The Foreign Service Journal, February 2012

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 2 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 25 of billions of dollars in mandated spending cuts, longstanding Amer- ican resentment about Europe’s lack of defense burden-sharing is only likely to grow, poisoning future trans-Atlantic military collabora- tion. ... And on Climate Change Cooperation Europe’s budget woes are also likely to weaken its com- mitments to help curb global warming. In December 2009, at the Copenhagen climate change summit, rich na- tions promised to give poor countries $30 billion in “new and additional” resources by 2012 to cope with climate change. That sum would be a down payment on a pledge to provide $100 billion annually in climate finance by 2020. European nations are on track to meet their share of the $30 billion goal, but that assessment is based solely on 2010 outlays. Europe will need to pony up equal amounts in 2011 and 2012, and more in later years. If the continent’s economy does not grow, cash-strapped governments may find it difficult to meet that commitment. And with America also facing budgetary and political constraints on such outlays, the West has little hope of leading the international effort to stop global warming. A Less Attractive Role Model? More broadly, the euro crisis is undermining Europe’s pivotal position as a democratic, free-market role model for its immediate neighbors. “The idea of the E.U. and the euro was that affluence would be created and shared,” notes Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “Now, that is fading. Instead of delivering affluence, the E.U. F OCUS A weakened, distracted Europe could prove a strategic liability for the United States. Buy all your travel guides, language books and pleasure reading through the AFSA bookstore. Buy the Amazon Kindle and download and read first chapters for free before you decide to purchase that new book. When you access Amazon.com through our bookstore all your purchases will benefit AFSA at no additional cost to you. Find State Department and AFSA Reading Lists Online at www.afsa.org/ads/books/ Start your purchase on our site: www.afsa.org/ads/books/