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Highlights

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Latest

Ukraine, Europe, and the power of association: A new way to help aspiring EU states

  • Susi Dennison, José Ignacio Torreblanca

NordNATO: Why the case for Finland to join NATO is stronger than ever

  • Hanna Ojanen

Featured

  • Asia

Circuit breakers: Securing Europe’s green energy supply chains

  • Agatha Kratz, Charlie Vest, Janka Oertel
  • Policy Brief

Europeans risk over-dependence on China for the green technologies needed to build the low-carbon economy of the future. They should take steps to reduce their exposure – while recognising they will have to work with Chinese suppliers in some instances.

  • European Power

The European Sentiment Compass 2022

  • Pawel Zerka
  • Special

In the wake of pandemic and war, the Sentiment Compass assesses the changing expectations of the EU across its member states. It finds that EU should harness the power of culture and the free media to nurture a stronger European sentiment – helping it to address the major challenges facing the continent.

  • Africa

Trading aims: The value of Africa’s deep integration trade agreement

  • Iza Lejarraga
  • Policy Brief

Africa’s new trade agreement promises deep economic integration on the continent – and offers the opportunity for greater African-European cooperation, including on the role trade can play in the green and digital transitions

  • Middle East and North Africa

Principled pragmatism: Europe’s place in a multipolar Middle East

  • Julien Barnes-Dacey, Hugh Lovatt
  • Policy Brief

Europeans need to deal with the Middle East as it is rather than as they want it to be, while staying focused on the principles needed to secure longer-term stability

Upcoming events

17 May

It’s complicated: The Russia-China Axis

  • 17 May 2022
  • Online
  • ECFR Berlin

Recent events

12 May

Shape of the union: European sentiment in light of war and pandemic

  • 12 May 2022
  • 45 Rue d'Ulm, Paris, 75005, FR
  • ECFR Paris

Podcasts

Cover image of the World in 30 minutes podcast

Germany’s Zeitenwende: what does it mean for Europe?

German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, is facing criticism for not meeting the expectations he created with his Zeitenwende speech. But how fair is this criticism?

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Featured projects

European Sovereignty

To prosper and maintain their independence in a world of geopolitical competition, the EU needs to learn to think like a geopolitical power

Featured

Sovereign Europe, dangerous world: Five agendas to protect Europe’s capacity to act

  • Mark Leonard, Jeremy Shapiro

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

The Power Atlas

  • Mark Leonard (ed.)

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

The crisis of European security: What Europeans think about the war in Ukraine

  • Ivan Krastev, Mark Leonard

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Latest

  • European Power

Ukraine, Europe, and the power of association: A new way to help aspiring EU states

  • Susi Dennison, José Ignacio Torreblanca
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

A new compact could allow Ukraine, Balkans states and others to move closer to the EU and drive reform more powerfully than the current rigid rules

  • ECFR Council

NordNATO: Why the case for Finland to join NATO is stronger than ever

  • Hanna Ojanen
  • View from the Council
  • 3 minute read

Finland has redefined its security interest, leading it inexorably towards NATO membership. If Sweden joins too, a significant new regional grouping within the alliance could emerge.

  • Middle East and North Africa

Turkey’s open door closes: How Europe can better support Syrian refugees

  • Kelly Petillo
  • Commentary
  • 5 minute read

If Turkey and other countries begin deporting more Syrians back to Syria, Europe could experience a new wave of arrivals. European policymakers need to devise a more sustainable, longer-term approach to the issue.

  • European Power

Europe’s soft-power problem

  • Mark Leonard
  • Commentary
  • 3 minute read

Although Europe has begun to make up for years of neglect in terms of defence spending, it remains woefully ill-equipped to win over other countries through the power of attraction and persuasion. Each side in the European culture war is uniquely unappealing to billions of people around the world.

  • Wider Europe

Inside the Russian geopolitical mind: Pseudo-justifications behind the war in Ukraine

  • Andrew Wilson
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

Russia sees two types of sovereignty in its civilisational space. Full Westphalian sovereignty – which it believes it has and Ukraine does not. This means that defending Ukraine means defending its sovereignty in full.

  • Wider Europe

Moldova next? How Europe should react to Russia’s implicit threat

  • Gustav Gressel
  • Commentary
  • 3 minute read

Europeans should urgently increase Frontex assistance to Moldova, enhance intelligence cooperation, and consider positioning NATO units based in Romania closer to the country’s border

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
In the Soviet period, mass production and low-cost manufacturing took priority over survivability
Gustav Gressel
WEB.de 12 May 2022

According to Gustav Gressel, the delivery difficulties are compounded by significant design flaws for Russian military equipment in some systems

Draghi’s words to Biden on Libya sound like a pre-emptive call for more political support for Italy in Mediterranean and energy issues
Arturo Varvelli
Huffington Post Italia 11 May 2022

Arturo Varvelli comments on Mario Draghi’s words on Libya emerged during his meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington DC

All of a sudden, even small units have their own aerial reconnaissance – that was not the case ten years ago. And there were certainly tactical advantages and victories as a result.
Ulrike Franke
Stern 10 May 2022

Unlike military reconnaissance via satellites or aircraft, the troops can get the information themselves with small drones, explains Ulrike Franke

I have strong doubts about airworthy equipment, which only makes sense on site in Ukraine. Transit to Bulgaria and repatriation to Ukraine involve more effort than benefit.
Gustav Gressel
DW 10 May 2022

Gustav Gressel comments on Bulgaria’s proposal not to supply weapons, but instead to provide “military technical assistance”, i.e. repair damaged weapons and maintain military equipment.

More on Africa

Shared fortunes: Why Britain, the European Union, and Africa need one another

  • Nicholas Westcott
  • Policy Brief

A closer relationship between Britain, Africa, and the EU would benefit all sides. But this would require the British government to change its approach to Europe as well as to Africa.


Bloc chains: Europe’s partnerships on the food crisis in Africa

  • Theodore Murphy
  • Commentary
  • 6 minute read

Why UN votes shouldn’t define Europe-Africa relations

  • Gwamaka Kifukwe, Andrew Lebovich
  • Commentary
  • 1 minute read

More on Asia

Mapping China’s rise in the Western Balkans

  • Vladimir Shopov
  • Special

China is building up its influence in the Western Balkans through projects focused on everything from energy and infrastructure to culture, education, and media. If the European Union is to achieve its geopolitical goals in the region, it will need to understand the nature of competition with Beijing in all these areas.


Cold reality: How Europe is adjusting to China’s support for Putin

  • Janka Oertel
  • Commentary
  • 5 minute read

Southern discomfort: The West’s competition with China in the Balkans

  • Vladimir Shopov
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

More on European Power

A certain idea of Europe: How the next French president can lead

  • Susi Dennison, Tara Varma
  • Policy Brief

The next French president should pursue a strong European foreign policy agenda to protect Europeans against the threats they are most concerned about


Rollercoaster vote: Europe’s future after the French presidential election

  • Tara Varma
  • Commentary
  • 3 minute read

Burn time: The case for a new European energy union

  • Arturo Varvelli
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

More on Middle East and North Africa

North African standoff: How the Western Sahara conflict is fuelling new tensions between Morocco and Algeria

  • Anthony Dworkin
  • Policy Brief

Europeans should pay closer attention to rising tensions between Morocco and Algeria. A more balanced European approach to both countries could help stave off instability in north-west Africa and the Mediterranean.


Stall or nothing: Iraq’s failure to form a new government

  • Hamzeh Hadad
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

Iran, the US, and the nuclear deal: Biden’s chance to remove Trump’s poison pill

  • Ellie Geranmayeh
  • Commentary
  • 5 minute read

More on Wider Europe

Mapping China’s rise in the Western Balkans

  • Vladimir Shopov
  • Special

China is building up its influence in the Western Balkans through projects focused on everything from energy and infrastructure to culture, education, and media. If the European Union is to achieve its geopolitical goals in the region, it will need to understand the nature of competition with Beijing in all these areas.


Why advanced weapons can help Ukraine defeat Russia

  • Denys Davydenko, Margaryta Khvostova, Olga Lymar
  • Commentary
  • 5 minute read

Ukraine: Time for the West to prepare for the long war

  • Gustav Gressel
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

Views from the Council

Necessary friends: Turkey’s improving relationship with the West

  • Suat Kınıklıoğlu
  • View from the Council
  • 4 minute read

Russia’s war on Ukraine has allowed Turkey to begin to rebuild its relationship with the West. Brussels and Ankara both need to make sacrifices to continue this process and protect their strategic interests.


The true value of European sovereignty

  • Franziska Brantner
  • View from the Council
  • 2 minute read

Putin’s war on Ukraine: Aftershocks in the Europe-Africa partnership

  • David McNair
  • View from the Council
  • 4 minute read
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