Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar addressed the divide between the United States and Europe and said a strong Atlantic community is essential to global stability in Gaston Hall on Wednesday.
In his second campus speech since joining Georgetown’s faculty this year, Aznar attempted to explain the divide that exists between the U.S. and Europe.
He said there is a popular belief among Europeans that the transatlantic rift has resulted from President Bush’s leadership style and attitudes. He said many Europeans and some Americans see Bush as a “cowboy caricature,”a warmonger” and “a man who represents an authentic danger to the world.”
“I do not believe this is the case,” he said. “The wave of anti-Americanism that is washing over Europe and much of the world focuses obsessively on George Bush.”
Aznar, who led Spain to war in Iraq as part of a coalition with the United States and the United Kingdom in spring 2003, said the real explanation of the divide goes beyond Bush. He said anti-Americanism is not new in Europe, citing European protests against President Reagan in the 1980s and earlier anti-Vietnam War protests.
“This is not the first time that Europeans have taken to the streets,” he said.
What is new, he said, is anti-Americanism among some European leaders. Unequal distribution of power has led to further anti-American sentiments in Europe, he said.
“Never before has such a huge gap existed between a superpower, indeed a sole superpower, and the countries that make up the international community,” he said.
Aznar said this “unipolar moment” has led some Europeans to question whether this should be the beginning of a unipolar age or if the unipolar moment should be dismantled instead.
“During the Iraq crisis, one European leader said to me, `Jose Maria, there are two Europes,'” Aznar said, referring to a pro-American and an anti-American Europe.
He said a pro-Atlantic attitude is necessary and reiterated the importance of an Atlantic community to global stability.
Aznar also said the United States is a superpower in “material terms” but still needs the support of the international community.
“America will need the help of as many partners and allies as it can find,” he said. “The Atlantic community is an essential requirement.”
Aznar outlined three measures needed to strengthen the relationship between the United States and Europe.
He stressed the need for economic improvement, and said Americans must adopt a new policy toward Europe and Europe must adopt a pro-Atlantic attitude.
“Failure to take such measures would lead to the deterioration of the Atlantic community,” Aznar said.
He said current world leaders are responsible for strengthening the relationship between Europe and the United States.
“I have been in excellent relations with the United States under two different presidents because I believe in the strong Atlantic relationship between Spain and the states and between Europe and the states,” he said.
It is now the job of Bush and the current European leaders to maintain and improve relations between Europe and the United States, he continued.
“We must never underestimate the supreme importance of the Atlantic Community – the importance not only for the future of Europe but for the stability of the entire world,” Aznar said.
While prime minister, Aznar presided over the largest economic growth in recent Spanish history and took an active part in the formation of the European Union. Aznar’s conservative Populist Party, however, lost control of the government in the arch 14 elections, only three days after the Madrid train bombings, the worst terror attack in Spain’s history in which 191 people died. His administration was accused of hiding information about the bombings from the Spanish people to influence the outcome of the election.
Aznar joined the Georgetown faculty this fall as a visiting professor and will lead at least two seminars each semester through the Mortara Center for International Studies, BMW Center for German and European Studies and Center for Latin American Studies.
