BRUSSELS/TEHRAN, 7 September 2007 — Europeans and Americans differ widely over whether to use force if diplomacy fails to contain Iran’s nuclear program, posing a major challenge for future trans-Atlantic relations, a major opinion survey shows.
The annual Trans-Atlantic Trends study by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and four European foundations suggests US-European ties are unlikely to recover until there is a new president in the White House and may not improve much even then.
The poll, conducted in the United States and 12 European countries in June and released yesterday, showed an overwhelming 77 percent of Europeans disapprove of President George W. Bush’s international policies. While Americans and Europeans largely agreed on the main security threats — terrorism, energy dependence, climate change and the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons — they differ widely on the use of force to solve problems.
The divergence was sharpest over how to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, with 47 percent of Europeans favoring ruling out military action if diplomacy fails and only 18 percent in favor of threatening the use of force.
By contrast, 47 percent of Americans favor keeping the military option and only 32 percent would rule it out. Iran insists its program is purely for civilian energy purposes but the West suspects Tehran is pursuing uranium enrichment in the quest for a bomb.
“Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown may offer a new spirit of cooperation in trans-Atlantic relations in Europe, but this year’s Trans-Atlantic Trends suggest they will need to tread carefully,” the organizers said. Despite the emergence of new leaders in Germany, France and Britain untainted by the Iraq war, half the Americans questioned and one-third of the Europeans said ties between Europe and the United States have worsened in the last year.
The state of public opinion appears to contrast with closer cooperation on a range of foreign policy issues from the Middle East to the Iranian nuclear issue and the crisis in Darfur. Respondents cited the management of the Iraq war and Bush’s personal style as reasons for their perception.
More than a third of Europeans in 12 countries surveyed and 42 percent of Americans expect trans-Atlantic cooperation to improve after Bush’s successor is elected next year. But 46 percent of Europeans and 37 percent of Americans believe relations will stay the same whoever is elected.
“(The) findings suggest that US-European relations will not be mended simply by the election of a new US president or by the emergence of a new generation of European leaders,” the survey said.
The poll was conducted by TNS Opinion between June 4 and 23 in the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, with a margin of error of three percent.
Meanwhile, Iran yesterday shrugged off warnings of further UN sanctions over its nuclear drive, saying the atomic program was now so well advanced that more punitive measures would have no effect. “Since Iran has mastered nuclear technology, the sanctions will have no effect,” said Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, according to the official IRNA news agency.
“Nuclear technology is a strategic technology of (Iran’s) Islamic system and Iran will not take a step back,” he added. His comments came after British Prime Minister Brown warned this week that London would support a third United Nations resolution imposing sanctions against Iran if Tehran does not scale back its nuclear program.
France, a fellow veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, has also said it is considering “additional sanctions” against Tehran. Iran last month agreed with the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on a timetable to answer outstanding questions over its nuclear program, and diplomats have said this is likely to stave off the threat of sanctions for a few more months.
