Catherine Ashton will be judged on how she responds to her first international emergency, writes Richard Gowan
Richard Gowan paints a bleak picture of the Europe that might have emerged had the French and Dutch backed the EU constitution in 2005
Richard Gowan calls for more insightful analysis and less idle gossip in press coverage of EU attempts to forge a common foreign policy
Agony Uncle Richard Gowan responds to Europe's concerns that America is just not that into their relationship
The Afghan experience will leave Europe’s armed forces drained and in search of a new purpose. As Richard Gowan writes, insufficient political will and empty state coffers will hamper rejuvenation
The EU’s failure to agree on a military mission in Congo comes at a time of deepening mistrust within Africa of Europeans’ intentions, argues Richard Gowan
The handling of the EU’s military mission in the central African state of Chad holds vital lessons for the bloc’s future operations in Africa, as Richard Gowan writes
A year into the successful deployment of the – mostly European – peacekeeping force in Lebanon, there is growing speculation that EU countries may soon be playing a more active role elsewhere in the Middle East. Richard Gowan reports
From Kosovo to Bosnia, the EU is inextricably entwined in the future of the Balkans. But some in the region are growing more cynical about the prospect of membership, writes Richard Gowan