The Vital Partnership is a political, historical, and intellectual assessment of the transatlantic relationship between the United States and Europe that is, according to Simon Serfaty, clearly at a crossroads. Serfaty calls on the Bush administration to work with the Europeans to craft a new transatlantic charter, which will require three things: the EU and member states must assume a larger role in global relations, NATO must be willing and able to act locally to protect European security, America and the EU must implement a strategic security compact in the post-9/11 world.