Focus euroatlantico, n. 4 (aprile-giugno 2017)

The second issue of the Euroatlantic Focus 2017 begins, as usual, with an informed analysis of the state of the transatlantic relationship (supplemented by a number of graphs in appendix). In the last three months, expectations that the Trump administration would pursue a foreign policy in line with the post-war tradition of the United States have not been met (see President Trump’s decision to pull the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement, his ambivalent commitment to NATO’s mutual defence clause, the US alignment with the uncompromisingly anti-Iran stance of Saudi Arabia, and the scandal over relations between people close to Trump and the government of Russia). The first short essay is dedicated to the crisis with North Korea and Europe’s possible role in it. Lorenzo Mariani attempts to make sense of the Trump administration’s effort to limit the development of North Korea’s nuclear and above all ballistic programmes. Mariani contends that the diplomatic stalemate in Northeast Asia opens up an opportunity for the EU to attempt a mediation. The second essay delves into EU and US policies towards Africa. Bernardo Venturi explains how the agenda in the Europe-Africa relationship ranges from trade and development to crisis management and migration. By contrast, the US has a narrower focus on Africa, mostly limited to counterterrorism cooperation in the Sahel and Horn of Africa. In the last essay, Daniela Huber puts forward a plan to re-launch the EU’s role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She argues that Hamas’ recent decision to amend its founding charter should spur the EU into action. She recommends, first, that EU leaders release a New Venice Declaration. Second, she makes the case for a major EU initiative in support of the population of Gaza, which is experiencing an increasingly acute humanitarian crisis.