Blog Posts tagged with "Brussels"

Stuttgart is the capital city of arguably Germany’s most pro-American and economically strongest state or “Länder,” Baden-Wuerttemberg.  But even Baden-Wuerttemberg, home of Porsche, Daimler, SAP AG and European Command, recognizes a higher power, a strengthening political and economic capital.  No, not Berlin…but Brussels, nicknamed the “Capital of Europe.”

Last week, I spent two days in Brussels attending two European Union conferences “EU Smart Power” and “Energy Security” and got the chance to visit with my counterparts at the EU Military Staff. 

Baden-Wuerttemberg , home of the business-savvy Swabians, attaches such importance to the political and economic might of the EU in Brussels, that they even have their own “embassy” there, representing their “Länder” interests to the EU(and not trusting just Berlin to do so). I know this because sitting next to me among the 300 participants at the “EU Smart Power” conference was a representative from the Baden-Wuerttemberg mission to the EU.

This was an important week in the EU’s development as a world power, as the leaders of the 27 member states met the day after our conference to select the first EU President and EU Foreign Minister. 

So, why is this important to us at EUCOM?  Like Baden-Wuerttemberg, we may not want to leave dealing with the EU exclusively to Washington, D.C.  We may want to more “smartly” engage with and understand the EU via our mission there.

After all, the EU consists of 27 of the 51 nations of the EUCOM area of responsibility, our key allies and partners, along with 23 of the 27 nations also being NATO members.  These are the same nations that we are engaging with through our Theater Security Cooperation and Building Partner Capacity efforts.  We encourage their support to the International Security Assistance Force, better known as ISAF, through a whole of government approach. 

Much as EUCOM has endeavored over the years to better understand the NATO Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe staff with periodic exchanges, I recommend that it is now also appropriate to outreach to the Brussels through the U.S. mission to the EU.

Because the EU is an economic smart power and interagency giant while still a military midget despite 10 years of European Security and Defense Policy, I think this outreach should be interagency-focused. The Interagency Partnering Directorate here at EUCOM has a mandate from our commander, Admiral Jim Stavridis to partner with International Organizations and I believe our directorate should initiate this partnering.

We should begin by meeting with U.S. Team Brussels. This team consists of players well known to EUCOM, but it also comprises an entity that we should endeavor to know better, the U.S. Mission to the EU.  This “embassy” will receive a new Ambassador before the end of the year.  Once the Ambassador is in place, leading the interagency-strong country team, we should meet.  I’m thinking of a visit by Admiral Stavridis with select members of his staff and key interagency representatives traveling to Brussels in early 2010 timeframe. 

This would be a chance for “Team USA in Europe,” comprised of the EUCOM staff; U.S. Missions to EU and NATO and the Joint Chiefs of Staff representative to NATO; to gather, to listen to each other and to coordinate a Whole of Government Approach.  This would include interagency partners at EUCOM (USAID, Department of State, Immigration and Customs Enforcement); partners at EU (Department of Homeland Security, Drug Enforcement Agency, ICE, USAID) as well as the NATO partners (FEMA, DOS).

Just as this past week has been an historic one for the EU, it should also be a motivational time for EUCOM to recognize the growing clout of the EU and to outreach to it, engage it, and understand it via ‘U.S. Team Brussels.’  Talk about “smart power!”

I welcome any comments or suggestions that you may have in terms of strengthening EUCOM’s understanding of the EU via the U.S. Mission there.

Mike Anderson

Deputy Director, Interagency Partnering Directorate