People of International Interest: Frederick Kempe Council President: Atlantic Alliance Key to Confronting Global Problems by Mark Hilpert Frederick Kempe, president and chief executive officer of the Atlantic Council of the United States, is not a travel agent but he does have a few suggestions on the itinerary for the first overseas trip of the next U.S. president. Kempe thinks that after settling into the White House and getting the new administration up and running, the next president should board Air Force One and fly to Brussels, the political capital of Europe. After some serious talks there, the American leader should then travel to Berlin, Paris, Warsaw and London. Kempe told The Washington Diplomat that the purpose of these visits should not be courtesy calls or photo opportunities, but substantive talks with our most important allies to assess the world’s main challenges and develop a bold American-European plan to tackle them. “It’s hard to name an issue in which the Atlantic community’s greater cooperation and consensus is not a precondition for solving the issue. Closer U.S.-European coordination won’t save the world, but it’s a precondition for saving the world,” Kempe said. “When the new American president meets with Europe’s leaders, the attitude should be: Let’s take on the great global issues of our time and let’s do it together.” Kempe heads up the Atlantic Council of the United States, a nearly 50-year-old organization devoted to improving transatlantic relations. A reporter and editor at the Wall Street Journal for a quarter century before assuming the presidency of the Atlantic Council at the end of 2006, Kempe brings to his work a deep interest in U.S. and European foreign policy as well as a flair for running the prestigious think tank. Reporting and writing in the heart of Europe during the final phase of the Cold War convinced Kempe that together, Europe and America can be a powerful force for good. “I saw what happened when the United States was purposeful and when the United States was determined to assist democratic forces against Soviet repression,” he said. “I saw the power of the U.S. to change history when combined with other members of the free world, in this case our European allies. I learned as a journalist the power of America to change the world for the better with its allies.” And today, American power is being tested more than ever by a host of thorny international problems — among them, the unabated violence in Iraq, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Pakistan’s instability, Afghanistan’s fragility, the rise of China and India, Russia’s assertiveness, climate change and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. To confront these pressing issues, Kempe said the next administration must bolster relations with Europe and renew the Atlantic alliance, recognizing that Europe is not a stodgy, backward-looking region, but the locus of one of history’s most innovative experiments in governance — which is still unfolding. “The most exciting thing about Europe is that it’s in a critical moment of self-definition,” Kempe said. “It is the largest economic area in the world and it’s going through a dramatic period of self-definition. Is it going to be more free market or not? How democratic is it going to be? How federal? Where are its borders? Where does Europe begin and end — Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus?” Kempe suggested that U.S. policymakers have a tendency to get frustrated with Europe because they are confused by the many different levers of power and various institutions that make up the European Union. “But historically the U.S. has done the best when it has realized that while working with Europe is not the easiest thing in the world, not working together with Europe has far greater costs. We should engage with Europe on every critical issue. Whether the 21st century goes well or badly will be determined in a lot of ways by Europe.” Kempe outlined three ways in which the next president could strengthen transatlantic political ties. First, he or she should take advantage of new leadership in key European nations, specifically France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, Britain’s Gordon Brown, and Germany’s Angela Merkel. “All of these leaders have strong Atlanticist orientations,” Kempe noted. “Bilaterally, there is a new moment for the next American president.” Kempe believes the next U.S. president should also engage more effectively — and willingly — with the EU. “This town still doesn’t understand the importance of the EU,” he lamented. “Some people in Washington just wish it would go away. But it won’t. It’s getting more strategic and more involved in security issues. We should be engaging more with the EU on security issues. We have to form a strategic relationship with the EU.” Next Page