TransAtlantic Relations After Bush

Bush's defeat comes as a breath of fresh air in TransAtlantic Relations. In the last six years, the relationships between Europe and the US had progressively worsened, almost to a breaking point.

It is obviously not in our interests and we have to stress the importance of healthy and sincere relations between the two sides of the Oceans. Europe has to do its own mea culpa as much as America.

We are both trying to come out of a number of serious economic and political issues. The forthcoming two years will be extremely important in order to move on and reform on both sides. French presidential elections are coming up soon (April 2007). Then Blair will leave (around that time, after 10 long years). Bush is on the way out and it is not going to be easy in his last two years. Germany and Italy with their broad, fragile, coalitions are open to political change at any moment.

The direction to take must be that of strong Transatlantic Relations. I do not see any other alternative.