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Interview: Europeans Await 'President' Obama With Some Nervousness

Council on Foreign Relations

Interviewee: William Drozdiak, President, American Council on Germany
Interviewer: Bernard Gwertzman, Consulting Editor

December 23, 2008

William M. Drozdiak, head of the American Council on Germany, says that he finds Europeans, while "universally pleased" by Barack Obama's election, now showing some apprehension on some issues, like whether Obama will demand that Europeans countries take in detainees from Guantanamo, that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) increase its military commitment to Afghanistan, and that Europe agree on a universal economic stimulus package with the United States.

There's roughly a month to go before Barack Obama becomes president of the United States. The Europeans seemed universally pleased when he was elected, but in the interim are there any concerns building up in Europe on whether they're going to be able to deliver their part of any bargain with a new U.S. administration, or whether that administration will be too demanding of them? What's the mood right now?

There's excitement and enthusiasm about his election, but as you indicated, some apprehension among European leaders about how much responsibility they will be asked to shoulder. I spent the past few weeks in Germany and there is some nervousness about how much more they're going to be asked to do in Afghanistan. The German Bundestag [parliament] recently approved the sending of one thousand more troops, and so that brings Germany up to about 4,500 troops, which is the third-biggest contingent there (PDF). But the government imposed caveats that limit their involvement in the fighting in southern Afghanistan, much to the consternation of the United States and some other allies. Afghanistan has been for Germany a big leap forward, in the post-war era. Because of the Nazi past, there were strict limits on ever sending troops outside Germany's borders. Now they find themselves in a shooting war in Afghanistan.

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Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.