European Council on Foreign Relations

European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR)
founding	2007
Seat	Berlin (headquarters), London , Madrid , Paris , Rome , Sofia , Warsaw
main emphasis	Foreign policy
Website	www.ecfr.eu

The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a think tank that provides analysis of European foreign policy issues and aims to advocate a more coherent and stronger European foreign and security policy . The ECFR was founded in 2007 by fifty prominent personalities from the EU , the USA and Turkey , including former heads of government and ministers, parliamentarians and intellectuals, who advocate a strong role for the EU in the world. As the first pan-European think tank, the ECFR has offices in seven European capitals - Berlin, London, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Sofia and Warsaw. The ECFR has no institutional link with the US Council on Foreign Relations .

Office in Berlin

The German office of the ECFR, based in Berlin, was founded in October 2007 and was represented by Ulrike Guérot until the end of September 2013 . The head of the ECFR Berlin office is Almut Möller and Josef Janning . The founding director of the ECFR, Mark Leonard, also spends a large part of his working time in Berlin. In 2018 the ECFR relocated its headquarters to Berlin.

The focus of work at the Berlin office is currently the program “Germany in Europe”, for which the anthology “Was denkt Deutschland” was created and in which the philosopher Jürgen Habermas also speaks with the contribution “A pact for or against Europe?” reported. The German office is a member of the European Movement Germany network .

Members

The fifty founding members (besides Mark Leonard ) are:

• Urban Ahlin , Swedish social democratic politician, vice chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Swedish Parliament
• Martti Ahtisaari , Finnish social democratic politician and diplomat, former Finnish President (1994–2000) and UN special envoy to Kosovo (from 2006)
• Giuliano Amato , Italian socialist politician, former Italian Prime Minister (1992–1993, 2000–2001) and head of the Amato group for the drafting of the EU Reform Treaty
• Hannes Androsch , Austrian social democratic politician
• Marek Belka , former Polish Prime Minister (2004–2005, non-party), Head of the UN Economic Commission for Europe
• Svetoslav Bojilov , founder of the Communitas Foundation
• Emma Bonino , Italian politician ( Radicali Italiani ) and former EU Commissioner for Consumer Protection and Humanitarian Aid (1995–1999)
• Robert Cooper , Director General for Foreign and Politico-Military Affairs at the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union and author on EU foreign policy
• Marta Dassù , advisor to the Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema , head of the Italian Aspen Institute
• Gijs de Vries , Dutch liberal politician, former EU anti-terrorism commissioner (2004-2007)
• Jean-Luc Dehaene , Belgian Christian Democrat politician, former Belgian Prime Minister (1992–1999), Vice-President of the European Convention (2004), Member of the European Parliament (since 2004)
• Gianfranco Dell'Alba , Italian politician (Partito Radicale), former member of the European Parliament (1994-2004)
• Andrew Duff , British Liberal Politician, Member of the European Convention (2004), MEP (since 1999)
• Sarmīte Ēlerte , editor of the Latvian daily newspaper Diena
• Brian Eno , British musician
• Joschka Fischer , German green politician, former German foreign minister (1998-2005)
• Timothy Garton Ash , British historian and writer, Professor of European Studies at the University of Oxford
• Bronislaw Geremek , Polish liberal politician, former Polish Foreign Minister (1997-2000), MEP (since 2004)
• Diego Hidalgo , co-founder of the Spanish daily El País , president of the Madrid think tank FRIDE
• Mary Kaldor , British Professor, Head of the Center for the Study of Global Governance at the London School of Economics
• Gerald Knaus , spokesman for the European Stability Initiative
• Caio Koch-Weser , German social democratic politician, lobbyist and member of the extended executive board of Deutsche Bank , former Vice President of the World Bank (1991–1999)
• Rem Koolhaas , Dutch architect
• Ivan Krastev , board member of the Bulgarian Center for Liberal Strategies
• Mart Laar , Estonian Conservative Politician, Former Estonian Prime Minister (1992–1994, 1999–2002)
• Adam Lury
• Alain Minc , French publicist, former chairman of the board of directors of the daily Le Monde
• Christine Ockrent , Belgian journalist
• Leoluca Orlando , Italian politician ( Italia dei Valori ), former mayor of Palermo (1985–2000) and MEP (1994–1999), Member of the Italian Parliament (since 2006)
• Cem Özdemir , former federal chairman of the Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen party , member of the European Parliament (2004–2009)
• Šimon Pánek , founder of the Czech relief organization People in Need
• Teresa Patrício Gouveia , Portuguese Conservative politician, former Foreign Minister (2004-2005)
• Chris Patten , British Conservative politician, last Governor General of Hong Kong (1992–1997) and former EU Foreign Commissioner (1999–2004)
• Diana Pinto , French historian
• Andrew Puddephatt , head of the Global Partners and Associates network
• Sigrid Rausing , founder of the philanthropic Sigrid Rausing Trust
• Albert Rohan , Austrian diplomat
• Pierre Schori , Swedish diplomat and social democratic politician, director general of the Madrid think tank FRIDE , former MEP (1999–2000)
• Narcís Serra , Spanish socialist politician, former Spanish deputy head of government (1991–1995)
• Elif Shafak , Turkish writer
• Aleksander Smolar , Polish publicist and political scientist
• George Soros , investment banker, financier of democratic opposition movements in Eastern Europe ( Soros Foundation )
• Dominique Strauss-Kahn , French socialist politician and former managing director of the International Monetary Fund (2007–2011)
• Helle Thorning-Schmidt , Danish social democratic politician and party leader, former MEP (1999-2004)
• Michiel van Hulten , Dutch social democratic politician, former MEP (1999-2004)
• Mabel von Orange-Nassau , International Advocacy Director of the Open Society Institute , wife of Prince Johan Friso of Orange-Nassau
• António Vitorino , Portuguese socialist politician, former MEP (1994-1995), Portuguese Minister of Defense (1995-1997) and EU Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs (1999-2004)
• Stephen Wall , former European advisor to Tony Blair
• Andre Wilkens , Head of the Competence Center for International Understanding at Stiftung Mercator .
• Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg , former German Federal Defense Minister

European Union Security 2018

In 2018, a study on threats to security in the European Union was published after 2008. In addition to the expected differences depending on the state, only the fear of financial instability had decreased in all countries. The top threats were Islamist terrorist groups, while international crime and the threat from Russia , which was not classified as a threat in only five countries (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Hungary and Cyprus) , came second .

Awards

The work of the ECFR has already received several awards. In the Global Go To Think Tanks Index Report published by the University of Pennsylvania in 2008 and 2009, the ECFR was named "Best New Think Tank Worldwide". In addition, Prospect magazine awarded him the title “best UK-based think tank of the year dealing with non-UK affairs” in 2010.

In a book about global think tanks, the go-to think tank ranking, Dr. James G. McGann about the ECFR: “With the pan-European approach, the ECFR succeeds in breaking away from the purely national perspective and thus finding recommendations and approaches that serve Europe as a whole. By taking into account all the actors involved, better results can be achieved in the long term than if the interests of a single state were the focus. "

financing

The ECFR is a private, not-for-profit organization financed by donations. It was founded with the support of George Soros ' Open Society Foundations , the Communitas Foundation and Fundación Para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior (FRIDE).

About half of the funding for the ECFR comes from foundations, a third from governments, and the rest from companies and individuals. Open Society Foundations are the main sponsor of the ECFR and use their grants to fund around a third (2017: £ 2,345,566) of the think tank's total revenue (2017: £ 7,278,122). Other donors are influential organizations mainly from Europe and the western world such as Stiftung Mercator (2017: £ 710,753 or ~ 10% of the total funding), European governments as well as Japanese , NATO , leading corporations such as Daimler AG and Microsoft and wealthy individuals .

criticism

Peace initiatives see the activities of the ECFR primarily as a campaign for the militarization and armament of the EU.

See also

• German Society for Foreign Policy
• Atlantik-Brücke e. V.
• Atlantic Initiative e. V.
• American Council on Germany
• Chatham House

Web links

• European Council on Foreign Relations (official website)
• Spongenberg, Helena: New EU foreign policy think tank created , EU Observer
• Naeckel, Regine: Think tanks - the secret governments? In the background. Media, power, manipulation. Issue 3/2009, pp. 14-16

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cameron Abadi: The European Council on Foreign Relations: New Think Tank Hopes to Put Europe Back on the Map . In: Spiegel Online . October 11, 2007 ( spiegel.de [accessed on May 13, 2018]).
2. ^ European Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved May 13, 2018 . 
3. ↑ Steinmeier calls for a more European perspective for Germany. Retrieved July 28, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from June 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ http://www.ecfr.eu/page/-/Habermas%20PDF.pdf
6. ↑ Hans Monath: Habermas wakes sleeping dogs . In: Der Tagesspiegel Online . April 7, 2011, ISSN  1865-2263 ( tagesspiegel.de [accessed May 13, 2018]).
7. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ Council , ecfr.eu
9. ↑ The Nightmare of The Dark: The Security Fears That Keep Europeans Awake at Night , ECFR,
10. ↑ Russia ranks second in the assessment of threats to the security of the European Union , Novaya Gazeta, July 15, 2018
11. ↑ James G. McGann: 2008 Global Go To Think Tanks Index Report. University of Pennsylvania, Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, 2008, accessed April 13, 2017 . 
12. ↑ James G. McGann: 2009 Global Go To Think Tanks Index Report. University of Pennsylvania, Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, 2009, accessed April 13, 2017 . 
13. ↑ TTCSP Global Go To Think Tank Index Reports | Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) | University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved May 13, 2018 . 
14. ↑ http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2010/11/think-tank-of-the-year-awards-the-winners/
15. ^ Sabatini McGann (2011). Global Think Tanks: Policy Networks and Governance. UK: Routledge.
16. ^ European Council on Foreign Relations .
17. ^ European Council on Foreign Relations .
18. ↑ European Council on Foreign Relations (Ed.): ECFR: Report and Consolidated Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 December 2017 . July 6, 2018, p. 17 ( [1] [PDF; accessed April 22, 2019]).
19. ↑ European Council on Foreign Relations (Ed.): ECFR: Report and Consolidated Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 December 2017 . July 6, 2018, p. 25 ( [2] [PDF; accessed April 22, 2019]).
20. ^ European Council on Foreign Relations .
21. ↑ Jürgen Wagner: The EU as an armaments driver: armament pressure, war chests and a military-industrial complex for the world power Europe. In: Information on Politics and Society No. 7, March 2012, p. 15 (PDF; 3.8 MB)
22. ↑ Gerald Oberansmayr: Austria en route to the military core Europe. In: FriedensForum 1/2009