The G-20 Summit this week-end in Washington offers a good opportunity to reflect on what Europe wants to achieve, both internally and externally.

If the Obama phenomenon is confirmed in the public vote on 4 November, the repercussions in US foreign policy will be huge.

Germany?s decision to increase its troops in Afghanistan is both courageous and necessary: the security of both European and Afghan citizens is inseparable.

Afghanistan was always the ?good? war and Iraq, the bad one. But what if Bush?s legacy becomes losing the good war and winning the bad one?

Russia may be tempted to believe that it has succeeded in Georgia, but it has in fact further isolated itself and helped Europe unite.

When dealing with Moscow, EU leaders should not accept the parallelism between Kosovo and Ossetia.

The EU faces a tough dilemma: sanctions would further isolate Russia but a ?business as usual' approach would send the wrong signal.

Moscow's decision to recognize Georgia's breakaway regions is a profound challenge to Europe's security architecture.

The EU collectively spends an annual 200 billion euro on defence but squanders most of it on Cold War-style armies.

Despite the grand rhetoric, neither Sarkozy nor the EU have the capacity to transform the southern Mediterranean.

A survey carried out after the Irish referendum outlines a very worrying landscape for the future of European integration.

An analysis of the Irish 'no' to the Lisbon Treaty, published in El Pais. In Spanish and English.

The rejection of Lisbon by Irish voters would upset the delicate balance which has kept the much buffeted European ship afloat.

Iran's nuclear programme is as scary as the potential of an Israeli air strike on the country.

Closing itself to immigration will not solve Europe's problems, and it will impair its attractiveness as a model open society. An op-ed in Spanish and English.