In the absence of a credible hard power global role, the EU's real influence comes in the form of its market's ability to attract partners and thereby spread norms. With European growth projections looking bleak for the next few years, this trend is likely to become generalized, meaning that EU soft power is going to take an even greater hit than it has in the past year.

After months of delay, the creation of the European Union’s new diplomatic service took a significant step forward Monday, opening the way for it to start phasing in operations by autumn.

The Shanghai World Expo is "a perfect opportunity to build on and further strengthen the good relations" between the European Union and China, an EU official said Thursday. "The European Union is China's main economic partner and we have built a strategic partnership with the Chinese government over the years," Viviane Reding, vice president of the EU Commission, told Xinhua in an interview.

What we now have is a chaotic E.U. policy toward Russia, with some member states holding the others hostage. Surely it is time governments realized that medium- and long-term interests are better served by consistency rather than bilateralism.

An old debate among scholars and opinion makers on whether Turkey is sliding away from West towards East has again picked up speed, but this time with the open involvement of politicians in the West.

The “Barcelona Process” promoted by Nicolas Sarkozy to restart regional cooperation was bold. But the project is now reduced to a long series of hollow, self-referential conferences. Europe’s policy regarding the southern rim of the Mediterranean is again in stalemate.

For decades, the German-French relationship has been the most important one in the European Union. These days, however, Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy can hardly stand each other. Why can't they just get along?

Citizens of Belarus are largely uninterested in the EU, while sympathies in Ukraine are divided between Brussels and Moscow. By contrast, a large majority in Moldova would like to see a deepening of the country's relations with the Union, reveals a University of Aberystwyth survey seen exclusively by EurActiv.