Poland's minister of foreign affairs speaks with Foreign Affairs about his country's history, its future, and its place in Europe.

"Spain used to be the poster child for the benefits of the European project. It now risks becoming a symbol of everything that has gone wrong," writes Gideon Rachman.

The debt crisis that has hammered southern Europe since 2010 will have long-lived economic effects, despite the moderation in Spanish and Italian government borrowing costs since the European Central Bank's "Outright Monetary Transactions" initiative last September.

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Eurozone finance ministers gave this statement on March 25, 2013, upon reaching a deal to provide ten billion euros to prevent bankruptcy in the Cyprus's banking system.

The EU and IMF should loosen the austerity requirements of Greece's bailout package to allow the indebted country to implement needed growth-enhancing policies, says former prime minister George Papandreou.

Once fear reaches a critical mass, people will act, and then a bank run becomes a self-perpetuating process. There has been a lot of complacency about the eurozone crisis in the past eight months.

Should a functioning government fail to emerge in Italy, the eurozone could soon find itself engulfed in another round of expensive and controversial bailouts, says CFR's Charles Kupchan.

U.S. and EU policymakers see multiple signs for a free-trade deal that could stimulate halting economies on both sides of the Atlantic and spur global talks, says expert Jeffrey Schott.

Germany's Bundesbank remains an influential actor in eurozone policymaking, and its recent disagreements with the ECB raise concerns about managing the zone's debt crisis. This Backgrounder explains.

British Prime Minister Cameron gave these remarks at Bloomberg in London on January 23, 2013. He discussed his view of the future of the European Union and his plans to hold a referendum on the United Kingdom's membership.

Prime Minister David Cameron, weakened domestically, must try to affirm Britain's future in the EU without being entangled in new moves toward EU integration, says Chatham House's Robin Niblett.

EU leaders at this week's summit are expected to advance a banking union crucial to restoring confidence in the eurozone, but its full implementation is a long way off, says CFR's Robert Kahn.

Charles A. Kupchan argues that David Cameron's changes to Britain's relationship with the European Union run the risk of a British exit from the union and a weakening of Britain's role as a bridge between the United States and Europe.

Acrimony among European leaders regarding a new EU budget is indicative of larger challenges the union faces in facilitating further economic integration, says CFR's Sebastian Mallaby.

The eurozone crisis has consequences far beyond the continent's economic performance, such as the EU's ability to forge coherent defense and foreign policy.

Nancy Brinker, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Susan G. Komen for the Cure interviews Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Janos Martonyi on the state of the European Union today.

The EU's Nobel Peace Prize selection comes as the bloc struggles to resolve its debt crisis. Nevertheless, the EU represents one of the great peacemaking accomplishments of the modern era.

Reuters details the negotiations that led from ECB President Mario Draghi's late-July speech to his recent announcement that the ECB stood ready to buy "unlimited" amounts of bonds by the most troubled euro members.

Amartya Sen writes: "Europe has been extraordinarily important for the world, which has learned so much from it. It can remain globally important by setting its own house in order--economically, politically, and socially. The first step is to understand properly, with some clarity, the policy challenges that Europe faces today. A failure to do so will reverberate far beyond Europe's own borders."

The financial and political crisis facing Europe can only be redressed with further eurozone integration that the continent's publics may not be ready for, says CFR's Charles A. Kupchan.