“If Barack Obama wants to be re-elected, he needs to attack Mitt Romney,” he said, “he can’t be re-elected for what he has done.” He went on to say that current approval numbers indicate that “Obama is in the danger zone for an incumbent.”

Still, U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), said that Obama on the ticket offers Democrats a significant advantage over Republicans, especially in efforts to maintain control in the Senate and win back control in the House of Representatives.  “We have great candidates,” she said.  She also said that “Republicans have been terrible on issues that affect Hispanic-Americans,” a large part of her Southern California constituency.

Brussels Forum is an annual conference on transatlantic relations organized by the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) and attended by heads of state, officials from the EU institutions and member states, U.S. officials, congressional representatives, parliamentarians, and academics.

Laura Blumenfeld, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund and a former Washington Post reporter, agreed with Pawlenty, saying that President Obama would have to convince voters that they are better off continuing his policies than bringing in radical change. “In 2008, Obama was elected on hope,” she said. “In 2012, he would have to be re-elected on fear.”

Blumenfeld also said that American voters cared more in this election cycle about electing someone who could address the problems they faced in their day-to-day lives than about likeability. “This is the year of the problem-solver,” she said. “Americans don’t want to have a beer with the guy. The beer is warm; the fridge is broken. They want a guy to fix the fridge.”

The forum concluded with the presentation of the second-annual Brussels Forum Young Writers Award to John Schellhase of New York University and Thomas Gietzen of  Universität St. Gallen for their essay on the future of the transatlantic relationship, “Rebuilding Together: The Renewal of Transatlantic Leadership in the Global Economy.” The Young Writers Award is an opportunity to showcase innovative thinking on issues that shape tomorrow’s transatlantic relationship and how the next generation of leaders can address 21^st century challenges.

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Brussels Forum is an annual conference on transatlantic relations organized by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and attended by heads of state, officials from the EU institutions and member states, U.S. officials, congressional representatives, parliamentarians, and academics. Major support for Brussels Forum comes from Daimler and the Federal Authorities of Belgium. Additional sponsors include BP and OCP Foundation. Further support comes from the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia, the European Union Delegation to the United States, the European Liberal Forum, the Centre for European Studies, BNP Paribas Fortis, NATO, the Republic of Turkey Ministry for EU Affairs, and Intesa Sanpaolo.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:    

Anne McGinn,  +1 202 415 1195  amcginn@gmfus.org

Elizabeth Boswell Rega, +32 (0)473 280 950, eboswellrega@gmfus.org

Transcripts, audio, video on the web: http://www.brusselsforum.org

“The goal of any conversation with the Taliban is to get Afghans talking to Afghans,” he said during a panel discussion on Afghanistan at the seventh Brussels Forum. “We are looking to open the door for the Afghan peace process.”

Brussels Forum is an annual conference on transatlantic relations organized by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and attended by heads of state, officials from the EU institutions and member states, U.S. officials, congressional representatives, parliamentarians, and academics.

In the Afghanistan discussion, Shaida Abdali, deputy national security advisor of Afghanistan, said talks were “not about sharing power with the Taliban, they are about including all Afghans in the society.”

“The solution to the current problems is not in these talks,” said Carl Bildt, Sweden’s minister for foreign affairs.  “After 2014, the real talks begin,” he said, referring to the end date of the NATO combat mission in Afghanistan.

Before the Afghanistan session, a panel addressed energy security. Richard Morningstar, U.S. special envoy for Eurasian energy summed up the panel by saying, “There is no silver bullet; the key is diversification,” especially for China, the United States, and Europe.

Other members of the panel included Nikolay Mladenov, minister of foreign affairs of Bulgaria; Iain Conn, BP’s chief executive of refining & marketing; and Julia Nanay, senior director of markets and country strategies group for PFC Energy.

Mladenov said that, while nuclear energy should still be an option, in the wake of Fukushima, “Europe must live up to the challenge that we have now after Fukushima and really come up with common standards on nuclear energy and use.”

Regarding Europe’s dependency on gas supplies from Russia, Morningstar said that while he didn’t think it was actually happening, so long as China and Russia continue to disagree on prices, “I don’t think Europe should ever let itself be blackmailed,” he said.  “Europe is the best customer Russia ever had.”

The afternoon concluded with the announcement of the selection of Nora Fisher Onar, Merle Maigre, and Mark Simakovsky as the three recipients of the inaugural Asmus Policy Entrepreneurs Fellowship. Named after Ronald D. Asmus, the former executive director of GMF’s Brussels office, who died on April 30, 2011, the Asmus fellows were selected as promising young foreign policy professionals whose fellowship projects show a commitment to the transatlantic relationship and will challenge existing foreign policy practices — two ideas that Asmus embodied.

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Brussels Forum is an annual conference on transatlantic relations organized by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and attended by heads of state, officials from the EU institutions and member states, U.S. officials, congressional representatives, parliamentarians, and academics. Major support for Brussels Forum comes from Daimler and the Federal Authorities of Belgium. Additional sponsors include BP and OCP Foundation. Further support comes from the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia, the European Union Delegation to the United States, the European Liberal Forum, the Centre for European Studies, BNP Paribas Fortis, NATO, the Republic of Turkey Ministry for EU Affairs, and Intesa Sanpaolo.

###

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Anne McGinn, +1 202 415 1195, amcginn@gmfus.org

Elizabeth Boswell Rega, +32 (0)473 280 950, eboswellrega@gmfus.or

Transcripts, audio, video on the web: http://www.brusselsforum.org

“We should be thinking of this as the beginning of a process. And, therefore, everyone should be aware that it will take time,” she said at Brussels Forum. “We’ll be looking to ensure that what is being put before us, if you like, is a real willingness to have a sustained process.”

Ashton participated in a panel discussion to open the second day of Brussels Forum, an annual conference on transatlantic relations organized by the German Marshall Fund of the United States that is attended by heads of state, officials from the EU institutions and member states, U.S. officials, congressional representatives, parliamentarians, and academics.

The first panel of the morning dealt with the Middle East and Arab world in the wake of the uprisings. Mahmoud Gebril, former prime minister of Libya, expressed concern that the West has forgotten his country. “It is a fatal mistake to abandon Libya,” he said. “When the regime fell down, the state fell down as well. But the moment the regime fell down, everyone disappeared.”

Ashton disagreed with that characterization, saying that development assistance “is never fast enough, and there’s never any doubt we can do more and do it better, but the commitment is absolutely there.”

With regard to Syria, Tim Pawlenty, former Minnesota governor and co-chairman of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, said that the West should take more steps than just sanctions to encourage a change of government. “Assad is trying to kill his way to victory,” he said. “The time has come for more direct assistance to opposition forces, short of boots on the ground.”

Both Ashton and Gebril stressed the need for unity among the Syrian opposition groups. “The lack of unity has created a real challenge for the United Nations,” Ashton said.

Amine Pierre Gemayel, a former president of Lebanon, proposed a longer-range plan for spreading democracy throughout the Middle East. “Why don’t we implement a new Marshall Plan,” Gemayel said, referring to U.S. efforts to rebuild Europe following World War II, “to focus on not just economic development but focus on spreading a new culture, a new accountable governance.”

In a panel discussion dealing with the recovery from the economic crisis, discussants agreed that human resources are the most important component to economic growth. Steven Vanackere, Belgium’s deputy prime minister and minister for finance and sustainable development, said “The real infrastructure is the talent of people and the education system.” U.S. Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH) agreed, saying that “government doesn’t create jobs, government provides an environment in which jobs can be created.”

During the same panel, Robert Hormats, U.S. under secretary of state for economic growth, energy, and the environment, called for the United States and Europe to work more closely together on economic issues. “We need to make sure we together have the highest standards in the world,” he said, to open transatlantic trade and eventually pass those standards on to other nations. Wilfried Porth, member of the board of management of Daimler AG, disagreed with that approach, saying “competition for the highest standards kills economies.”

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Brussels Forum is an annual conference on transatlantic relations organized by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and attended by heads of state, officials from the EU institutions and member states, U.S. officials, congressional representatives, parliamentarians, and academics. Major support for Brussels Forum comes from Daimler and the Federal Authorities of Belgium. Additional sponsors include BP and OCP Foundation. Further support comes from the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia, the European Union Delegation to the United States, the European Liberal Forum, the Centre for European Studies, BNP Paribas Fortis, NATO, the Republic of Turkey Ministry for EU Affairs, and Intesa Sanpaolo.

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Transcripts, audio, video on the web: http://www.brusselsforum.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Anne McGinn, +1 202 415 1195,  amcginn@gmfus.org

Elizabeth Boswell Rega, +32 (0)473 280 950, eboswellrega@gmfus.org

“I regret strongly that the international community, embodied in the UN Security Council, has not managed to reach an agreement that could send a very strong message to the leadership in Damascus” to halt attacks on civilians, he said. “I really believe that the lack of unity at the UN Security Council has sent a very unfortunate message to the leadership in Damascus, so they have concluded that they could continue their crackdowns on the civilian population.”

Rasmussen also outlined plans for the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago, saying that the main theme will be strengthened transatlantic relationships. “You will see encouraging language in the communiqué reaffirming that NATO’s door remains open,” he said, implying that additional countries could join NATO in the future. But he went on to say that “It won’t be an enlargement summit.”

Rasmussen was speaking at Brussels Forum, an annual conference on transatlantic relations organized by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and attended by heads of state, officials from the EU institutions and member states, U.S. officials, congressional representatives, parliamentarians, and academics.

Major support for Brussels Forum comes from Daimler and the Federal Authorities of Belgium. Additional sponsors include BP and OCP Foundation. Further support comes from the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia, the European Union Delegation to the United States, the European Liberal Forum, the Centre for European Studies, BNP Paribas Fortis, NATO, the Republic of Turkey Ministry for EU Affairs, and Intesa Sanpaolo.

The conference’s first panel focused on Europe’s role in the world in the face of the economic crisis.  Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that austerity measures are necessary for Europe now. “If you’re looking to fix a problem, one way is to complain about foreigners and complain about the euro,” he said. “Another way is to bite the bullet.”

U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) agreed but cautioned, “I have questioned the one-size-fits-all approach to the debt crisis.” She explained that the West has to figure out how to keep economies growing while dealing with the debt.

The second panel of the day discussed Iran’s nuclear program. Isaac Herzog, a Labor Party member of the Israeli parliament, said, “In Israel, the general consensus is that military action should be the last resort.”

Other members of the panel, Ziad Asali, president and founder of the American Taskforce on Palestine, Nicholas Burns, professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Camille Grand, director of the Centre for European Reform, all agreed that while military action should be an option, it should be saved for only if negotiations fail. Burns said that the United States hasn’t fully explored diplomacy yet. “It has had no sustained conversations with Iranian leadership since Jimmy Carter,” he said.

Herzog added that removing options for dealing with Iran might be a useful strategy for diplomacy. He suggested taking Syria “out of Iran’s stack of cards” by facilitating Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s removal from power would be an effective approach.

The conference opened with a welcome address by Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Didier Reynders, who called on Europe and the United States to work together to safeguard their common values.

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Brussels Forum is an annual conference on transatlantic relations organized by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and attended by heads of state, officials from the EU institutions and member states, U.S. officials, Congressional representatives, Parliamentarians, and academics. Major support for Brussels Forum comes from Daimler and the Federal Authorities of Belgium. Additional sponsors include BP and OCP Foundation. Further support comes from the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia, the European Union Delegation to the United States, the European Liberal Forum, the Centre for European Studies, BNP Paribas Fortis, NATO, the Republic of Turkey Ministry for EU Affairs, and Intesa Sanpaolo.

###

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Anne McGinn,  +1 202 415 1195, amcginn@gmfus.org
Elizabeth Boswell Rega, +32 (0)473 280 950, eboswellrega@gmfus.org

Transcripts, audio, video on the web: http://www.brusselsforum.org