Nicu Popescu, PhD, is senior research fellow and head of the European Council on Foreign Relations’ programme on Russia and Wider Europe. His book on ‘EU Foreign Policy and post-Soviet Conflicts‘ was published last December.

Throughout 2010 Nicu served as senior advisor on foreign policy and European integration to the Prime-Minister of Moldova. Before joining ECFR in 2007, Nicu was research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels (2005-2007) and visiting fellow at the EU Institute for Security Studies in Paris (2005). Nicu holds a doctorate in International Relations from the Central European University in Budapest (Hungary).

Nicu also has a blog in Romanian.

Some of his recent publications include:

“The Limits of Enlargement-lite: European and Russian Power in the Troubled Neighbourhood“, ECFR Report, June 2009.

“A Power Audit of EU-Russia Relations“, co-authored with Mark Leonard, Policy Paper 1, European Council on Foreign Relations, November 2007.

“Europe’s Unrecognised Neighbours: The EU in Abkhazia and South Ossetia“, CEPS Working Document 260, 15 March 2007, Brussels.

“Russia’s Soft Power Ambitions“, CEPS Policy Brief 115, 27 October 2006, Brussels.

“Outsourcing De Facto Statehood: Russia and the Secessionist Entities in Georgia and Moldova“, CEPS Policy Brief 109, 20 July 2006.