European Council on Foreign Relations

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European Council on Foreign Relations
Formation	2007-10-02
Type	Think tank
Headquarters	Berlin, London, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Sofia and Warsaw
Location	European Union
Membership	50
Website	www.ecfr.eu

This article is about the European Union organization. For the Washington State (USA) based fire department, see East County Fire & Rescue (ECFR).

The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a pan-European think tank which was launched by fifty prominent Europeans in October 2007 and is financed by billionaire and philanthropist George Soros, along with Sigrid Rausing, the Spanish foundation FRIDE, the Italian UniCredit Group, and the Bulgarian Communitas Foundation. Its goal is to provide strategic analysis on the European Union's foreign policy performance, and to promote a more coherent and vigorous European foreign and security policy.

ECFR's founding members include former European prime ministers, parliamentarians, and public intellectuals, committed to increasing the EU's role on the world stage. The initiative is headed by Mark Leonard, and has offices in five European capitals - Berlin, London, Madrid, Paris, and Sofia. In April 2008, 33 further prominent Europeans joined the Council. ECFR is not linked to the US-based Council on Foreign Relations.

The think-tank's reports include a "Power audit of EU-Russia relations" (November, 2007), and "Afghanistan: Europe's forgotten war" (January, 2008).

[edit] Members

The fifty founding members (aside from Leonard) are:

Urban Ahlin, Swedish social democrat. Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland and UN Special Envoy to Kosovo. Giuliano Amato, former Prime Minister of Italy who led the Amato Group on the Reform Treaty. Hannes Androsch Marek Belka, former Prime Minister of Poland. Svetoslav Bojilov Emma Bonino, Italian and European parliamentarian and European Commissioner. Robert Cooper, Director-General for External and Politico-Military Affairs at the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union and author on EU foreign policy. Marta Dassu Gijs de Vries, former EU anti-terrorism chief. Jean-Luc Dehaene, former Prime Minister of Belgium. Gianfranco Dell'Alba Andrew Duff, Leading Liberal MEP who sat on the European Convention. Sarmite Elerte Brian Eno, British musician. Joschka Fischer, former Foreign Minister of Germany. Timothy Garton Ash, author and renowned professor of European studies. Bronislaw Geremek, former Foreign Minister of Poland. Diego Hidalgo Mary Kaldor Gerald Knaus Caio Koch-Weser Rem Koolhaas, Dutch architect. Ivan Krastev Mart Laar, former Prime Minister of Estonia.

Adam Lury Alain Minc Christine Ockrent, Belgian journalist. Leoluca Orlando, Italian statesmen and MEP. Cem Özdemir, Green MEP. Simon Panek Teresa Patricio Gouveia Chris Patten, former External Relations Commissioner and Governor of Hong Kong. Diana Pinto Andrew Puddephatt Sigrid Rausing Albert Rohan Pierre Schori, Diplomat and MEP. Narcís Serra, Spanish statesmen. Elif Shafak, Franco-Turkish author. Aleksander Smolar George Soros, Financier to funded dissident movements in eastern Europe. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. Helle Thorning Schmidt, former MEP and leader of the Danish Social Democrats. Michiel Van Hulten Mabel Van Oranje Antonio Vitorino, Portuguese Minister and European Commissioner. Stephen Wall Andre Wilkens

[edit] See also

• Common Foreign and Security Policy
• Centre for European Reform
• Foreign Policy Centre
• European Century

[edit] External links

• European Council on Foreign Relations (Official website)
• Spongenberg, Helena (2007-10-03) New EU foreign policy think tank created, EU Observer
• A Power Audit of EU-Russia relations, ECFR Report, by Mark Leonard and Nicu Popescu
• Afghanistan: Europe's Forgotten War, ECFR Report by Daniel Korski
• Meeting Medvedev: The Politics of the Putin Succession, ECFR Policy Brief - by Andrew Wilson

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