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European Council on Foreign Relations

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    • 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
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Highlights

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Latest

Alone we stand: How Europe can counter hybrid threats in a post-transatlantic era

  • Jonathan Nelson, Irene Sánchez

The paradox of intervention: How US strikes in Yemen empowered the Houthis

  • Maysaa Shujaa Aldeen

Featured

Too clean to compete: Why strict standards keep Europeans out of African minerals

  • Theophilus Acheampong, Sarah Logan
  • Policy Brief

The EU’s high ESG standards are strangling investment in Africa’s mining sector. A phased, realistic approach could unlock much-needed resources

Pieces in motion: Rebalancing power in a new Levantine order

  • Julien Barnes-Dacey, Ellie Geranmayeh, Hugh Lovatt
  • Policy Brief

How Europe can use the current moment of flux in the Middle East to help stabilise Iraq, Lebanon and Syria

Anatomy of a chokepoint: Mapping power and conflict in the Red Sea

  • Camille Lons
  • Special

This ECFR project maps the Red Sea region as a nexus of conflict, regional rivalries and global power plays. To address the risks of this instability, Europeans need to develop a more comprehensive approach

MAGA goes global: Trump’s plan for Europe

  • Célia Belin
  • Policy Brief

Form exists in the frenzy of Donald Trump’s first months back in power. His foreign policy is his domestic agenda exported—and that is bad news for Europe

Upcoming events

27 May

Europe’s critical minerals dilemma: Between ESG ideals and strategic reality

  • 27 May 2025
  • Online

Recent events

6 May

No brain, no brawn: How Trump 2.0 makes an EU Economic Security Network essential

  • 6 May 2025
  • Online
31 Mar

Rewiring alliances: Africa-Europe-Gulf relations amid geopolitical turmoil

  • 31 March 2025
  • Online

Mark Leonard's World in 30 minutes

Truce or trap: Decoding the US-China trade pause

  • Podcast
  • Mark Leonard's World in 30 minutes

Mark Leonard welcomes Janka Oertel to unpack the US-China trade de-escalation and its implications for Europe

Listen

Mark Leonard's World in 30 minutes

Erdogan’s crackdown: Turkey and the fight for democracy

  • Podcast
  • Mark Leonard's World in 30 minutes

Mark Leonard welcomes Aslı Aydıntaşbaş to unpack the recent political upheaval in Turkey and its broader geopolitical implications

Listen

Views from the Council

Reasons to be optimistic: European strengths in the global financial landscape

  • Kalin Anev Janse
  • Commentary
  • View from the Council
  • 3 minute read

Investors are demonstrating confidence in the European approach embodied in flagship initiatives from the EU

Untying the Hungarian knot: Why the EU might stop spoiling the spoiler state

  • Tibor Dessewffy
  • Commentary
  • View from the Council
  • 4 minute read

Orban’s latest defiance of EU values—the banning of Pride—comes as Hungary’s economy flails, the opposition gains, and Washington will no longer oppose. It could be the push the EU needs to figure out how to work around Budapest

In the Media - Council

Carl Bildt
CNN 13 February 2025

Carl Bildt on Ukraine imposed sanctions on former president and opposition politician Petro Poroshenko

Dagens Nyheter 3 February 2025

Mark Leonard, Ivan Krastev, and Timothy Garton Ash on ECFR’s latest global survey

The Irish Times 26 January 2025

Mark Leonard, Ivan Krastev, and Timothy Garton Ash on ECFR’s latest global survey

RTBF 21 January 2025

Mark Leonard, Timothy Garton Ash and Ivan Krastev on ECFR’s latest global survey on Trump’s return to the White House

Featured and flagship projects

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

Transatlantic twilight: European public opinion and the long shadow of Trump

  • Jana Puglierin, Arturo Varvelli, Pawel Zerka

Re:Engage

This project helps the EU in refining its foreign policy, re-engaging neighbours post-Russia's invasion of Ukraine to bolster regional resilience and advance enlargement policies.

Featured

The interest of values: The EU’s democracy promotion in the Western Balkans and the eastern neighbourhood

  • Piotr Buras, Marie Dumoulin, Tefta Kelmendi, Marlene Marx

Re:Order

Re:Order project explores emerging visions of the global order, as well as the interplay between economic might and geopolitical influence.

Featured

Re:Order: The world after the West | podcast series

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Discover our newsletters

Latest

Alone we stand: How Europe can counter hybrid threats in a post-transatlantic era

  • Jonathan Nelson, Irene Sánchez
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

The US is retreating from its history of shared threat recognition and multilateral engagement with Europe. Now the EU must confront Russia’s intensifying hybrid aggression alone—while bolstering its own resilience

The paradox of intervention: How US strikes in Yemen empowered the Houthis

  • Maysaa Shujaa Aldeen
  • Commentary
  • 6 minute read

The United States has now ended its campaign of airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthi movement, having achieved little military success and instead playing into Houthi attempts to consolidate domestic control

North-south aligned: Why Italy should join the Three Seas Initiative

  • Teresa Coratella
  • Commentary
  • 3 minute read

Giorgia Meloni needs to make Italy’s geopolitical role in Europe more definitive. Rome should welcome cross-border collaboration and greater regional integration through projects such as the Three Seas Initiative

Reasons to be optimistic: European strengths in the global financial landscape

  • Kalin Anev Janse
  • Commentary
  • View from the Council
  • 3 minute read

Investors are demonstrating confidence in the European approach embodied in flagship initiatives from the EU

Escalation in South Asia: Europe’s core interests amid crisis between India and Pakistan

  • James Crabtree, Janka Oertel
  • Policy Alert
  • 2 minute read

This week, tensions between India and Pakistan have led to direct combat and fatalities. As the confrontation escalates, Europeans will likely have to take clear sides and re-assess the role of Chinese military technology in future wars—which could be much closer to home

The bully’s pulpit: Finding patterns in Trump’s use of military force

  • Jeremy Shapiro
  • Commentary
  • 5 minute read

Over two presidential terms, Donald Trump has used threats to intimidate his adversaries and mostly only employed force against his weaker victims. This pattern of bullying provides an insight into his future decision-making

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
Julien Barnes-Dacey
Der Tagesspiegel 13 May 2025

Julien Barnes-Dacey on US President Donald Trump’s first planned trip abroad to Saudi Arabia

Célia Belin
Formiche 13 May 2025

The Policy Brief “Maga goes global: Trump’s plan for Europe” has been mentioned by the news outlet “Formiche”

Teresa Coratella
Rai Radio 3 13 May 2025

Teresa Coratella on the consequences of the Romanian elections for the EU

Corrado Čok
Rai Radio 3 13 May 2025

Corrado Cok on the implications of Trump’s foreign policy for the Middle East and Saudi Arabia

Janka Oertel
BBC 12 May 2025

Janka Oertel on US-China relations

Emily Tasinato
DW 12 May 2025

Emily Tasinato on Trump in the middle east

More on Africa

React, rinse, repeat: How Europe can help break Somalia’s cycle of conflict

  • Corrado Čok
  • Policy Brief

Al-Shabab is regaining strength in Somalia amid obstacles with the latest peacekeeping mission—just as external partners seek to move away from costly interventions. But there is a path forward


Back from the brink: How European support could prevent another Ethiopia-Eritrea war

  • Corrado Čok
  • Commentary
  • 6 minute read

The other counter-offensive: Ukraine’s diplomatic push in Africa

  • Suzanne Tisserand
  • Commentary
  • 5 minute read

More on Asia

Multi-Pole-arity: How Poland can help Europe think big on China

  • Alicja Bachulska
  • Policy Brief

Beijing’s economic policies are threatening European competitiveness and economic security at a time when Europe cannot afford to be vulnerable. Poland can use its growing leadership role in the EU to help guide the bloc’s response


No time to drift: Trump, China, and the urgency of a stronger EU-Japan alignment

  • Elli-Katharina Pohlkamp
  • Commentary
  • 5 minute read

Taiwan’s balancing act: Keeping the US in, China out, and domestic technology superior

  • Camille Grand, Janka Oertel, Jana Puglierin
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

More on European Power

Strength in members: How to rally EU enlargement for defence

  • Gustav Gressel, Nicu Popescu
  • Policy Brief

The EU’s accession process ignores defence while NATO cannot cover all the candidates. Tailored defence cooperation roadmaps offer a promising path to protect Europe’s periphery without NATO membership


Questions of sovereignty: Canada’s relations with Europe after the general election

  • Joanna Hosa
  • Policy Alert
  • 2 minute read

Chips on the menu: How the EU can get its act together on semiconductors

  • Chiara Malaponti
  • Commentary
  • 3 minute read

More on Middle East and North Africa

The bear who came to tea: Russia, Libya and the Kremlin’s playbook for fragile states

  • Tarek Megerisi
  • Policy Brief

Russia’s re-entrenchment in Libya, Europe’s soft underbelly, offers profound lessons on how it exploits geopolitical instability—and how Europeans can push back


Israeli strikes have reignited Gaza—now Europeans must take action

  • Hugh Lovatt, Muhammad Shehada
  • Policy Alert
  • 2 minute read

The road ahead: Six ways Europeans can urgently support a stable Syria

  • Julien Barnes-Dacey
  • Commentary
  • 6 minute read

More on United States

The Orbanisation of America: Hungary’s lessons for Donald Trump

  • Jeremy Shapiro, Zsuzsanna Végh
  • Policy Brief

If Trump wins the US presidency, Republicans will likely adapt techniques refined in Viktor Orban’s Hungary as they return to power – with profound implications for both America and Europe


Cards on the table: Why the EU should negotiate Trump’s tariffs in three phases

  • Tobias Gehrke
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

When culture war and trade war clash: Trump’s troubled alliance with Europe’s far right

  • Jeremy Shapiro, Zsuzsanna Végh
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

More on Wider Europe

Bridging the Bosphorus: How Europe and Turkey can turn tiffs into tactics in the Black Sea

  • Mustafa Aydin, Aslı Aydıntaşbaş
  • Policy Brief

After years of bickering, Europe and Turkey need each other more than ever. A security partnership in the Black Sea could be the first step toward a pragmatic, if uneasy, alliance to contain Russia


No easy choices: How Europe can write a new chapter with Turkey

  • Maria Simeonova
  • Commentary
  • 4 minute read

Why a Ukraine peacekeeping force could become a trap for Europe

  • Kirill Shamiev
  • Commentary
  • 5 minute read
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