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Almost two years after adopting ambitious green goals, a year after signing the new Lisbon Treaty and some sixteen months after the first signs of the financial crisis, EU leaders are meeting in Brussels on Thursday (11 December) to write a new chapter in the three long-running dossiers.

But it will be his Irish colleague, Prime Minister Brian Cowen to open the show by presenting Dublin's analysis on why the Irish voters rejected the EU's reform treaty in the June referendum and what can be done to rescue its ratification.

Moreover, Dublin could see a pledge to retain the country's commissioner if all other EU leaders follow the French line – all in a bid to enable the Irish government to hold the second referendum by 31 October, according to the draft document. It would mean that one of the key elements of the EU's institutional reform would be changed despite previous pressure on member states not to touch the package when the bloc was turning the former European Constitution into the Lisbon Treaty, following the negative referendums in France and the Netherlands.

In a visit to Brussels on 5 September, Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Bocevski showed no sign of flexibility regarding his country's name dispute with Greece, accusing Athens of obstructing talks and calling on Brussels to be more generous regarding Skopje's EU and NATO membership aspirations.

The Macedonian deputy prime minister also dismissed advice that his country should concentrate more on its EU prospects than its NATO ambitions. As a former Communist country, Macedonia does not see any strategic difference between EU and NATO, he explained. 

A new poll has shown a swing in favour of the Lisbon treaty in Ireland as the main political parties argue about when would be the best time to hold a second referendum on the document. According to a survey carried out by the Irish Times newspaper, 51 percent are in favour of the treaty while 33 percent would vote against it.

Analysis of the results suggests it is farmers and middle-class voters who have shifted their opinion towards a Yes since the referendum in June last year. Meanwhile, the least well off tend to be opposed to the treaty. The swing in Lisbon's favour comes amid the country's convulsions in the economic crisis, which has caused massive job losses.

One year after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, MEPs on Thursday (5 February) called on all EU countries to recognise Europe's newest state. The European Parliament "encourages those EU Member States which have not already done so to recognise the independence of Kosovo," reads the resolution adopted by MEPs in Strasbourg today.

The document was approved by a large majority - 424 MEPs voted in favour, 133 - against, while 24 abstained. Kosovo declared unilateral independence from Serbia on 17 February last year and it has so far been recognised by 54 states worldwide, including the US and most EU countries. To date, five EU member states – Romania, Slovakia, Greece, Cyprus and Spain – have not recognised its independence. In the resolution, the parliamentarians also welcomed the "successful deployment" of the European police and justice mission EULEX to Kosovo. After having faced numerous delays, EULEX entered its operational phase two months ago – on 9 December – taking over police, justice and customs tasks from United Nations personnel in Kosovo.

Meanwhile, officials and legal professionals in Kosovo have said say they find the EULEX-operated courts better than UNMIK's judicial authorities, according to news portal Balkan Insight. "There are great differences from the previous judiciary," Osman Kryeziu, chief prosecutor in Pristina's District Court, was quoted as saying. "There's less bureaucracy, more cooperation and commitment to work. EULEX judges have a completely different working culture," he added. For his part, Azem Vllasi, a lawyer in Pristina who worked in both the UNMIK and EULEX judicial systems, as well as in the local one, told Balkan Insight that EULEX was already proving to have the most professional one. "My experience shows there are essential differences. There is more professionalism and greater obedience to the law and regulations [with EULEX]," Mr Vllasi said.

Unemployment in Croatia jumped to 14.5 percent in January, data showed on Friday, suggesting the global crisis was hurting the small Balkan economy more than officials had previously predicted. Source: ReutersThe number of unemployed rose to 254,000 from 240,455, lifting the jobless rate from 13.7 percent in December and up from a trough of 12.3 percent last August.The national Association of Employers, HUP said this week about 150 people were laid off every day in the European Union candidate country, whose economy is expected to contract this year for the first time in a decade.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader rejected an emergency package proposed by economists, which called for an urgent cut in public spending, saying the government might rebalance the budget only in the second quarter of the year.Analysts said the delay in implementing spending cuts and reforms would only deepen the crisis and might make it likely the country could turn to the International Monetary Fund for help.

Despite an unexpected 10 percent victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections in Serbia, the pro-European camp of President Boris Tadic is not able to govern alone and may depend on the Socialist Party of former dictator Slobodan Milosevic to form a government.

With nearly 98% of votes counted, Tadic's "For a European Serbia" alliance gained 38.75% of the votes - which would translate into 102 out of 250 seats - followed by Tomislav Nikolic's Radicals with 29.2% (78 seats), the State Electoral Commission said. The clear vote comes as a surprise as polls just days before the elections showed Tadic's Democratic Party and the nationalists still neck-and-neck, if anything giving the latter a slight edge.

Links European Union Presidency: EU Presidency Statement on General Elections in Serbia (13 May 2008) Council: Statement by High Representative for Foreign and Security Polics Javier Solana (12 May 2008) Commission: Overview EU-Serbia relations

Just days before crucial parliamentary elections (11 May), the question of Serbia's future accession to the EU has become an issue of existential importance as the country's President Boris Tadic has received a death threat over his pro-EU stance.

A threatening letter was sent to Tadic following his signature of a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU, considered to be the first step towards membership of the bloc (EurActiv 30/04/08). It accused the president of being a "proven traitor to the Serb nation" and threatens him with a "bullet to the forehead," the Belgrade daily Blic reports. 

Opposition between the country's pro-European politicians and hardline nationalist parties is currently at its highest since the breakaway Kosovar province unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008 - with the backing of several EU countries. A recent poll conducted by the Strategic Marketing agency showed Serbia's nationalist Radical Party slightly ahead of Tadic's pro-European bloc (33.2% to 31.5%), with the nationalist coalition of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica ranked third (13.8%). 

This article demonstrates that public attitudes towards EU enlargement are strongly affected by exposure to the mass media. It reveals `priming' effects by showing that media exposure affects the standards by which individuals evaluate the accession of potential candidate countries. To gain a more refined understanding about media effects on enlargement attitudes, we analytically separate three different factors that underlie EU enlargement support for a given candidate country: its economic performance, its state of democracy and its perceived cultural `match' with the EU. Employing an experimental design, we probe the media-induced effects of these factors on EU enlargement attitudes. Key Words: enlargement • experiment • mass media • public opinion

How effective and relevant is European Union political conditionality for the promotion of democracy in third countries? This article reports the results of a panel study of 36 countries of the East European and Mediterranean neighbourhood of the EU for the years 1988—2004. The analysis shows robust and strong effects of EU political conditionality on democracy in the neighbouring countries if the EU offers a membership perspective in return for political reform. Absent the offer of membership, however, EU incentives such as partnership and cooperation do not reliably promote democratic change. The analysis controls for economic development and transnational exchanges as two alternative potential causes of democratization. Although economic and geographical factors have an impact on democratization in the European neighbourhood as well, EU political conditionality remains a significant influence. Key Words: conditionality • democratization • Eastern Europe • European Union • Mediterranean countries

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern has issued a stark warning on the consequences of rejecting the EU treaty as the latest poll shows a narrowing gap between the yes and no side. A no vote would have "repercussions that would do immense damage to Ireland," and would be a "disaster for the country," he said on Sunday (27 April), according to the Irish Times.

The government is increasingly concerned that farmers may exercise their anger about current world trade negotiations during the treaty vote. The leader of the Irish Farmers Association, Padraig Walshe, has repeatedly connected the two issues.

How effective and relevant is European Union political conditionality for the promotion of democracy in third countries? This article reports the results of a panel study of 36 countries of the East European and Mediterranean neighbourhood of the EU for the years 1988—2004. The analysis shows robust and strong effects of EU political conditionality on democracy in the neighbouring countries if the EU offers a membership perspective in return for political reform. Absent the offer of membership, however, EU incentives such as partnership and cooperation do not reliably promote democratic change. The analysis controls for economic development and transnational exchanges as two alternative potential causes of democratization. Although economic and geographical factors have an impact on democratization in the European neighbourhood as well, EU political conditionality remains a significant influence

This article demonstrates that public attitudes towards EU enlargement are strongly affected by exposure to the mass media. It reveals `priming' effects by showing that media exposure affects the standards by which individuals evaluate the accession of potential candidate countries. To gain a more refined understanding about media effects on enlargement attitudes, we analytically separate three different factors that underlie EU enlargement support for a given candidate country: its economic performance, its state of democracy and its perceived cultural `match' with the EU. Employing an experimental design, we probe the media-induced effects of these factors on EU enlargement attitudes.

82% of citizens of Macedonia believe that the country would benefit from EU membership, which is much greater percentage than in the other two candidate countries - Croatia and Turkey. The majority of this group deem that a key benefit would be economic growth, followed by the maintenance of peace and stability in the country, a higher standard of living and new opportunities for employment, showed the results of the 69th National Eurobarometer Report.

The Commission's interim reports on the progress made by Romania and Bulgaria on judiciary reform and fighting corruption and organised crime show that both countries must seriously step up their efforts ahead of the next detailed evaluation due in mid-2008. Otherwise they could face sanctions, Brussels warned. Related:

European Union Commission: Report On Progress in Bulgaria under the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism (4 February 2008) Commission: Report On Progress in Romania under the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism (4 February 2008) Commission memo: Interim Report on Progress in Bulgaria with Judiciary Reform and the Fight against Corruption and Organised Crime (4 February 2008) [FR] [DE] Commission memo: Interim Report on Progress in Romania with Judiciary Reform and the Fight against Corruption (4 February 2008) [FR] [DE] Commission: Assessing ongoing progress by Bulgaria and Romania [FR] [DE]

MEPs in the constitutional affairs committee generally agreed that the term should be defined as widely as possible. They also agreed that the European Commission and parliament should set up a common register of all the lobbyists in Brussels, with estimates suggesting there are around 15,000 of them in the city pressing their case at the European institutions.

or his part, Mr Stubb says he is not out to demonise lobbyists, whose activities have come to light recently during the ferocious lobbying on legislation that took place during the development of the chemicals, services and software patent laws. He points out that it is much easier to get information as a civil servant, but that as an MEP, "you are out of the [information] loop and interest groups are good sources of information."

The meeting of the 27 teams of sherpas - EU member state negotiators – showed there are still divisions in six areas - the Charter of Fundamental Rights, primacy of EU law over national law, the transfer of power between the EU and member states, common foreign and security policy, the role of the national parliaments and the voting system. The Charter of Fundamental Rights, listing citizens' social and civil rights, prompted the hottest debate last night, with strong arguments flying from both camps. The German Presidency has suggested there should be only a reference to the charter in the new reform package, but the UK continues to oppose it becoming a legally binding document. Similarly, Berlin has suggested dropping from the treaty the controversial line stating that EU law has primacy over national laws, and instead putting it in a separate declaration, which would accompany the treaty. But some EU capitals are not yet ready to accept the watered-down compromise.

An opinion survey in five big EU states show most people want referendums on the new EU treaty in opposition to the current trend to agree a document that will be put only to national parliaments for ratification. According to an FT/Harris Poll published on Monday (18 June), 75 percent of Spaniards, 71 percent of Germans, 69 percent of Britons, 68 percent of Italians and 64 percent of French people consider the post-constitution treaty important enough to warrant a referendum

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has warned both Poland and the UK not to block attempts to agree a new treaty for the European Union. Speaking about Poland with Financial Times Deutschland, Mr Barroso indicated it was time for Warsaw to show the same solidarity it demanded on issues to do with Russia towards solving the EU's internal problems.

The European Commission is showing signs of division on EU institutional reform, with Polish commissioner Danuta Hubner attacking German commissioner Guenter Verheugen's idea that small EU states do not need fully-fledged commissioners.