Europe must do what it can to ensure a healthy birth for democracy in Egypt, and elsewhere. It is still unclear how the situation there will unfold, and the EU would be taking a risk by putting itself firmly in the pro-deomcracy camp. But the risks of not doing so are greater.

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.

Richard Holbrooke, the veteran US diplomat who died this week aged 68, had a reputation for being brash and abrasive. But he was perhaps the best Secretary of State that his country never had.

The first round of Egypt's elections suffered from irregularities and unfair competition, yet this received little coverage abroad. This must change, especially if Egypt is to be thought of as a benchmark for political progress in the wider Middle East.

Rampant defence cuts throughout the EU will probably spell the end of European countries' little-known but important interventions in African conflicts. This invites humanitarian disasters on parts of the map that increasingly small numbers of European citizens could identify.