Transatlantic Cooperation on Middle East Reform: A European Misjudgement?

June 2004 witnessed a concentration of summit activity on the issue of Middle East reform. At the G8 meeting in Sea Island a Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative (BMEI) was agreed, while further discussions at the subsequent EU-US summit in Ireland deliberated the detailed form that transatlantic cooperation might take within this new framework. A prominent feature of recent diplomatic activity has been Europe's hesitant response to US calls for transatlantic coordination in the promotion of political change in the Middle East.