaboration with the Hans Seidel Foundation, had organized the event.
He said that though the US and the European Union had conflict of interests on economic issues but on security and political issues their agenda was similar.
Pervez Iqbal Cheema said the tragic events of Sept 11, 2001, not only unleashed new trends in international politics but also a sustained war against terrorism was launched. In addition, the world also witnessed the continuation of some of the ongoing trends. Trends like the drift towards globalization, regional integration and weakening of the UN continued, he said.
The invasion of Iraq, on the grounds that it had weapons of mass destruction, was launched without securing authorization from the UN, and as a consequence the world had witnessed growing disagreements between the US and its coalition partners on the one hand, and some European countries like Germany and France on the other hand, he said.
The contentious issues were the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, and American unilateralism, he said.
Dr Esra Hatipolgu from Turkey said the war in Iraq and the trans-Atlantic rift compelled analysts to have a new look at how the two major global actors would be interacting in the region.
With the core EU countries becoming more assertive in evolving closer political cohesion in terms of common foreign and security policy, there were suggestions that it was high time for the EU to take over the matter of cleaning its Balkan backyard.
She discussed whether the interests and policies of the US and the EU in the Balkans were compatible - or even complementary - and whether the EU had the necessary means and instruments to clean the Balkan house on its own and help the regional countries in their efforts to join the EU, sidelining Washington.
Dr Imtiaz Bokhari reviewed the degree of dependence of the West on the Middle Eastern energy resources and its implications for the security and economic welfare of these states.
Dr Azmat Hayat Khan dealt with the Chinese economy and its interaction with those of the EU and the US.
The Chinese leadership had a number of security concerns that emerged as a consequence of Washington’s national security strategy, which, in declaratory and practical terms, sought to promote military security, democracy and prosperity, he said.
European Union (EU) - China relations have been highlighted by two issues: China’s admission into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and human rights.
Prof Angelo Santagostino focused on economic aspect and maintained that agriculture played an important role in the economic growth and development prospects of a vast majority of developing countries.
He said since the past few years, both the EU and the US had started to revise their respective agricultural policies. In case of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the reforms of 1992, 1999 and 2003 represented a steady progress towards reducing trade distorting domestic support, he said adding that besides the reforms had allowed the EU to significantly cut back on export subsidies. This, he said, indicated that the reforms were compatible with the WTO commitments and would help the developing countries’ agricultural production to find new market outlets.
Dr Mahnaz Fatima, in her presentation on Euro-dollar parity, maintained that since the launch of the Euro in January 1999, it had been watched more closely to compare its value with the US dollar
While relative currency value might be interesting and significant to watch, the over-enthusiasm could prove counterproductive for the attainment of the original goals, she said.
At the end of the day the general consensus was that the United States must recognize Europe as equal partner and abandon Rumsfeld doctrine in dealing with other nations.
