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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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.