Speech by Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek in the German Marshall Fund, 20 March 2009

The transatlantic community finds itself at an important crossroads. It will now decide on the role - our civilisation will play - in the world in coming decades. At the same time, it will decide on the nature of a world that is having difficulty finding its political, security and economic balance.

Into these sensitive times comes the new American administration of its 44th president, Barack Obama. An administration for which the word 'change' has become a symbol. An administration which has created the highest expectations since 1933. The arrival of the new American president blends into the general feeling that "now something must happen."

Nearly everyone expects that with Obama, we will automatically see improvements in the US – EU relations / Improvements in the global economic situation / Improvements in resolving issues of the climate / Improvements in the security situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the accumulation of these expectations - by itself - should warn us to tone down our enthusiasm. The real problems arising from differing points of view between America and Europe will not disappear with the wave of a magic stick. Regardless of who would be the new president of the leading world power.

On the other hand, the development of human society is not run only by exact laws. Expectations / impressions / and feelings can play an important role. Therefore - we must make use of the situation / when a new president awakens positive expectations in Europe. Let us try to transform this change in feelings and emotions into real and genuine improvements in transatlantic cooperation.

It will not be easy at all. First and foremost it will call for much greater engagement from Europe than we have seen in past years, when we rather comfortably rode on the back of the United States, which bore the vast majority of economic, political and especially human costs of the struggle for freedom in the world. It will require of us - in Europe - to speak less and to participate more in the sharing of our common burden. This is exactly what Vice President Joe Biden understood in his speech in Munich: "America will do more. "That's the good news - but the bad news is that America will ask for more of its partners."

I ask: Is Europe prepared to accept this challenge? Is it willing to curb its traditional scepticism and pragmatism and catch a bit of that American idealism? Will we manage to overcome populism or shall we just blindly follow the opinion polls?

And on the other hand / isn’t the US willingness to invest in transatlantic relations going to weaken? Will this bond suffer - due to the economic crisis? Will it be sacrificed - to a certain extent - in an effort to improve relations with Russia? Will the USA be willing to sustain the same – strong - strategic partnership even after the end of the Cold War?

Allow me to present you what I consider to be my realistic outlook of the transatlantic relations.

First: European faith in the US leadership is in constant decline. According to the German Marshall Fund research on transatlantic trends of 2002, 64 % of Europeans saw US global leadership as "desirable." But in 2008 it was only 36 %. In the same year, research of the WorldPublicOpinion.org revealed that 72 % of Germans and 53 % of Britons perceive the global role of the USA somewhat negatively.

In view of this - it is becoming increasingly harder for European leaders to defend and explain to their people the costs of building the transatlantic alliance. And what if the US first asks Europe to have more soldiers risking their lives in Afghanistan? The high hopes surrounding Obama can easily turn into disillusion if the Europeans realize that there also things expected of them.

Second: I do not regard the current EU-US affairs to be as bleak as it is fashionable to say.

In the last three years, we witnessed an important improvement - and not just in the atmosphere. Americans and Europeans are fighting and working side by side in Afghanistan. There are joint diplomatic efforts made in order to achieve progress on the Iran issue. We are cooperating in the Middle East and the Balkans. Still under Bush administration - Washington moved in a direction that nobody had much hope for, and the USA is now actively engaged in the post-Kyoto process. And it was second Bush adminstration that voiced its strong support of European defence capabilites.

Third: I really think that we can not expect that foreign policy issues will always be given the top priority by Obama´s administration. Let’s put ourselves in his shoes. We have the worst crisis since 1929. And the American president will have to spend far more time on the state of the US economy, so it is going to be a mainly domestic agenda.

Fourth: it is evident that Eurocentric days are over. The relative importance of Europe is declining – both economically and demographically. The global power, political and economic balance is being transformed. I agree with scholar Richard Haas who claims that the current arrangement of international relations is - somewhat - non-polar. This development is underlined by estimates showing that by the year 2050, the US and Europe will only make up 7 % of the global population. This is certainly reflected in economic power and in the ability of the West to influence world affairs.

Fifth: I would like to mention the challenges the NATO is currently facing. This organization has always been regarded a pillar of transatlantic cooperation. And we could talk about this subject for hours. The Alliance must find answers to a new strategic situation with new asymmetrical threats and shifts in economic power as well as in the security balance. At the same time / the deployment of military forces alone is not enough; civilian operations are equally needed. Comprehensive approach is needed. Afghanistan and Iraq are an important test.

And here I come to the point – actions speak louder than words. There is a lot of works ahead of us in order to fill the Euro-Atlantic cooperation with real content.

I do not believe that the right response to the American call for a more proactive attitude on the part of the European Union is excessive and and indeed unrealistic ambition to build its own independent defence system. But don’t get me wrong. I am very much aware of the strategic need of Europe assuming responsibility for its own security and defence. Perhaps, over a period of time - effective structures will be built that will help Europe to overcome its current inability to find agreement and promote its common interests. The biggest mistake would be to miss the window of opportunity opened by the new Administration and instead of choosing a down-to-earth approach we would fall victim to our over-ambitious objectives.

We should not get ourselves into a situation which Lady Thatcher aptly described: "A piece of monumental folly that puts our security at risk in order to satisfy political vanity."

We all know that it will be hard to overcome the lack of funds and military capacity required for building these independent defence forces. And – what I believe is the most negative aspect - any artificial duplication would be at the expense of NATO's operational capabilities and its inner coherence.

What makes the risk even greater is that Europeans in the past held a different position on the use of force in preventing and resolving conflicts

The German Marshall Fund survey shows that Europeans prefer non-military action, civil reconstruction missions and local police forces training to the use of force. This shows the European awareness of its share of responsibility and readiness to assume it. And this is the hard work that is truly needed instead of building ivory towers and adopting lofty goals. To strengthen the Euro Atlantic bond in the future we must base our current efforts on solid grounds and extend it further.

Sharing of this common burden will be easier for all - if everyone concentrates on what he is good at.

Rather than duplicating structures we should focus on what we have at hand, preserve what works well and improve it further with future European defence capacities in mind.

In this context we should not also forget about energy, which combines the two traditional cornerstones of trans-Atlantic cooperation - economy and security. The gas crisis involving Russian supplies to Europe was yet another dramatic reminder of how vulnerable we are in this area. The US is in merely the same situation. Most of the energy we import comes from politically and economically unstable areas. And thus it is no coincidence that the energy security will be one of the main topics of the informal EU—US summit in Prague on 5th May.

Throughout the 20th century, the Euro-Atlantic relationship formed the backbone of both the European and the global security and prosperity and even the new world order can not do without it. At the same time, it is essential that America and Europe bring not only common values to this relationship, but also combine their specific abilities. Henry Kissinger once stated: " America needs to learn to discipline itself into a strategy of gradualism that seeks greatness in the accumulation of the attainable." And the same thing is equally valid for Europe. Let each of us do what we know the best in this common enterprise.