President Obama in Europe: A Time for Reassessing Transatlantic Relations

The implementation of the Lisbon Treaty reflects a new phase in the European Union’s evolution as a global actor and key U.S. partner in addressing common challenges. On November 20, President Barack Obama travelled to Lisbon to participate in the first U.S.-EU Summit since the treaty went into effect.

On November 18, the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings (CUSE), the Heinrich Böll Foundation and Notre Europe hosted a discussion previewing the Lisbon Summit and examining the state of the transatlantic partnership. The event featured Romano Prodi, former president of the European Commission; Etienne Davignon, former vice-president of the European Commission; and Jeremy Shapiro, senior advisor to the assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia. Prodi and Davignon are contributors to a recently published Notre Europe report “Reshaping EU-U.S. Relations: A Concept Paper.” The paper is a product of a high-level task force comprised of former European ministers and heads of government and assesses the future of U.S.-EU relations in the age of globalization.

Senior Fellow Justin Vaïsse, CUSE director of research, provided introductory remarks and moderated the discussion. After the program, panelists took audience questions.