tailieunhanh - A PoWer AuDit of eu-North AfricA relAtioNs Nick Witney and Anthony Dworkin

Today it is Moscow that sets the pace for EU-Russia relations. The soaring prices of gas and oil have made energy-rich Russia more powerful, less cooperative and more intransigent. Oil money has boosted the state budget and has dramatically decreased the Russian state’s dependence on foreign funding. Russia’s hard currency reserves are the third largest in the world today; the country is running a huge current account surplus and paying off the last of the debts accumulated in the early 1990s. While in the 1990s everybody was talking about Russian dependence on Western credits, now everyone talks about Western dependence. | A POWER AUDIT OF EU-NORTH AFRICA RELATIONS Nick Witney and Anthony Dworkin EUROPEAN COUNCIL _ ON FOREIGN relations ABOUT ECFR The European Council on Foreign Relations ECFR is the first pan-European think-tank. Launched in October 2007 its objective is to conduct research and promote informed debate across Europe on the development of coherent effective and values-based European foreign policy. ECFR has developed a strategy with three distinctive elements that define its activities A pan-European Council. ECFR has brought together a distinguished Council of over one hundred and seventy Members - politicians decision makers thinkers and business people from the EU s member states and candidate countries - which meets once a year as a full body. Through geographical and thematic task forces members provide ECFR staff with advice and feedback on policy ideas and help with ECFR s activities within their own countries. The Council is chaired by Martti Ahtisaari Joschka Fischer and Mabel van Oranje. A physical presence in the main EU member states. ECFR uniquely among European think-tanks has offices in Berlin London Madrid Paris Rome Sofia and Warsaw. In the future ECFR plans to open an office in Brussels. Our offices are platforms for research debate advocacy and communications. A distinctive research and policy development process. ECFR has brought together a team of distinguished researchers and practitioners from all over Europe to advance its objectives through innovative projects with a pan-European focus. ECFR s activities include primary research publication of policy reports private meetings and public debates friends of ECFR gatherings in EU capitals and outreach to strategic media outlets. ECFR is backed by the Soros Foundations Network the Spanish foundation FRIDE La Fundacion para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior the Bulgarian Communitas Foundation the Italian UniCredit group the Stiftung Mercator and Steven Heinz. ECFR works in