ABSTRACT
Americans have watched Europe's long road to unity with attention and sympathy but also with considerable irritation. In most European countries the Euroskeptics and Europessimists have uttered dire warnings and succeeded in watering down the Maastricht blueprints. Some Europeans and many Americans reached the conclusion years ago that America has outstayed its welcome in Europe, and the slogan "Yankee go home", was heard on both sides of the Atlantic. At the same time there has been a tendency in Europe to exaggerate America's vital interests in the old continent. Many Europeans are not wholly familiar with the depth of the American isolationist tradition and American ambivalence towards Europe. They seem to have forgotten that the early settlers in North America did not come because life was so good in Europe, to paraphrase a Russian saying. America's involvement in European affairs was quite limited prior to the First World War.
