European Commission President José Manuel Barroso will lead a high-level EU delegation to China tomorrow (29 April) ahead the inauguration on Saturday of a pavilion showcasing the European Union at the Shanghai World Expo.

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has announced that the European Commission will entrust three personalities...to come up with recommendations on how best to speed up the digitisation, online accessibility and preservation of cultural works across Europe.

If further proof were needed that the Labour Party has all but abandoned the Special Relationship, look no further than their new manifesto, which doesn't even mention the partnership with America, except for a brief throwaway reference to a "false choice" between the US and Europe.

EU diplomats told EurActiv that the recent presidential elections in Ukraine had provided a "great opportunity" to test the European Union's "soft power" in pushing neighbouring countries to reform, taking Brussels as a model.

While few see any evidence of an actual rivalry between the two sides, it's possible that the combined damage to the relationship caused by the 2003 Iraq War and then the global financial crisis in 2008 has altered the way the major players view each other.

If our big bet in Europe is that speaking with one voice will make our norms-based, soft power approach work, what lessons should we draw when Mr Obama's outstretched hand of friendship is smacked away?

I recently returned from the Middle East where I was part of a three week Arab & American Business Fellowship.