Argument: Lisbon Treaty threatens Anglo-American and transatlantic relations

Support

Sally McNamara. “The EU Reform Treaty: A Threat to the Transatlantic Alliance”. Heritage Foundation. February 20, 2008 – A Threat to the Special Relationship

For both sides of the Atlantic, the Lisbon Treaty is bad news. The treaty poses a massive threat to the future of the Anglo-American Special Relationship as well as the broader transatlantic alliance. It will further entrench Europe’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP), both major threats to the future of NATO, and will seriously impair the ability of America’s allies in Europe to stand alongside the United States where and when they choose to do so.

An America without Britain alongside it would be far more isolated and friendless and significantly less able to project power on the world stage. For Washington, there is no real alternative to the Special Relationship. Its collapse would be damaging to America’s standing as a global power and would significantly weaken her leadership of the war against Islamist terrorism.