EU-USA: The transatlantic trough

Plagued by deep domestic problems, Barack Obama would love to outsource many international issues to the EU in his second term. The problem is no one knows whether Europe is up to the task, writes Ivan Krastev. 

Is the European Union willing and capable to preserve the current liberal European order at the moment when Russia has turned her back on the West, Turkey has lost hope of joining the EU and the European periphery lies in shambles?

And would the EU be America's reliable partner outside Europe at a moment when Washington lacks the resources and the appetite to be the global policeman while the world is in constant turmoil?

These are probably the two critical questions that will define President Barack Obama's European agenda during his second term.

Read more: The transatlantic trough | Transatlantic Voices | DW.DE | 17.01.2013