As Europe's Finance Ministers worked around the clock to finalize a bailout package for Greece, their goal was not only to avoid Greek insolvency, but also to prevent further fractures within the eurozone and even the European Union.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, European Parliamentary President Jerzy Buzek was on a six-day public outreach tour in Washington DC to build stronger relations and legislative partnerships between the United States and Europe.

His visit included several top level meetings with US Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.

It also included remarks before the US Chamber of Commerce as well as the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. The climax of the trip, however, was the opening of the EU Parliament's new liaison office in Washington DC, the first outside of Europe, in the hopes of creating closer cooperation (and understanding) of the EU and its institutions between US members of Congress and their staff.

But when it comes to invigorating US-EU relations is Brussels trapped down a one way street? When President Obama came into office he quickly sought to mend fences with many of Europe's leaders.

Once successful, engagement with Europe had fallen low on his agenda. Case in point, he skipped the 70th anniversary commemoration of World War II in Gdansk and announced he would not attend the EU-US Summit scheduled for May in Madrid.

That said, bringing greater EU visibility to Washington DC is necessary. What will give it greater credibility, however, is actually presenting a more unified European policy platform, whether it be on energy security, Russia policy, financial regulation (ie. US investment banks in Europe) and international security (ie. Afghanistan and Iran) to their counterparts in the US Congress.

Strong EU leadership and partnership will be critical to the Obama administration's success of addressing current global challenges and meeting foreign policy objectives.

For Poles, having EU representatives lobby on behalf of extending visa free travel to the US would also be a welcome sign of EU solidarity. Currently, four other EU members, including Greece, Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria are also denied this privilege.

With Greece in turmoil, sovereign credit ratings dropping throughout the EU's southern periphery, risk of adverse affects of Europe's contagion on US recovery and a growing backlash against Goldman Sachs in Europe, President Buzek's timely visit, may just have been the boost that EU-US relations needed.