The EU and its six former-Communist neighbours are to pledge support for democracy and open markets at a summit in Prague on 7 May, according to a draft declaration.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on Tuesday (28 April) that the crisis had offered up firm evidence that economic governance was needed at the EU level, long a position of the French government as well.

Poland is eyeing the presidency of the European Parliament for former premier Jerzy Buzek, but Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi would like to see the position filled by one of his countrymen, Mario Mauro, a history teacher elected to the chamber o

The British Conservatives on Monday (28 June) raised the political stakes ahead of the June European elections by making a referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty one of the central themes of their campaign.

According to Balázs, for big member states, the problem with the EU is that its small members get a disproportionate opportunity to speak and influence the debate, "with no regard for their size".

But in a twist on expectations, voters also sent to the Althingi, the Icelandic parliament, a majority of deputies in favour of an immediate application for membership in the European Union.

Energy, trade, investment and security will be at the heart of EU-Russia partnership negotiations.

The European Parliament has approved a watered-down version of an energy package aimed at further liberalising the bloc's electricity and gas markets, while strengthening consumer rights.

The International Monetary Fund has warned that governments must take decisive action to deal with deteriorating banking assets and that global writedowns for the financial crisis could total ?3,170 billion ($4,100bn) by the end of 2010.

The structural reforms Croatia still needs to carry out are more likely to hold up its EU membership bid than the current border dispute with Slovenia, a senior EU official has warned.

Speaking on Monday (20 April) at the opening of an annual diplomatic conference in Brussels, Karel de Gucht said Belgium would make full use of its presidency in the second half of 2010 to re-establish the EU institutional balance, which he said was in "d

Russia has floated plans for a new global treaty on trade in fossil and nuclear fuel in an attempt to consign to history an earlier pact, the 1991 Energy Charter Treaty.

Nicholas Sarkozy, the talkative and not infrequently tactless French president, has once again been robustly, awkwardly blunt.

The Czech EU presidency has indicated it might invite representatives at the level of foreign minister or lower to meet the 27 EU leaders, in order to avoid giving an excessive air of legitimacy to governments that stand accused of human rights abuses.

The new information suggests that in December 2001, Poland designated 20 secret service agents to help in Washington's new war on terror and leased part of a military base in Stare Kiejkuty in the northwest of the country to the US.

The new Prime Minister faces a relentless opposition, poor approval ratings and lingering public criticism over a past business failure. He takes over an economy expected to contract 6% this year and is kept afloat by a $25.1 billion IMF-led lifeline.

With European Parliament elections fast approaching, EU citizens are less interested in the poll than ever before in a situation that could see the abstention rate across the bloc hit a record 66 percent.

On 8-9 April, NATO Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, accompanied by NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, General James Mattis, visited Iraq.

The deal also appears to allow eurosceptic President Václav Klaus to chair the June EU summit, where Ireland is expected to report on plans to hold a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

Demonstrators showed up in far smaller numbers than projected by the opposition, who counted on some 150,000 people. According to independent European experts, the crowd was estimated at 53,000, while the government floated the figure 25,000.

The EU on Tuesday (7 April) expressed concern over the riots in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, where protesters stormed the parliament and the presidential palace denouncing Sunday's Communist election victory and claiming the elections were fraudulent.

"I have been working hand-in-hand with President Obama but when it comes to the European Union it's up to member states of the European Union to decide," Sarkozy told France's TF1 TV station from Prague.

At their Summit meeting in Strasbourg NATO leaders re-affirmed the principle of indivisibility of Allied security, the commitment to transatlantic solidarity and the common goal of a Europe that is whole and free.

World leaders mixed hubris and humility on Thursday evening (2 April) as they sought to highlight the achievements of the G20 meeting of industrial nations, while admitting much still needs to be done to restore the world's economy.

On an overcast morning, the president and first lady Michelle Obama landed in France after two days in London. A

'In becoming NATO members, Albania and Croatia share the benefits and responsibilities of collective security'.

"We have been through a dark and painful chapter in our history," President Obama said when he ordered the release of the Justice Department interrogation memos. Actually, no. Not at all.

As US President Barack Obama marks his 100th day in office on Wednesday, several blanks in his policies towards eastern Europe and Russia still need to be filled, experts on transatlantic affairs told.

As for the European elections, people would vote if there was a political choice. It is strongly criticised the fact that the political classes had not come up with an alternative candidate to the present Commission president.

The Obama administration backs the EU's newest policy towards its eastern neighbours, especially the bloc's bid to reduce its energy dependency on Russia, a senior US diplomat told EUobserver.

Issued by the Heads of State and Government participating in the meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Strasbourg / Kehl on 4 April 2009

European, US and Canadian leaders were set to meet on Friday for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's 60th anniversary summit in Strasbourg.

The eve of formal G20 discussions due to be held in London's Excel Centre in the east docklands area was marked by competing press conferences between old alliances.