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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 and North Africa
      • Middle East and 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 and 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
  • Analysis
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Highlights

  • Charting the Long War
  • Gaza crisis
  • Climate
  • Opinion polling
  • European sovereignty
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  • All topics

Latest

Out of focus: Making progress on climate financing for Africa

  • Ameer Chughtai

Risk and reward: Why the EU should develop the Middle Corridor trade route

  • Alberto Rizzi

Featured

The Gaza crisis: Mapping the Middle East’s shifting battle lines

  • Julien Barnes-Dacey, Cinzia Bianco, Hugh Lovatt
  • Special

This new ECFR mapping project identifies the spillover effects of the Gaza war in countries across the Middle East

A new political map: Getting the European Parliament election right

  • Ivan Krastev, Mark Leonard
  • Policy Brief

Mainstream parties are hoping to prevent an anticipated far-right surge in this year’s European Parliament election. But the results of ECFR’s latest opinion poll suggest their current strategy could backfire – and what they should do instead

Life in exile: A new approach to Russian democrats in Europe

  • Ksenia Luchenko, Kirill Shamiev
  • Policy Brief

European governments need a more coordinated response to Russian democrats in exile – to give them certainty for the future and help guard against Kremlin subversion

Wars and elections: How European leaders can maintain public support for Ukraine

  • Ivan Krastev, Mark Leonard
  • Policy Brief

As Russia’s war on Ukraine approaches its second anniversary, European leaders need to prevent Vladimir Putin from capitalising on war fatigue in the West. To maintain public support for backing Kyiv in this crucial election year, they should make clear that a Russian victory is not peace

Recent events

9 Apr

Ukrainian Victory. How to bring sustainable peace back to Europe

  • 9 April 2024
  • Rome Polish Institute, Via Vittoria Colonna 1, Rome
  • ECFR Rome
28 Mar

Rethinking & Reshaping: EU Enlargement in times of war

  • 28 March 2024
  • Collège des Bernardins, 20 Rue de Poissy, 75005 Paris
  • ECFR Paris

Mark Leonard's World in 30 minutes

Shifting sands: The geoeconomic triumphs of the Gulf  

  • Podcast
  • Mark Leonard's World in 30 minutes

Mark Leonard welcomes Cinzia Bianco, Agathe Demarais, and Camille Lons to discuss the geoeconomics of the Gulf

Listen

ECFR on air

Europe Listens: Exploring the deep seabed with Pradeep Singh 

  • Podcast
  • ECFR on air

To achieve the ambitions of the European Green Deal, the European Commission insists that healthy oceans and a sustainable maritime economy are crucial. With rising…

Listen

Views from the Council

A defeat for Putin in Ukraine will improve the chances for the Other Russia

  • Timothy Garton Ash
  • Commentary
  • View from the Council
  • 4 minute read

Alexei Navalny’s funeral and this weekend’s so-called election show us two Russias. Support the better one

False economy: Why Europeans should stop slashing development aid to Africa

  • Mimi Alemayehou, David McNair
  • Commentary
  • View from the Council
  • 4 minute read

The first two months of 2024 have seen the EU and member states redirect billions of euros of development funding away from Africa – but this could come at great cost to their long-term interests on the continent

In the Media - Council

Although a Russian attack on other European countries is not imminent, the risk would increase exponentially if Europe fails to support Kyiv
La Stampa 22 March 2024

Nathalie Tocci explains what is needed from Europe as US support for Kyiv falters

It is crucial to use the current momentum and to decide to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina at the European Council later this week
POLITICO Brussels Playbook 19 March 2024

Karoline Edtstadler says the EU must keep its promises

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

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

  • Gustav Gressel

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

Multilateral Matchmaker

  • Carla Hobbs, Rafael Loss, Jana Puglierin, Pawel Zerka

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

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

  • Ivan Krastev, Mark Leonard

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Latest

Out of focus: Making progress on climate financing for Africa

  • Ameer Chughtai
  • Commentary
  • 5 minute read

The lack of financing for climate projects in Africa is a major obstacle for the continent to reach its goals under the Paris agreement. In this critical year for climate finance, scattered efforts threaten to stymie real progress

Risk and reward: Why the EU should develop the Middle Corridor trade route

  • Alberto Rizzi
  • Commentary
  • 5 minute read

The EU’s plans to upgrade the Middle Corridor trade route may boost Russian and Chinese connectivity with central Asia. But for Europeans, the long-term economic and strategic benefits of going ahead with the development far outweigh these risks

Cultivating enlargement: How a green win in the European Parliament election could help the Western Balkans

  • Lea Fanku
  • Commentary
  • 3 minute read

The EU’s green agenda is threatened by a predicted surge to the far-right in the upcoming European Parliament election. Against this, mainstream candidates should remind voters that climate policy is not only necessary for decarbonisation, but an essential tool for EU enlargement

Separate to integrate: EU enlargement and the trouble with bilateral disputes

  • Tefta Kelmendi
  • Commentary
  • 6 minute read

That EU enlargement is a geopolitical imperative is no longer in doubt. But to make enlargement happen, the EU may need to decouple bilateral disputes from the accession process

Europe must prepare for a Trump presidency

  • Mark Leonard
  • Commentary
  • 3 minute read

European countries have been slow to recognise the potential implications of Donald Trump returning to the White House in 2025. Over the next six months, they must figure out how to secure essential ammunition, bolster their defence funding, and sustain support for Ukraine in the absence of US aid

Depopulation blues: How immigration can counter emigration in the Balkans

  • Vessela Tcherneva, Alida Vračić
  • Commentary
  • 5 minute read

To tackle the political and economic challenges posed by shrinking populations, Balkan governments need to approach immigration as an opportunity, rethinking their policies and political messaging

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
Bulgaria could make a significant step towards the Eurozone and the land-based Schengen, but it might not. Insinuating half-baked affirmations doesn’t work for the country’s image
Vessela Tcherneva
Novanews 10 April 2024

Vessela Tcherneva on the land borders Schengen and the European Parliament elections

The possible outcome of the upcoming elections puts the European People’s Party in a very favourable position – for the first time, a right-wing bloc could have a majority in the European Parliament
Pawel Zerka
Jedynka Polskie Radio 10 April 2024

Paweł Zerka on the upcoming elections to the European Parliament

While the [CEE] region is an important motor of solidarity-building with Taiwan in Europe, relations with Taipei should neither be romanticized nor instrumentalized
Alicja Bachulska
China Observers in Central and Eastern Europe 10 April 2024

Alicja Bachulska on the relation of Central and Eastern Europe Countries with Taiwan

We, the Europeans, are used to talking a lot about our point of view, but little about empathizing with the resistance of Ukrainians
Teresa Coratella
Linkiesta 10 April 2024

Teresa Coratella on the conflict in Ukraine and the perception of it in Europe

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


The final nail: Niger’s break with the US

  • Will Brown
  • Policy Alert
  • 2 minute read

Trading bases: The Red Sea tinderbox and the maritime economy

  • Theodore Murphy
  • Commentary
  • 6 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


Aiding competition: The geopolitics of humanitarian aid and disaster relief in the Indo-Pacific

  • Mélissa Levaillant
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

Sunset of the economists

  • Mark Leonard
  • Commentary
  • 0 minute read

More on European Power

Energising eastern Europe: How the EU can enhance energy sovereignty through cooperation with Ukraine and Moldova

  • Szymon Kardaś
  • Policy Brief

Over the past two years, the EU has helped Ukraine and Moldova to diversify away from Russian fossil fuels. This has significantly strengthened their energy sovereignty – but improving the efficiency and cleanness of their energy sectors would bring further mutual benefits


Turning point or turning back: German defence policy after Zeitenwende

  • Jana Puglierin
  • Commentary
  • Note from Berlin
  • 4 minute read

Opening shots: What to make of the European Defence Industrial Strategy

  • Camille Grand
  • Policy Alert
  • 2 minute read

More on Middle East and North Africa

The Maghreb maze: Harmonising divergent European policies in North Africa

  • Anthony Dworkin
  • Policy Brief

The Maghreb policies of the four most influential EU member states are diverging – but this fragmentation hinders the EU’s long-term interests in the region


Aid with reform: How the EU-Egypt deal can succeed

  • Anthony Dworkin
  • Policy Alert
  • 2 minute read

On the brink: Why Europeans need to help save UNRWA from collapse

  • Kelly Petillo
  • Commentary
  • 5 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


Letter from Washington: Why we hate Trump

  • Jeremy Shapiro
  • Commentary
  • Views from the Capitals
  • 4 minute read

The Trump effect takes Europe

  • Mark Leonard
  • Commentary
  • 3 minute read

More on Wider Europe

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


Win big, lose bigger: Why Russia’s sham election result could become Putin’s mistake

  • Mikhail Komin
  • Commentary
  • 5 minute read

The women who could save Russia

  • Mikhail Komin, Ksenia Luchenko
  • Commentary
  • 6 minute read
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