Wider Europe

Mother Russia, Father Putin

Russia's foreign policy over the coming decade will bear the signature of Vladimir Putin, as Russia seeks new alliances and international clout. The price that Russia is likely to pay is international isolation  

Why enlargement-lite will not save the Arab Spring

The European Union has a vital role to play in helping consolidate the transitions of the Arab Spring. But first they need to rethink their approach and develop a new foreign policy for the Southern neighbourhood: Enlargement lite will not work.  

The Tymoshenko verdict

The EU's credibility is at stake over the sentencing of Yuliya Tymoshenko to seven years imprisonment. Unless there are signals from Kiev that the sentence will be reviewed or repealled, the EU must act.  

Same Putin, different Russia

It looks like Vladimir Putin is heading back towards the Russian presidency that he first took over in December 1999. Putin's politics have changed little since then, but Russia is now a very different place and the Russians themselves want very different things.  

Europe’s multipolar neighbourhood

The upheavels in North Africa are further evidence that the EU's neighbourhood has fundamentally changed, both to the south and to the east. In response, the EU needs to develop a real foreign policy to deal with this increasingly competitive region.  

The EU-Russia summit: what really matters?

The atmosphere between the EU and Russia has improved remarkably over the last couple of years; but – ahead of this week's summit with Russia – the EU is struggling to turn good atmospherics into tangible progress in areas that really matter.  

Scoring Europe’s Southern neighbourhood

European countries are playing a central role in the Libyan intervention, and the EU is looking to help the transitions in Tunisia and Egypt. But before Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire, setting off the sequence of protests, how well did Europe perform when dealing with its southern neighbourhood last year?

Europe as a world power – discuss

Agreement over Europe's performance is not the aim of ECFR's European Foreign Policy Scorecard. The aim is to encourage serious debate about the goals, tools, resources, difficult trade offs and moral dilemmas of Europe's foreign policy – even if that means that readers strongly disagree with our conclusions

Britain on Russia: Adrift in Europe

As Sergei Lavrov visits London, Britain needs to rethink its approach to Russia if it is to benefit from strong economic ties with Moscow. This need not mean that it has to compromise on its tough stance on human rights issues, provided it tries to push for a more united EU voice on Russia

Who needs the BBC World Service?

The announcement of cuts to BBC World Service language sections in the wider european neighbourhood is very bad news for strong, independent journalism in the region. But the development of new media technologies mean good journalism should no longer have to rely upon organisations like the BBC