Despite recent problems, Macedonia's record is still "best in class" and its Euro-Atlantic integration should continue posthaste.

Even after a reciprocal endorsement between Putin and Medvedev, a delicate balancing act will be necessary to manage Putin?s succession in the coming months.

Will Russia's political tradition of personalised autocracy allow Putin's survival strategy to succeed? An analysis in Bulgarian

After trying to resolve Kosovo's status, diplomats have given up. The U.S and the EU now need to back the compromise proposed by UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari and re-affirm the region's European trajectory.

Putin?s grand plan may not yet be clear, but most of the likely variants now hinge on how he will use the mandate from Sunday?s election to stage-manage the next vote in March.

Whatever the electoral outcome, Putin wins. But this time, the manner of the Russian strongman?s victory will undermine not only Russian democracy; but the credibility of Europe?s democracy-promotion.

There?s a real risk that, in the weeks between now and Christmas, the EU will face violence in either Kosovo, where 15,000 European troops underwrite security, or Lebanon where 8,000 Europeans have made up the backbone of the UN peace force.

The new Ukrainian parliament finally assembled on Friday, 23 November, almost two months after the elections. It then immediately adjourned until Thursday 29 November. An update on Ukraine's complex political developments.

Even though Europe's foreign policy reach is now truly global, talks on Kosovo's independence have seen Balkan ghosts return to haunt Europe.

Despite its economic strength and military might, the EU has begun to behave as if it were subordinate to an increasingly assertive Russia. Read ECFR's "Power Audit" of EU-Russia relations.

Russia has emerged as the most divisive issue in the European Union since Donald Rumsfeld split the European club into ?new' and ?old' member states. Read an opinion piece published through Project Syndicate.

European double-standards on Burma and Uzbekistan will hurt the EU's interests and democracy in both countries.

After years of political stagnation, 2008 will be a key year for Europe and the Ukraine