Not long after the 2008 U.S. presidential election, the French ambassador to the United States, Pierre Vimont, visited Emory University and spoke to a group of distinguished guests and professors. Ambassador Vimont discussed the current state of the relationship between the U.S. and Europe, as well as the rift caused by the U.S. invasion of Iraq. But with the Obama administration taking hold in the U.S., Vimont believes the transatlantic relationship faces “a moment in history of great importance” and “an opportunity we haven’t had in the past.”

Vimont spoke as a part of the Halle Speaker Series, presented by Emory's Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning, a venue for visits by heads of state, distinguished policymakers and influential public intellectuals from around the world. Before outlining what a transatlantic relationship might look like going forward, Vimont cast a glance back, setting the stage with the history of the European Union (E.U.) and its relationship with the U.S.

In the post-WWII era, the leaders of six European countries collectively decided that a politically and economically united Europe had a better chance of securing lasting peace. When those leaders—of Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands—signed the Treaty of Paris in 1951, they formed the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), a precursor of today’s E.U.

The ECSC materialized on the heels of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a U.S.-led military alliance that originally included a dozen member countries (there are 26 today), and featured five of the six Treaty of Paris 1951 signees (West Germany was admitted to NATO in 1955). Article 5, the fundamental principle of NATO, stipulates that if one or more NATO parties faces an armed attack, it is considered an attack against all members. Article 5 commits the member countries to assist any NATO member under attack. At the time, the country most feared by NATO was the communist-led Soviet Union.

With good reason. Shortly after WWII, the Russian government marched through Eastern Europe and deposited Soviet-supported communist regimes in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Mainland China and its unique form of communism also concerned Western European leaders.

For decades, the U.S. and Western Europe engaged in a cold war with the Soviet Union. Western Europe and the U.S. were united against a common enemy and, for the most part, that unification trumped all else. But when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, that common enemy dissolved, exposing cracks in the relationship between the U.S. and many Western European countries.

According to Vimont, this ideological breakdown was particularly evident as the U.S. prepared to invade Iraq. France’s then President Jacques Chirac denounced the invasion, and to this day, France has not sent troops to Iraq. “There was a strong division among ourselves and the transatlantic relationship,” states Vimont. “We couldn’t understand each other as we had before.” But with a new U.S. administration in place, Vimont believes the transatlantic relationship between the U.S. and the E.U. has a chance to be rekindled.

On the day of President Obama’s inauguration, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso appealed to the new administration to strengthen transatlantic ties in an effort “to engage others in addressing the great challenges of our time,” publishing the statement on the European Commission’s website. (The European Commission acts as executive body of the E.U.) “I personally believe that the election of President Obama was a defining, turning point for America. It may now also be an important turning point for the rest of the world,” added Barroso.

At the time the Berlin Wall fell, the E.U. consisted of 12 member countries, expanding to 15 by 1995 and continuing to grow. With the addition of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, the number of countries in the E.U. bloomed to 27. The E.U. may have a single currency and a single monetary policy, but Vimont notes that it still has “as many political policies as countries. [As it relates to] foreign policy, we’ve made progress, but we have a long way to go before we have a common policy. And that is also with defense policy.”

NATO has grown and faced major challenges as well—the Balkan crisis, trouble in former Eastern Europe, struggles in Africa, India, Afghanistan and Iraq—and often the United States and its Western European allies have not seen eye to eye on these crises, as they had when united against the Soviet Union. “We lost a little bit of purpose and meaning of our relationship,” says Vimont. Without a common enemy, he adds, we were “in search of a new objective and new partnership.”

Given the change in the U.S. administration, the divisions between the U.S. and the E.U. are “receding,” notes Vimont. And while they may not share a common enemy, the U.S. and the countries of the E.U. face many of the same challenges, such as tension between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iran’s threat of nuclear weapons, the Middle East, the financial crisis, and climate change. “We need to find a collective solution,” Vimont says. “No single country can find a way out alone.”

There is another pressing reason for the U.S. and E.U. to maintain a strong alliance. Currently, the combined populations of the U.S. and E.U. member countries account for one-sixth of the world’s population and half of the world’s GDP. In 20 years, given China and India’s projected growth, the U.S. and E.U.’s percentage of the world’s total population will fall to one-ninth, and the percentage of world GDP to less than 30 percent. “If we want to retain our role in the world, we need to stick together if we want our voice to be heard,” adds Vimont.

At the G-20 economic summit in late 2008, the floor was open to more than the seven or eight richest nations, allowing a greater voice for the leaders of countries such as China, India and Brazil. While the U.S. and some E.U. countries have larger fiscal deficits than other G-20 countries, the group vowed to tackle the global financial crisis jointly.

Finding answers and new ideas for economic growth is “a challenge we’re both facing,” notes Vimont of the U.S. and E.U. Will the different countries agree to more transparency and accountability in their respective finances? “If we want to give new life and new momentum to the transatlantic relationship, we need to look at these questions,” says Vimont.

According to the ambassador, for this transatlantic relationship to gain momentum, the U.S. and the E.U. need to consider their partnership within the broader international environment—including, especially for the E.U., the nature of its relationship with its former nemesis, Russia. “What do we mean when we talk about Russia?” asks Vimont. Does it mean confronting issues like the Georgian crisis? Keeping the door open? If so, how far? Is it about democracy? (Significantly, Russia, the world's biggest producer of natural gas, supplies Europe with over 40 percent of its imports).

When it comes to security, will both sides of the Atlantic come to terms with the Iranian issue? If a military response isn’t the only option in Afghanistan, what should be done? The E.U. and the Bush administration had strong differences in opinion over the treatment of terrorists. President Obama has signed an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp within a year. Obama also is on record as willing to address Iranian leaders directly and is in support of a missile defense system in Europe.

It is possible that each side of the Atlantic could go its own way, but Vimont prefers the more ambitious path: the one where “we revive and give new life to our partnership,” he says, where leaders on both sides of the Atlantic recognize their common goals and establish a clear roadmap for the U.S. and E.U. member countries, particularly in regard to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, the Middle East and the economic crisis.

“I think it’s worth trying to achieve,” Vimont says. “Let’s bring the transatlantic relationship into the 21^st century and model for the rest of the world that we are partners by choice, not force, based on common values.”

In April, President Obama will attend his first NATO Summit in Strasbourg, France, and Kehl, Germany.