The Continuing Need for Close US-European Ties

This report concludes that there is an overwhelming commonality of view which continues to dominate North American and West European perceptions of foreign policy issues.

Notwithstanding much-publicised differences, and the domestic problems which demand greater attention both in the United States and in Europe, the habit of co-operation and working towards an agreed consensus which was forged during the Cold-War years remains a powerful stabilising factor in the Transatlantic relationship.

Such US-European co-operation remains imperative in dealing with international crises and instability; to ignore them or to respond independently does not best serve Western intemational interests or the fostering of the stable and thriving societies which underpin these democracies.