The upheavels in North Africa are further evidence that the EU's neighbourhood has fundamentally changed, both to the south and to the east. In response, the EU needs to develop a real foreign policy to deal with this increasingly competitive region.

This weekend's announcement that Vladimir Putin will stand for the Russian presidency next year is a clear defeat both for Russia's liberals and for the EU's policy of tacitly supporting Medvedev. What will Putin's third term mean for relations between Moscow and Brussels?

After a deep recession, an impressive recovery and years of fractious relations with its Russian-speaking minority, Latvia might be on the brink of breaking free from the problems that have dogged its politics since independence. The country's elections last week might have gone largely unnoticed in the outside world, but they could trigger a mini-revolution. 

Albania is politically paralysed by a stand-off between prime minister and opposition. The EU must act decisively to prevent the country becoming a small enclave dominated by illiberal politics and bureaucratic dysfunctionality.

On 24th August 1991, Ukraine declared itself independent. Andrew Wilson, who was in Kiev learning Ukrainian at the time, assesses where the country stands two decades on.

With Russia's next presidential election scheduled for next March, the important question for Europe is not "More Medvedev or Putin 2.0?" It is whether its giant Eastern neighbour can modernise, and avert the threat of  “Brezhnevisation” – political stagnation without economic reform.

Ben Judah talks to the co-chairman of the Party of People’s Freedom, Vladimir Milov, about forthcoming parliamentary elections in Russia, the possible return of Putin as president in 2012, the North Caucasus and the role of the European Union in supporting opposition parties.

The outcome of Sunday's elections might be a foregone conclusion, but Europe should still pay close attention. There might be no change in government, but the vote will affect how an increasingly influential Turkey deals with its neighbourhood, and with the EU.

The atmosphere between the EU and Russia has improved remarkably over the last couple of years; but - ahead of this week's summit with Russia - the EU is struggling to turn good atmospherics into tangible progress in areas that really matter.

Dimitar Bechev reflects on the Sofia Platform, a major conference hosted by ECFR and the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs last week, which brought Europe and the Middle East together to discuss the Arab Spring, with fascinating consequences.

The Russian presidential elections are less than a year away it is by no means clear who will be the Kremlin's candidate. We should not be surprised by tensions at the top in Moscow; Putin is not as powerful as the image the West – and many Russians – have bought into.

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.

'More for more', a central plank of the EU's updated neighbourhood policy, is a laudable concept. But it is difficult to define, let alone to implement. What really is more, and how do we get it from our neighbours?

European countries are playing a central role in the Libyan intervention, and the EU is looking to help the transitions in Tunisia and Egypt. But before Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire, setting off the sequence of protests, how well did Europe perform when dealing with its southern neighbourhood last year?

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.