Devising and implementing a comprehensive transatlantic approach to developing countries in Africa is of critical importance to North America and Europe for economic, security, and moral reasons. The domestic challenges in the developing world and the inability of some governments to provide for their citizens can have international ramifications, including refugee migration, pandemics, or proliferation of criminal networks, wars, and terrorism.

The United States and Europe are grappling with the implications of the rise of Asia and how this historical trend will impact the spectrum of foreign policy, economic, and domestic challenges facing the transatlantic allies.

GMF’s programming focusing on the European Union includes the 27 member-states of the EU, as well as aspiring members in the European neighborhood. The strength and size of the transatlantic relationship demand that allies on both sides of the Atlantic work to find ways to deepen understanding and cooperation among history’s most successful alliance. As the European Union is a vital component in the pursuit of global security and economic stability, GMF explores the role of this supranational organization in transatlantic relations and global affairs.

The Mediterranean region – southern Europe, Turkey, North Africa, the Levant, and the maritime approaches to these areas – is increasingly important to European and American interests. The Mediterranean will also pose significant challenges and opportunities for transatlantic cooperation over the next decade.

The transatlantic relationship would not be a relationship without the strong and active participation from the United States and Canada. On issues ranging from security and defense to immigration and economics, the United States and Canada play a large role in working with European partners on finding common transatlantic solutions to global challenges.

For decades, a major goal of the United States and its European allies has been a Europe whole, free, and at peace. In the more than 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, sweeping democratic changes have taken place throughout Europe and the former Soviet Union. For the transatlantic goal to be fully realized, however, it is critical that the countries of the former Soviet Union – Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia  – join the Euroatlantic community.