The transatlantic relationship in an era of growing economic multipolarity
Description: The European Union and the United States are facing new global challenges. The transatlantic partnership has historically dominated the world economy and based upon their own values and interests designed and sustained all its principal global political and economic institutions. But countries outside the European Union and United States now account for about half of the world economy and their share is growing rapidly. Hence their increasing role and concomitant demands for greater influence over its governance pose a series of challenges to the European Union and the United States, as illustrated by the eclipse of the G8 by the G20.
The rise of outside actors of potentially equal, or even greater, economic weight will invariably force a rethink of not only how the European Union and the United States should act externally toward the new rising economic poles but also of the substantive contents of the EU-U.S. bilateral economic and political relationship.
The project intends to analyze the impact of a new European Union institutional decision-making process, as specified by the provisions in the Lisbon Treaty. Emphasis is placed on where the bilateral transatlantic relationship will benefit from an enhanced future European ability to “speak with one voice”. Similarly, the potential for novel transatlantic institutionalization initiatives is evaluated for each subject area included.
The project covers eight subject areas:
- A Joint “Goldilocks Exit Strategy” From the Financial Crisis
- A New Global Growth Paradigm for the Multipolar World
- Financial Services Regulatory Reform
- Reform of the Global Financial Architecture
- The Evolution of the International Monetary System and the $ - € Bilateral Relationship
- Regional Economic Challenges to the Transatlantic Relationship
- Global Climate Change Policy
- Long-Term Social Policy Challenges
Bruegel’s analysis will yield insights at several policy levels. Topical papers will make explicit:
- Where respective U.S. and EU policy priorities overlap and can fruitfully converge with a resulting deepened bilateral relationship and where potential policy flashpoints might arise bilaterally, and how such flash points can best be managed and overcome;
- In which subject areas and through which institutional frameworks EU and U.S. interests are sufficiently aligned that the transatlantic partners should forge common positions to accommodate or seek to redirect the aspirations of external economic actors; and
- In which subject areas and though which institutional frameworks the EU and U.S. interests are sufficiently divergent such that each partner should seek to act independently to accommodate or redirect the aspirations of external economic actors.
Bruegel lead: Nicolas Véron, Guntram Wolff
Project partner:
The Peterson Institute for International Economics
Funding organization:
European Commission, European External Action Service
Events:
- As part of the project there will be a second Bruegel-PIIE conference called “Transatlantic Economic Challenges in an Era of Growing Multipolarity”, on September 27th 2011 in Berlin. All the material will be uploaded after the event.
Publications:
- “From Convoy to Parting Ways? Post-crisis Divergence Between European and US Macroeconomic Policies” by Jean Pisani-Ferry and Adam S. Posen
- “Too Big to Fail: The Transatlantic Debate”, by Morris Goldstein and Nicolas Véron
- “Reform of the global financial Architecture”, by Garry J. Schinasi and Edwin N. Truman
-
E-book "The Transatlantic Relationship in an Era of Growing Economic Multipolarity", compilation of the papers, presentations, and transcripts of the proceedings of the conference held on October 8th, 2010.