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Hungary, which is due to replace Belgium at the EU helm on January 1st, has said that further consolidation and enlargement of the 27-nation bloc will be among the key priorities of its six-month chairmanship of the Union.

First of all, let me thank the organisers of this policy dialogue. I could not have thought of better timing for discussing the progress and prospects of EU enlargement. That is not only because the Commission's annual enlargement package was presented last week. Even more so, it is because the Lisbon Treaty will – let's assume so – enter into force soon and enhance the EU's role in foreign policy. This is the right time to discuss a key main tool of the common foreign and security policy, EU enlargement.

Ireland's Green Party, the junior partner in the country's governing coalition with centre-right Fianna Fail, has announced it is to pull the plug on the alliance, calling on the government to announce elections in January.

However, despite misgivings, most party members were won to the side of sticking with the coalition by the party leadership's argument that it would be better to stay in and deliver on some of the party's policy hopes than be outside. In a vote over backing an agreement for government with Fianna Fail, 85 percent of members endorsed the party leadership's strategy. The leading opposition parties, the centre-right Fine Gael and centre-left Labour - on track to form a coalition after any election - offer a virtually identical response to the crisis to the government. On Monday afternoon, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny made a fresh call for immediate elections.

The question of whether, and if so, how the European Court of Justice influences European integration has been a matter of long-standing academic dispute. Several more recent empirical studies have shown that the Court influences the integration path, but scholars have also documented that member states can successfully limit the practical relevance of activist Court decisions. Drawing on this literature, this paper argues that the Court eventually impacts integration in salient policy fields effectively when the legislator incorporates judicial considerations in the policy-making process. The theoretical section conceptualizes the leverage of the Court in the legislation process and the empirical section elucidates how the judiciary shaped legislation in the development of exchange students' social rights. Findings show that the Court can successfully promote distinct legislative outcomes.

The European Commission's communication strategy is undergoing structural change in a re-branding centred on President José Manuel Barroso, increased centralisation of public communications, a new organisational chart and a key reshuffle of top officials, a person close to the matter told EurActiv.

'Personalisation' of EU politics The credibility and the success of the EU project "can work only if the Commission is perceived as the EU's government". "We can achieve this by centreing our communication on the figure of the president," the person close to the matter told EurActiv, adding that the new strategy will be geared towards greater "personalisation".

The European Parliament on Wednesday (20 October) adopted by a crushing majority new budgetary and staff regulations for the European External Action Service (EEAS), clearing the last legal hurdle for the launch of the new institution. "It's a historic vote. We're all one happy family now," an official in the entourage of EEAS chief Catherine Ashton told EUobserver.

Ms Ashton is also close to a compromise with the parliament's foreign affairs committee on hearings for new EEAS ambassadors. The diplomats are likely to face parliament questions in early December, after receiving full accreditation from their host countries. Ms Ashton wants the hearings to be held for the most part behind closed doors. Following the vote on Wednesday, the foreign affairs MEPs have little leverage to use against her. Details of the parliament vote on three separate EEAS reports saw the compromise deal get through by over 500 votes in each case against no more than 51. The budget-and-staff package envisages detailed parliamentary oversight on EEAS hiring and firing of diplomats in foreign missions but not on EU member states' spending of the €3-billion-a-year European Development Fund or on military missions. It stipulates an "appropriate and meaningful presence of nationals from all the member states" but not quota-type targets for nationals from new EU countries, as called for by Polish centre-right MEP Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, who tried to put a positive spin on developments in an emailed statement on the day.

In the presence of a smiling Catherine Ashton, the European Parliament yesterday (20 October) approved by an overwhelming majority the last three legislative texts required to launch the European External Action Service (EEAS) on 1 December 2010, the day of the first anniversary of the Lisbon Treaty.

The Parliament in Strasbourg passed the Staff Regulation, the Financial Regulation and the EEAS 2010 budget, clearing the way for High Representative Catherine Ashton to appoint the senior managerial team of the new EU diplomatic service. The appointment of the dozen high officials is expected to facilitate the selection of candidates for some 80 middle-management positions, which are also up for grabs in a first wave of recruitment. However, the selection process so far has left a bitter after-taste, with many capitals strongly pushing for their candidates in the hope of gaining influence in the new body from the first day. When fully operational, the EEAS is expected to provide attractive employment to some 6,000 people worldwide. The ambassador of a member country, who asked not to be named, told EurActiv the EEAS was becoming "the home of the high-flying protégés of governments in power".

Serbia has capacity to precisely and in detail answer the EC questionnaire, EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele has assessed. Stefan Fuele (Beta, file) He told Belgrade-based daily Večernje novosti that the questionnaire, which should be sent to Serbia in late November, would cover the entire EU policy. Fuele said that the EC would like to submit its unbiased analysis on Serbia’s readiness to begin accession negotiations in the second half of 2011. “The questionnaire will be very similar to the one which was sent to Montenegrin and Albanian authorities as a part of preparations for EC opinion for these two countries. Some questions will be specific for Serbia and its reality,” the EU enlargement commissioner explained.

Hague cooperation – key condition for EU When asked if Serbia’s cooperation with the Hague Tribunal could disrupt the deadlines, bearing in mind that the EC opinion is a technical and not a political issue, Fuele said that the EC Council of Ministers had pointed out at the meeting on October 25 that both Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) and Interim Trade Agreement had demanded Serbia’s full cooperation with the Hague Tribunal.