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European Council on Foreign Relations

  • Region
    • Africa
      • Africa

        The Africa programme analyses the geopolitics of the Africa-Europe relationship. In particular, the programme delves into relations between the African Union and the European Union to find creative foreign policy tools and strategies. It also focuses on two regions that are particularly relevant for Europe: the Horn of Africa and the Sahel.

        Highlights from Africa

        • Sudan
        • African Union
        • Sahel
        • EU-Africa cooperation
    • Asia
      • Asia

        The Asia programme seeks to help Europe recalibrate its relationship with China and its Asian partners. The programme analyses China’s domestic situation, its role in the region, and its increasing global influence. It also places a renewed emphasis on fostering Europe’s relationships with the Indo-Pacific, especially India and Japan.

        Highlights from Asia

        • China
        • India
        • Japan
        • Indo-Pacific region
    • European Power
      • European Power

        The European Power programme is focused on helping Europeans develop sustainable policy solutions to the issues affecting the European Union’s capacity to act with unity on the global scene. This includes analysing the path forward for enlargement, the energy transition, and European support for Ukraine.

        Highlights from European Power

        • Charting the Long War
        • Climate
        • EU enlargement
        • European cohesion
        • European sovereignty
    • Middle East & North Africa
      • Middle East & North Africa

        The Middle East and North Africa programme seeks to support a coherent European agenda in pursuit of regional interests. The programme works with European and regional governments, local voices, and civil society to advance channels of dialogue as well as providing direct policy prescriptions to secure conflict de-escalation, regional stabilisation, and democratic transition.

        Highlights from Middle East & North Africa

        • Israel-Palestine
        • The Gulf
        • North Africa
        • Migration
        • Turkey
    • United StatesNew
      • United States

        The US programme helps Europeans create policy responses to developments in US domestic politics and foreign policy. The programme seeks to strengthen transatlantic relations by exploring the obstacles to a more balanced partnership and developing ideas to overcome them.

        Highlights from United States

        • US foreign policy
        • US domestic politics
        • Transatlantic relations
    • Wider Europe
      • Wider Europe

        The Wider Europe programme aims to help the European Union defend its interests and values in the Western Balkans, Turkey, Russia, and eastern Europe, as well as the South Caucasus and central Asia. The programme also supports EU decision-makers work on a unified and coherent policy to address the challenges resulting from Russia’s full scale-invasion of Ukraine.

        Highlights from Wider Europe

        • Russia
        • Ukraine
        • Belarus
        • Western Balkans
        • EU enlargement
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Highlights

  • Charting the Long War
  • Climate
  • Opinion polling
  • European sovereignty
  • Economic sovereignty
  • Defence, Security, and Tech
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Latest

Backsliding in Belgrade: The state of Serbia’s European future

  • Angelica Vascotto

Getting on track: New ways to deliver Poland’s energy ambitions

  • Szymon Kardaś

Featured

A sharp right turn: A forecast for the 2024 European Parliament elections

  • Kevin Cunningham, Susi Dennison, Simon Hix, Imogen Learmonth
  • Policy Brief

The 2024 European Parliament elections will see a shift to the right in many countries and could mean that a populist right coalition emerges with a majority for the first time

Beyond the counter-offensive: Attrition, stalemate, and the future of the war in Ukraine

  • Gustav Gressel
  • Policy Brief

The Ukraine conflict is a war of attrition – that Russia is set to win. Europeans must act now to increase supplies, helping Ukraine not only survive, but prevail

A crisis of one’s own: The politics of trauma in Europe’s election year

  • Ivan Krastev, Mark Leonard
  • Policy Brief

European politics is divided between ‘crisis tribes,’ formed from different traumas. Climate and migration are set to be especially influential in this year’s European Parliament election

The challenges ahead: What to watch for in 2024

  • Carl Bildt
  • Commentary
  • View from the Council
  • 4 minute read

Amid the ongoing political turmoil and with half of the world’s population going to the polls, the EU needs to prepare for another stormy year

Upcoming events

1 Feb

New year, new Europe: Defence strategy, capabilities and technology

  • 1 February 2024
  • Brussels

Recent events

23 Jan

Re-Engaging with Neighbours in a State of War and Geopolitical Tensions

  • 23 January 2024
  • Norway House, Rue Archimède 17, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium
22 Jan

Europe debates: EU-Reform und Ukraine-Erweiterung

  • 22 January 2024
  • ProjektZentrum Berlin, Neue Promenade 6, 10178 Berlin
  • ECFR Berlin

Mark Leonard's World in 30 minutes

The future of the Red Sea

  • Podcast
  • Mark Leonard's World in 30 minutes

Mark Leonard welcomes Cinzia Bianco and Theodore Murphy to discuss the crisis in the Red Sea and its escalation potential

Listen

ECFR on air

Beyond Gaza: focus on regional and global players

  • Podcast
  • ECFR on air

Cinzia Bianco speaks to Dania Thafer and Elham Fakhro about the regional reverberations of the war in Gaza, particularly from the perspective of key Arab Gulf monarchies such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates

Listen

Featured projects

Charting The Long War

For seven decades, European integration has been driven by the quest for peace. The Russian invasion of Ukraine marks a turning point.

Featured

The power of control: How the EU can shape the new era of strategic export restrictions

  • Tobias Gehrke, Julian Ringhof

Re:shape Global Europe

The project strives to engage citizens across Europe and generate a wide debate about the purpose of European power in the twenty-first century

Featured

Shapes of Multilateralisms Collection

  • Anthony Dworkin, Rafael Loss, Jana Puglierin

Public opinion polling

Through polling in EU member states, ECFR’s analysis seeks to unlock shifting coalitions in Europe that favour a more internationally engaged union

Featured

Keeping America close, Russia down, and China far away: How Europeans navigate a competitive world

  • Jana Puglierin, Pawel Zerka

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Latest

Backsliding in Belgrade: The state of Serbia’s European future

  • Angelica Vascotto
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

Serbia is rapidly veering off its course for accession. Last month’s potentially fraudulent general election and Belgrade’s increasing distance from EU foreign policy should worry those in Brussels

Getting on track: New ways to deliver Poland’s energy ambitions

  • Szymon Kardaś
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

The new government in Warsaw is committed to pursuing a more ambitious energy and climate policy than its Law and Justice predecessors. There are several ways it can position itself to deliver on its goals and work closely with EU partners

Court order: Why Europeans should support the ICJ’s decision on South Africa’s genocide case against Israel

  • Anthony Dworkin
  • Policy Alert
  • 2 minute read

Despite their disagreements over the case, it is crucial that European countries support the implementation of the ICJ’s provisional measures

A stronger partner: How Europeans can make the most of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council

  • Herman Quarles van Ufford
  • Policy Alert
  • 2 minute read

In this year of elections, Europeans can make progress on numerous fronts with the US by investing in the Trade and Technology Council

Beyond the chainsaw: The Argentine roots of the Milei phenomenon

  • Juan Elman
  • Commentary
  • 6 minute read

Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, is fast achieving cult status among the global far right. But the tendencies that contributed to his rise could also be the undoing of this extreme libertarian experiment

Security recall: The risk of Chinese electric vehicles in Europe

  • Janka Oertel
  • Commentary
  • 6 minute read

The security challenge posed by Chinese electric vehicles is in many ways greater – and trickier to solve – than that of 5G networks. With such cars entering the European market at growing speed, policymakers need to move swiftly

In the media

Our experts are available for media requests. Our work involves many issues relating to Europe and foreign policy, and our programmes focus on Africa, Asia, the Middle East & North Africa, and Wider Europe.

All our experts Newsroom
Our worry was that there will be politicians that would surely try to follow the trend and would be outspoken about the need to stop supporting Ukraine
Pawel Zerka
Al Jazeera 29 January 2024

Pawel Zerka on Hungary’s stance on aid to Ukraine at the next EU summit

Only if they carefully absorb the lessons learned from this war will Europeans be ready for the kinds of confrontations between great powers that are becoming increasingly likely in the 21st century
Gustav Gressel
Formiche 28 January 2024

Gustav Gressel comments on the need to reform the European defense industry

In a world where the impacts of climate change are more evident every day, we were looking for an innovative way to engage those who follow and read us in a more interactive way
Arturo Varvelli
Corriere della Sera 28 January 2024

Arturo Varvelli comments on the launch of Fantaforecasting’s Special Competition “Geopolitics, technology and energy transition: predictions for a changing world”

Every time the Russians have been saying we’re open to talk, they’ve added “provided Ukraine recognises the new territorial realities”, which means surrendering and giving up its territorial integrity
Marie Dumoulin
Daily Mail 28 January 2024

Marie Dumoulin on Russia’s strategy for the war in Ukraine

More on Africa

Tricks of the trade: Strengthening EU-African cooperation on trade in services

  • Iza Lejarraga
  • Policy Brief

Services play an increasingly important role in international trade. Improving EU-African trade in services would have wide-ranging benefits for both sides


Not just hot air: Realising the potential of the EU-Namibia green hydrogen partnership

  • Chigozie Nweke-Eze
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

Green synergies: How the EU, the UAE, and Africa can cooperate on energy

  • Maddalena Procopio, Corrado Čok
  • Commentary
  • 5 minute read

More on Asia

The battle for the Indian Ocean: How the EU and India can strengthen maritime security

  • Frédéric Grare, Manisha Reuter
  • Policy Brief

China is becoming increasingly assertive in the Indian Ocean. The EU and India should work together to support the smaller states of the region


The red flags ahead: What to expect from Taiwan’s election

  • James Crabtree
  • Commentary
  • 5 minute read

High-voltage trade: How Europe should fight the electric vehicle wars

  • Tobias Gehrke, Filip Medunic
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

More on European Power

Multilateral development in flux: Strengthening European cooperation with the global south

  • Anthony Dworkin
  • Policy Brief

European countries are rethinking their policies on multilateral development. In the face of intersecting crises, they should embrace a new, far-sighted vision for development cooperation.


The bigger picture: The case for an EU-Mercosur free trade deal

  • Agathe Demarais
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

Europe needs a new Ukraine strategy

  • Mark Leonard
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

More on Middle East and North Africa

Road to nowhere: Why Europe’s border externalisation is a dead end

  • Lorena Stella Martini, Tarek Megerisi
  • Policy Brief

Europeans need to stop handing control of their borders to southern Mediterranean states. Instead, they should pursue measures that tie the short-term imperative to reduce irregular migration to longer-term strategies that lessen the need for people to migrate in the first place


Seeing Red: Towards a diplomatic solution to Houthi attacks

  • Cinzia Bianco, Hugh Lovatt
  • Policy Alert
  • 2 minute read

National interests and regional turmoil: The Gulf states’ view on Gaza and the Red Sea

  • Cinzia Bianco, Camille Lons
  • Commentary
  • 6 minute read

More on United States

The art of vassalisation: How Russia’s war on Ukraine has transformed transatlantic relations

  • Jana Puglierin, Jeremy Shapiro
  • Policy Brief

Europeans’ response to Russia’s war on Ukraine confirms their profound dependence on the US – an unwise position given the security challenge in Europe and coming geopolitical competition with China


The Trumpist Manifesto: The Republican struggle for a second-term foreign policy

  • Majda Ruge, Jeremy Shapiro
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

America’s trade-off: Israel, Ukraine, and the inescapable China question

  • Jeremy Shapiro
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

More on Wider Europe

From Russia with love: How Moscow courts the global south

  • Kadri Liik
  • Policy Brief

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it has been competing with the West for the support of the rest of the world. But with all of its relationships now subordinate to its war effort, Moscow’s foreign policy is weakened


Europe needs a new Ukraine strategy

  • Mark Leonard
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

Green enlargement: How the EU’s growth plan for the Western Balkans can promote climate action

  • Lea Fanku
  • Commentary
  • 3 minute read

Views from the Council

A war of wills: Europe’s peace mission in 2024

  • Carl Bildt
  • Commentary
  • View from the Council
  • 3 minute read

Russia will continue its war on Ukraine for as long as it can. Europeans need to make it clear that their will to support Kyiv will not falter


Walking the tightrope: Orban, Fico, and the future of central European diplomacy

  • Martin Ehl
  • Commentary
  • View from the Council
  • 4 minute read

Laying the right foundations: Why Ukraine’s reconstruction plan should include investments in Moldova

  • Natalia Gavrilita
  • View from the Council
  • 4 minute read
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