To make things worse, Europe’s self-proclaimed soft-power leadership—which some observers praise as complementing U.S. hard power in a supposed informal division of labor—has reached its limits. Europeans failed to foresee and contain trouble in their own backyards, East and South alike.

Today, the EU has confirmed that it will support the wider region of the Horn of Africa with a total of €3 billion until 2020.

As long as nation-states have distinctly different levels of energy-dependent economic development, and their self-interests are so varied, there is really no basis for the mutuality of interest required for a meaningful treaty. 
 

On Wednesday, North Korea said Mr. Kim had personally ordered Mr. Fowle’s release after considering requests from President Obama. 

Turkey launched a new European Union communications strategy on Oct. 16 to repair its broken perception in the eyes of European citizens, prioritizing as targets countries that support Turkey’s accession process the least.

Cultural exchange and cooperation is an important part of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership. It plays an irreplaceable role in enhancing mutual understanding between people and in promoting the value of our relationship. At the 14th China-EU Summit in 2011, our leaders pointed out that cultural exchange is one of the three pillars of China- EU relations. 

In the last decade, the European Union has made China a priority of its international strategy. China's fast economic development and its growing importance in the global economy and politics put the country in the focus of the EU's interest. Differently to the US, though, Europe has intensified its educational links with China relatively recently.