SURVEY RESULTS
As a central element of the design of these workshops, the Aspen Institute surveyed network members on their attitudes surrounding the transatlantic relationship and its key values and issues. The results were used to inform and structure the workshop discussions.
Methodology
The NextGen Network: Transatlantic Initiative surveyed 26 Americans and Europeans between the ages of 25-40. The network members were selected through an open application process. Conscious effort was devoted to ensuring national diversity, especially among the European representatives. Fourteen countries are represented in the Network: the United States, Spain, Italy, Romania, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Denmark, Belgium, France, Macedonia, Greece, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
Several members of the network were dual nationals. Survey respondents were permitted to self-select which delegation they would represent; 14 respondents identified as American and 12 identified as European. Due to the survey’s small sample size and non-random selection, results from this analysis may not be generalizable to the general population.
The NextGen Network members were surveyed between May 4-16, 2021. The survey consisted of 20 questions in three sections: Relationships, Values, and Issues. The types of questions used were multiple choice and ranking.
26 Americans and Europeans between the ages of 25-40
Attitudes on Bilateral Relationships
To understand where the importance of the transatlantic relationship falls in relation to other bilateral connections, we asked the NextGen Network to rank the bilateral relationships for the U.S. and Europe by most important to least important. Each set of rankings included seven bilateral relationships and an “other” option where respondents could add their own unlisted bilateral relationship.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the transatlantic focus of our network, the US-EU relationship was ranked most important for both regions. Neighbors were ranked as second-most important, with the EU-UK and US-Canada relationships coming in the number two spot, respectively. Relationships with China claimed the third place for both the U.S. and EU bilateral relationships.
Most important EU bilateral relationships:
EU-US
EU-UK
EU-China
EU-Russia
EU-Turkey
EU-Japan
EU-India
EU-other
Four respondents wrote in answers for EU-other. These relationships were all focused on the African continent, including EU-Egypt, EU-Northern Africa, EU-Eastern Partnership countries, and EU-Africa.
Turning to the United States, the most important U.S. bilateral relationships were:
US-EU
US-Canada
US-China
US-UK
US-Mexico
US-Japan
US-India
US-Other
Five respondents wrote in answers for US-other: three included the U.S.-Russia relationship, one U.S.-Israel, and one U.S.-Turkey.
Attitudes on Transatlantic Values
European values
Respondents were invited to select three values from a list of fifteen as the most important European values. The results were broadly dispersed across all fifteen listed values, indicating weak consensus about European values. This finding supports the “multiple Europes” discussed in the workshop as languages, cultures, and values differ from region to region (see Section X).
Generally, democracy, economic opportunity, and human rights were deemed most important.
There is a slight mismatch between Europeans’ values and Americans’ perceptions of those values. Americans perceive environmental sustainability, multilateralism, and the right to privacy to be much more important to Europeans than Europeans believe they are. They also significantly underestimated the value that Europeans place in democracy.
American Values
In contrast to the weak consensus about European values, the NextGen Network overwhelmingly agreed on the three important American values: individual liberties, economic opportunity, and national security. Interestingly, Europeans overestimated the value that Americans place on national security and underestimated the value that they place on individual liberties.
When we compare the regions’ most important values, we find that there is a large value gap between Europe and the United States in areas including national security, democracy, and human rights. Respondents from both delegations did not strongly value multilateralism or cultural exchange in comparison to other values.
Shared Values
We asked the network members about which three values are the most shared between the United States and Europe. According to our respondents, economic opportunity, democracy, and national security were ranked as the three most shared values between Europe and the United States.
Several shared values showed significant disparities between European and American respondents. Europeans included rule of law and human rights as among the three most shared values far less than Americans did. Given that both values were ranked relatively highly as European values, this finding suggests that Europeans do not perceive Americans to value rule of law and human rights as much as they do.
Among the least shared values in the transatlantic relationship were right to privacy and protecting workers’ rights.
Priority Values
We also asked the NextGen Network members which values should be prioritized in future relations. Sustainable growth was overwhelmingly noted as the most important value to prioritize, followed by democracy and environmental sustainability. Americans and Europeans indicated these priority values equally. For the most part, the results remained stable across both populations, however, once again Americans valued national security in the relationship far more than Europeans.
Attitudes on Transatlantic Issues
The survey respondents also shared their views on the most important issues in the transatlantic relationship today. Climate change was found to be the most important issue facing the transatlantic relationship. This finding echoes other surveys by Deloitte and the Pew Research Center that show Millennials and Gen Z are most concerned about the environment, as compared to other generations.
Security was ranked as the second most important issue in the transatlantic relationship, though this result was primarily driven by the Americans in the cohort. Americans ranked security as the most important issue in the relationship, while Europeans placed it as number four.
Most important issues in the transatlantic relationship
Climate change
Security
Technology
Trade
Cyber Threats
Democracy
Terrorism
Human Rights
Nuclear Proliferation
Immigration
There is a clear agenda for the future of transatlantic relations from a NextGen perspective: climate change and technology.
Looking toward the future, we asked the NextGen Network about are the major issues on which the U.S. and Europe should prioritize collaboration.
They responded:
Climate change
Coordination on technology policy
A strategy for engaging China
Defense
Democracy and human rights promotion
Further developing an international rules-based system
Cooperation on macroeconomic and trade issues
A strategy for engaging Russia
Arms control
Based on the results from this question, there is a clear agenda for the future of transatlantic relations at least from a NextGen perspective: climate change and technology. One area where the transatlantic agenda could diverge is China. Americans show much more interest in a strategy for engaging China than Europeans do, suggesting future disagreement in policies towards China.
Issues in technology
coordination of tech policy should be a goal for the U.S. and Europe
Narrowing the focus on technology, we asked the NextGen Network to consider the most important issues in transatlantic tech relations. Tech policy and regulation has been a key source of tension in the transatlantic relationship recently, and our earlier results suggest that the next generation believes coordination of tech policy should be a goal for the U.S. and Europe.
The NextGen Network ranked the most important tech issues in the transatlantic relationship as:
International agreement on AI standards and regulations
Establishing international norms for cybersecurity
Joint research collaboration on new technologies
Creating a new Europe-US trade tech council to guide work on regulation, trade and standards
Challenges of big tech to democratic societies through censorship and/or promotion of hate speech and disinformation
Antitrust in digital markets
Green tech
Facilitating the free flow of data
Digital supply chain security
Taxation in the digital economy
Promoting free trade and reforming the WTO
Role and regulation of online platforms
Protecting IP rights
We then asked the respondents how Europe and the U.S. should advance collaboration on these key issues. A US-EU bilateral agreement was the overwhelmingly preferred method of collaboration, followed by bilateral dialogue and coordinated domestic regulatory approaches. Far less popular were the options of an international agreement with other allies or dialogue via other international organizations like the UN, OECD, WTO, and NATO. The options of business-to-business exchanges and coordinated research received no support.
This result reaffirms the earlier finding that the next generation does not place a strong value on multilateralism, preferring bilateral approaches. Whether this skepticism towards multilateralism is influenced by perceived failures of multilateral institutions and approaches to appropriately respond to global issues, growing isolationism, or some other factor, is unknown. The finding remains noteworthy, however, and—if true more broadly—could portend a new era in transatlantic relations.