Protégé or Go-Between? The Role of the baltic states after 9/11 in eu–US Relations

Abstract

Since 9/11, Washington has viewed the new Europe as a protégé of the United States, whose role is to repair the political bridge across the Atlantic. Whereas the lure of the United States has started to weaken in Central European countries, the Baltic states have remained the most trustful new Europeans from Washington's point of view. Nonetheless, the Balts have not felt comfortable with the new European label. They have seemingly begun to define themselves as something special and have aspired to a voice of their own. Instead of being merely protégés of the United States, the Balts are transforming themselves into intermediaries between Brussels and Washington.

Keywords:

• US–Baltic relations
• transatlantic relations
• new Europe
• West
• national identity
• foreign policy

Notes

Notes

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43.  ‘Report by Foreign Minister of Estonia Urmas Paet on the Activities of the Baltic Council of Ministers in 2005’, Baltic Council, Tallinn, 25 November 2005, available at: http://www.vm.ee/eng/kat_140/7138.html?arhiiv_kuup=kuup_2005, accessed 2 January 2007.

44.  See ‘Co-operation among the Baltic States’, Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, available at: http://www.am.gov.lv/en/eu/BalticSeaRegion/BalticStates, accessed 15 December 2006, and about the Baltic Council of Ministers from the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, http://www.urm.lt/index.php?-2025224797, accessed 15 December 2006. Lithuania held the presidency in 2006 and Latvia is holding the presidency in 2007.