The French president did more than anyone expected regarding Russia—but there's much more to be done.

Robert E. Hunter, a former U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, says Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili miscalculated by sending troops into South Ossetia in mid-August, but in the end, "Russia is the loser here."

Charles A. Kupchan, CFR's top Europe expert, says President Bush's farewell trip to Europe produced statements of friendship and partnership hard to imagine a few short years ago.

The President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, has pushed for his country to rejoin NATO's integrated military command in the hopes that it would help establish a capable European Security and Defense Policy. Ronja Kempin writes that this would only be possible if the French were to use their EU Presidency to link NATO and the EU by creating an operational civil-military EU planning and conduct capability closely linked to NATO's capacities.

A German institute for international and security affairs calls on the EU to re-examine the underlying purposes of EUFOR Chad/CAR and consider abandoning the entire operation.

The Treaty of Lisbon amended the EU's two core treaties, the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community. It was signed on December 13, 2007 and entered into force on December 1, 2009.

The EU’s moratorium on genetically modified foods has ended, but country-specific clashes and possible WTO sanctions still loom.

First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond, speaks about the Scotland's economic future.

Turkey’s new president seeks to reinvigorate his country’s efforts to gain EU membership, but major rifts appear to outweigh limited signs of progress.

Peter Mandelson, European commissioner for trade, discusses his views on the global economy and international trade, reflecting on current financial turbulence.

The peculiar resolution to an international standoff with Libya over detained foreign medics may have stemmed from Europe’s need for Libyan energy resources.

Steffen Angenendt of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs examines the debate on temporary labor migration in the EU.

An “open skies” agreement between Europe and America could shake up the airline industry and usher in a wave of mergers.

William Drozdiak, president of the independent American Council on Germany, says the White House meeting last week between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Bush indicates “they seem to have struck up a much more friendly rapport than what Bush had with her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder."

Germany’s U.S. ambassador says his country will use new leadership positions in both the European Union and the G8 to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and issues such as energy security with Russia.

Pope Benedict XVI makes his first visit to a majority Muslim state, Turkey, on November 28. The trip’s original aim was to build ties with Christian Orthodox leaders but the pope’s recent comments on faith, reason, and Islam—as well as Turkey’s EU accession—are likely to resonate throughout.

Steven A. Cook, CFR’s leading expert on Turkey, says the country is so preoccupied with issues of European Union membership, continuing problems over divided Cyprus, and the Kurdish issues that the pending visit of Pope Benedict XVI has not aroused much interest.

This paper from the German Marshall Fund of the United States looks at Germany’s evolving relationship with the European Union. Growing in stature and, at the same time, sacrificing some of its own interests for the European Union, Germany has guaranteed its fundamental interest: a peaceful co-existence with its neighbours. In the meantime, Germany was also the only state to possess a foreign policy outlook that was both pro-European and transatlantic. However, under the administration of Chancellor Schröder, the tone and substance of Germany's European Policy evolved in two ways. First, within Europe, the "national" or the "German" component was accentuated. Second, during the war in Iraq, Germany made a break with its traditional foreign policy when it stood by France in opposing the United States. The paper explores how this new German orientation will develop during the German presidency of the EU during the first six months of 2007.

A year into Ankara’s EU accession bid, the path to membership proves to be strewn with obstacles.