Former German Ambassador Discusses U.S.-EU Relations

Former German Ambassador to the European Union Dietrich von Kyaw spoke about the future of relations between the United States and the European Union at a brown bag with LBJ students on October 11.

"The EU construction . . . is primarily a construction to promote good neighborhood and cooperation," von Kyaw said. He said that the EU had helped to promote an "era of stability" for Western Europe. The end of the Cold War offers the EU the opportunity to do the same for Eastern Europe.

"(We can) export our stability to the regions that before were . . . dominated by the Soviet Union," he said.

Von Kyaw extolled the virtues of the U.S.-EU trading partnership. "(The partnership is) the biggest economic partnership in the history of the world," he said. "Each day this relationship is increased by one billion dollars. . . . We are the world's two largest traders."

He also spoke of the difficulties in creating and maintaining a cohesive EU. "The nation-state is cherished (in Europe)," he said. "You as Texans only had nine years of (nationhood) and see how you cherish it." He said that hundreds of years of national identity made it difficult for countries to cede power to the larger union.

Von Kyaw tried to dispel fears that the EU would become a "fortress Europe." "We want to become strong but with open markets," he said.

With the growing financial strength of Europe, von Kyaw said the EU will work to increase its participation in peacekeeping and humanitarian military intervention. While European soldiers participated in the recent military intervention in Kosovo, von Kyaw said the U.S. bore most of the burden.

"We are even now trying to become a better partner (with the US) on defense issues. . . . We have decided to develop a rapid reaction force of our own," he said.

While he believes that the US should continue to have a presence in Europe, von Kyaw said the EU of the future will be able to contribute more toward European defense.

Von Kyaw first joined the German foreign service in 1964 as a vice consul in Los Angeles. He retired in 1999 after serving for six years as the German representative to the European Union in Brussels. He is currently a member of the board of directors of Agfa-Gaavert N. V. and a regular contributor on European issues to the German edition of the Financial Times.

To learn more about the EU and its activities in the U.S, visit http://www.eurunion.org/.

October 17, 2000

News and Events • Fall 2000 News Briefs

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October 17, 2000

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