The European Council on Foreign Relations

How the eurozone crisis affects EU power

2011-11-25T13:26:32+00:00

The economic crisis has huge implications for EU foreign policy. There is less time for it, less money available, and Europe's ability to project soft power is in a coma.

A marginalised Britain makes EU break-up more likely

2011-11-03T15:58:20+00:00

The actions of Britain's coalition government are making it more likely that we will see the EU disintegrate, leaving behind a saved Eurozone that marginalises all those outside it - including Britain itself.

Merci, mon Général, bonjour Monsieur Monnet

2011-10-26T08:57:03+00:00

Throughout the Eurozone crisis, France has been well served by its decisive presidential system. But as thoughts turn to reforming the way the Eurozone works, France must come to terms with the power implications of a more federal system.

European failure and how to avoid it

2011-10-18T14:59:33+00:00

The European Union’s combination of crises - of finance, politics, and identity - makes the once unthinkable a real prospect: Europe is not "too big to fail". What then should concerned Europeans do to ensure their continent's survival and progress?

It’s CSDP - or a world run by others

2011-09-13T12:26:32+00:00

In a response to an article by Jan Techau attacking Common Security and Defence Policy, Nick Witney argues that Europe can and must take on more shared responsibility for its own security in the multipolar 21st century.

Two challenges for Europe’s politicians

2011-07-21T09:14:15+00:00

The longer term challenges for Europe's politicians are to contest real power at a European level and be honest with voters about the issues confronting the continent in the 21st century.

A memo to Ban Ki-moon

2011-06-30T08:27:57+00:00

Dear Secretary-General, contratulations on winning a second five year term at the United Nations. Here are the issues that you will have to concentrate on, beginning with the immediate concerns of Libya, the wider Middle East and Sudan.

Even Homer nods

2011-06-13T07:53:50+00:00

Robert Gates has rightly earned the admiration of many in the security community. But his recent criticism of European contributions to NATO fail to come to terms with changes in how European nations conceive of their own security and the role NATO has to play in defending it.

South Sudan & Palestine could heat up the UN’s summer

2011-05-25T09:46:00+00:00

The reputation of the UN and Ban Ki-moon may hinge upon the outcome in two of the world's trouble spots - South Sudan and Palestine. South Sudan in particular remains a crucial test of the institution's ability to handle weak states.

Lay off the Lady

2011-05-23T08:03:04+00:00

Since her apppointment 18 months ago, Catherine Ashton has been a useful scapegoat for European leaders and officials keen to point the finger of blame for the EU's foreign policy failures. Some of those people should take a more critical look at themselves.

The EU in the doldrums: we need to hit the right nails

2011-05-19T10:31:31+00:00

In a response to José Ignacio Torreblanca's recent article, 'Five reasons why Europe is cracking', Francois Godement argues that Europeans do have a chance to tackle the current malaise, but only if they search hard and identify the real causes of the continent's woes.

The Scramble for Europe

2011-04-18T08:47:24+00:00

The European Union’s introspection in world affairs, and its shrinking ability to influence the outside world, does not mean that the outside world will leave it alone. Rising powers might soon be racing to invest in Europe, and shape its politics to suit their needs.

Ban Ki-moon’s lessons for Catherine Ashton

2011-04-11T13:19:16+00:00

The UN's secretary-general and the EU's foreign policy chief have similar predecessors, styles and priorities – and a common need to find a voice.

Europe as a world power

2011-03-30T12:30:16+00:00

Agreement over Europe's performance is not the aim of ECFR's European Foreign Policy Scorecard. The aim is to encourage serious debate about the goals, tools, resources, difficult trade offs and moral dilemmas of Europe's foreign policy - even if that means that readers strongly disagree with our conclusions.

Rebuilding Libya

2011-02-23T15:45:55+00:00

Libya is in chaos, and Colonel Gaddafi seems determined to hang on to power at any expense. But he has already lost control of large swathes of the country, the security forces and bureaucracy, and it is not premature to start planning for a post-Gaddafi Libya.

Post-colonial Europe

2011-02-16T09:03:52+00:00

The crises in Côte d’Ivoire and Tunisia have exposed the strategic challenge for France now that its former sphere of influence appears to be collapsing. But a post-colonial Europe still has the ability to affect African affairs.

Lessons from Tripoli

2010-12-16T15:16:05+00:00

There are two important lessons to be learned from last month's EU-Africa summit. First, Europe needs to reassert its diplomatic clout after a post-Lisbon period of uncertainty. Second, it needs to think more cleverly about how to promote its values in a world where our economic and political models are no longer unquestioningly accepted.

India and Europe still need each other

2010-12-09T13:54:02+00:00

A shift in the power balance between the EU and India has changed the two powers' attitudes to each other, but there will still be plenty to talk about at their summit this week. Concluding a free trade agreement, and greater strategic cooperation on a range of security issues, is in the interests of both.

Europe’s only hope: the Federation Light

2010-12-01T15:43:08+00:00

We should not demand more from political collaboration within the EU than we demand as citizens from our own countries. We are already demanding of ourselves and our politicians that we work together to ensure our freedom, safety, security, prosperity and welfare. If we want an EU that works, the demands must be the same – no more, no less.

How European is the new Germany?

2010-11-26T10:55:00+00:00

Germany has fallen out of love with Europe, and its customary role as the uncomplaining engine of the EU. But as other EU members question whether Germany is now 'going it alone', Berlin must answer questions about what Germany wants from Europe in the 21st century, and what price it is willing to pay for it.

NATO self-cancelling summit

2010-11-23T12:40:35+00:00

The Lisbon summit has drawn a line under a fractious period for NATO. But as it reaches out to Russia and withdraws from Afghanistan, the alliance is still struggling to find a new purpose.

Neo-Titoism spreads as Brussels? influence wanes

2010-11-22T09:06:22+00:00

The EU’s annual summit with Ukraine takes place with Brussels desperately searching for success stories in the Eastern Neighbourhood. The countries there are increasingly acting as balancers rather than joiners, treading a fine line between the EU and Moscow

After Lisbon, what next?

2010-11-19T09:36:13+00:00

NATO leaders are meeting in Lisbon to approve a new strategic blueprint aimed at enhancing the security of Europe. But what about managing security within Europe? Who is responsible for that, and how should it be organised?

The view from Beijing tells you why we need a European foreign policy

2010-11-12T16:58:10+00:00

The EU's national rivalries comprise a standing invitation for any major world power to divide and rule. In an article for The Guardian, Timothy Garton Ash argues that even if things go well, what Europeans may achieve in concentrating power resources will only just compensate for the relative loss of power to the re-emerging old-new giants in the east.

A pocket superpower

2010-11-11T09:26:44+00:00

At first glance the recent Franco-British treaty on defence looks like a model of pragmatism, tinged by a British desire to keep greater pan-EU defence cooperation at bay. But like so many European agreements over the last decades, this aspiration to preserve sovereignty may not prevent the treaty contributing to exactly that higher level of cooperation.

Why the EU should stand by Obama

2010-11-05T07:45:27+00:00

Following President Obama?s mauling in this week?s midterm elections, European diplomats will doubtless be working on memos to their ministers with titles like ?The Transatlantic Alliance and the Tea Party?. Richard Gowan suggests what they should say.

Fuelling decline

2010-11-04T11:14:46+00:00

The mid-term elections in the United States are not just a set-back for President Obama at home: they will also limit his capacity to lead in the international arena at a time of rising powers and greater competition.

Can the west still run the world?

2010-11-03T07:34:22+00:00

A historian of the future writing about the decline of the West should include a few lines on the events of October 2010. The EU gave up some privileges at the IMF, but it's not clear that the rising powers will now play by the West's rules.

A STRATEGIC RUBICON

2010-11-01T09:12:00+00:00

The announcement of a Franco-British defence partnership will be a watershed in European security thinking. Once that Rubicon has been crossed it will raise questions for their EU partners, and perhaps this will have a profound bearing on whether Europe can keep a seat in the global game.

Wie viel Europa darf es sein?

2010-10-27T12:43:32+00:00

Eine interessengeleite deutsche Europapolitik ersetzt zunehmend die historisch bedingte Symbiose zwischen Deutschland und Europa. Im post-romantischen Europa des 21.Jahrhunderts bestimmt sich Deutschlands Rolle neu – wie viel Europa darf es sein und was ist der Preis von Nicht-Europa?