A fundamental shift in interests and outlook is leaving the United States and Germany with potentially irreconcilable differences. This widening divide between Berlin and Washington may threaten the entire Western alliance.
The outcome of the uprisings in North Africa is still in the balance and although it will be mainly up to the North Africans themselves to decide their future, Europe has a key role to play on the side of reform – especially Paris, Rome and Madrid.
The Brussels visit of Egypt’s first democratically elected president Mohammed Morsi is a striking reminder of the changes that have swept the Arab world in the last 18 months. Europe should not miss a historic opportunity to rebuild relations with the most important country in the region.
Can France still afford to have its own 'China policy'? Historically France has been struggling to build a balanced political and economic relationship with China. But a more effective French 'China policy' will also require more European cooperation.
With Russia due to play a central role in multilateral institutions over the next two years, its obstructionism over Syria does not bode well. However Europeans may find – to their benefit – that it is actually China that calls the shots on the international stage.
Four years after Barack Obama's landmark speech in front of a crowd of 200,000 in Berlin, the transatlantic alliance is fading fast. What went wrong?
If the EU has any real aspiration to be a normative power it must rethink its 'strategic partnerships' with the world's other powers, reflecting the importance of values like democracy, rather than ignoring them.
Putting the promotion of human rights at the centre of the EU's foreign policy is something I have focused on since I took up office. But to champion the kind of people that deserve our support requires that the EU overcome two key challenges, each one of which can undermine the struggle to build a better world.
This week the EU revealed its new human rights strategy, an ambitious plan to 'place human rights at the centre of its relations with all third countries'. The key challenge will be to develop realistic objectives and a clear vision how to achieve them without repeating mistakes of the past.
Europeans are strongly in favor of global governance when it is a process they inflict on others, but they are not so keen when others comment on Europe’s affairs. So, is Europe losing its religion on multilateralism?