The upcoming Swedish EU presidency is the real reason behind the cancellation, rather than the context of the European elections, according to Le Figaro journalist Pierre Rousseiln.

Discussions focused on NATO’s post-summit agenda, including the upcoming update of the Alliance Strategic Concept, relations with Russia and new security challenges facing Allies.

Current stocks in the Ukraine will be too low to ensure normal flows of Russian gas to Europe this coming winter, Moscow warned yesterday (26 May), saying disruptions could occur if Kiev does not find the money to replenish reserves.

Iceland's government submitted a proposal to parliament on 25 May to authorise the start of negotiations for membership of the European Union. Analysts say the country's accession talks could be finished in 12 months.

The EU could be prepared to pay Ukraine for use of its gas storage facilities instead of building new ones itself but only if Kiev cleans up its energy sector.

The North Atlantic Council strongly condemns the announced North Korean (DPRK) nuclear and ballistic missile tests on 25 May 2009.

Originally billed as an uneventful meeting on technical issues such as trade tariffs, the EU-Russia summit in the Far East on Friday (22 May) ended in open disagreement over foreign policy and energy security.

Ruling parties in some of the EU's biggest member states are coming under heavy fire in EU election campaigns, giving eurosceptic groups a chance to grab attention.

EU envoys at a summit in the Russian Far East on Thursday (21 May) and Friday will voice worries over energy security and trade tariffs, but expect to come home with little by way of concrete agreements.

When asked about the 4-7 June poll, 18 percent of the respondents said they were "not at all interested" in it, while 35 percent said they were "rather not interested," a TNS Opinion study for the French Political Innovation Foundation released on Monday

Belgian town of La Hulpe May 8 as Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (ACT) released the Final Report on its Multiple Futures Project (MFP) at a conference there.

Some 350,000 people marched through the streets of Berlin, Brussels, Madrid and Prague, with smaller demonstrations elsewhere, including Birmingham and Bucharest, according to figures from the European Trade Union Confederation.

EU budget commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite has won the presidential elections in Lithuania with an overwhelming majority, becoming the first female head of state as the country struggles through its worst economic recession since the early 1990s.

The YouGov poll, details of which were published today (15 May) by The Sun, put Labour at 22 percent, the Conservatives on 41 percent and the Liberal Democrats on 19 percent. The question asked is how people would vote in a general election.

Eurojust, on Wednesday tried to distance itself from a scandal involving its head, Jose da Mota, who allegedly put pressure on prosecutors in order to stop a corruption probe involving Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates.

During the address, he also announced new measures to cut public spending and increase tax revenues as Spain, like many others EU member states, struggles to contain its burgeoning budget deficit.

The new prime minister of the Czech Republic, Jan Fischer, sought to allay concerns on Tuesday (12 May) about his country's helmsmanship of the EU, saying the successful completion of his country's EU presidency was "priority number one."

NATO's Defence Planning Committee has agreed to appoint Admiral James G. Stavridis, United States Navy to succeed General Craddock as Supreme Allied Commander, Europe.

Ukraine's Interior Minister Yury Lutsenko has submitted his resignation to parliament in the wake of a drunken conflict with security officers at Frankfurt am Main airport on Wednesday, May 6.

The Secretary General visited the Western Balkans on 7 and 8 May. He first travelled to Croatia and Slovenia, before making its way to Albania and the the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on 8 May.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was too busy receiving a report on equal rights, Italy's Mr Berlusconi was dealing with his divorce and Spain was embroiled in talks on unemployment. The UK gave no reason for not attending.

This is the first of three meetings per year for the NATO Chiefs of Defence, NATO’s highest military authority.

Last minute tweaks to the Eastern Partnership summit declaration reveal EU unease over enlargement and immigration, as well as the complexities of old conflicts on the union's eastern frontier.

Vaclav Klaus previously indicated he would not sign it no matter what the outcome of the parliamentary votes.

"The establishment is terrified of Libertas," said Declan Ganley.

Mr Brown is "firmly committed" to the project despite his absence, the British embassy to the EU told EUobserver, while Mr Zapatero is too busy with a special meeting on unemployment, the Spanish mission said.

The latest EU-Russia summit, which took place last week in the Russian Far East, made clear that the two sides have yet another topic that they fail to see eye-to-eye on. Along with energy and trade policy, Georgia and human rights - to name just a few -

Unrepentant and newly unbridled, former vice president Richard B. Cheney has embraced two missions in his political retirement: to forcefully defend the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies and to publicly condemn those who would unravel them.

We may be about to discover what happens when a traditionally poor country returns to poverty without its culture.

A new survey released by the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday (14 May) suggests the euro area economy will contract by twice as much this year as previously predicted, dampening recent talk of the green shoots of recovery and an end to the recessio