The Consul General of France and the Consul General of Germany, both in Chicago, met at the Fluno Center to discuss United States-Europe relations Wednesday.

Both French Consul Dominique Decherf and German Consul Alexander Petri mentioned strained relations between the two European nations, but their home countries stand firmly in support of the United States. Petri illustrated this, even though he told the audience that the United States does not entirely support European products in the way Europe consumes American goods.

“We continue to unfailingly eat at McDonalds,” Petri said, noting he has heard of people not drinking French wine or German beer.

Though some comments by the consuls had a somewhat joking tone, the Swiss moderator, Alfred Defago, wanted the audience to know for certain that this is not the first time trans-Atlantic relations have fell on tough times.

“We shouldn’t forget one thing: the trans-Atlantic relationship has gone through more than one crisis,” Defago said, adding that Secretary of State Colin Powell described the U.S.-Europe relationship as a married couple in a marriage that has gone through a lot of counseling.

Though the consuls showed definite support for the people of America, their positivism faded into a critique of U.S. policy.

Decherf noted that the Bush administration has sought a “divide and rule” alliance in Europe. The administration has sought individual countries to help in the war in Iraq, instead of the entire presence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or the United Nations. Decherf said that the failure of the Iraqi war would result in giving a new impetus for attacks on France, Germany, the United States and many other Western countries by association.

Petri said Germany’s help in the military assistance in Afghanistan should not be equated to the war in Iraq.

“We offer in the fight against terrorism our unconditional help,” Petri said, adding that Germany’s contingent is the second-largest in Afghanistan. “Iraq is something different than terrorism.”

Petri also said he was “astonished” that only a decade after the Iron Curtain fell in Germany, the United States choose not to use “credible military deterrents” and diplomacy to order a pre-emptive strike.

Though the officials did criticize “in a constructive way” the American choice to invade Iraq before any direct attacks from the Iraqi government, President George W. Bush still asserts that weapons of mass destruction are in Iraq, and many American officials thought Iraq to be an immediate threat to national security.

University of Wisconsin Ph.D. student Carrie Jackson came to the lecture because she studies German and is interested in German events, culture and relations, but said she was only expecting an explanation of the consuls’ positions on the Iraq war, not any new solutions or suggestions, “because they’re politicians.”

Helena Rahders-Johnson, a UW graduate student, noticed a change in attitudes on a recent visit to Germany.

“There’s a big difference from three years ago [to] today,” she said, adding that many German citizens talk about the Iraq war in public spaces such as on the bus.

The Madison Transatlantic Initiative presented the “Building Bridges” lecture in an effort to evaluate the strengths of the trans-Atlantic relationship and to develop strategies to make U.S.?Europe relations more understood.