'US needs to reengage with Europe' - Opion by John Shattuck

The Middle East and Asia dominate President Obama’s daily foreign policy briefings, but a region of the world closer to home should be getting more of his attention. The economic and political crisis in Europe poses a direct threat to the United States.

The United States and the European Union are the largest mutual stakeholders in each other’s economies, global partners in international security, and, despite differences in perspective, supporters of a system of shared values. But the EU today is a fractured behemoth, and US interests in Europe are increasingly at risk.

Until recently, the EU was a remarkable success story. With crucial early support from the Marshall Plan, Europe was rebuilt from the ashes of the Second World War, developing a common market that grew into an economic union based on free enterprise, democracy, and open society.

The EU was able to expand rapidly in the 1990s, thanks to German reunification, a strong common currency, and robust economic growth. But the financial crisis and the economic contraction that followed proved catastrophic, reversing two decades of integration and creating a multi-speed Europe now in danger of breaking up unless strong fiscal controls are established at the center.

The European Central Bank and other EU institutions are now perceived by many European governments as threatening national sovereignty. Tensions are reflected in the financial markets, widespread and sometimes violent European protests, and political gridlock in Brussels, Berlin, Paris, London, and other capitals trapped by their own austerity policies. As the crisis continues, nationalism, xenophobia, and increasingly powerful right-wing extremism are emerging across the continent.

The EU crisis cannot be solved by Europe alone. As Europe’s principal geopolitical partner, the United States has a huge stake in the EU’s future. It also has substantial economic and security leverage.

Note EU-Digest: the EU crises must and can be solved by members of the European Union alone  and does not need any  "interference" by anyone especially not the US financial sector which has been the main cause of all the economic problems the EU is experiencing today.  It will require above all unity among the members and a far more independent global political vision.

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