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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."

Mr Brown's government argues that a referendum is not needed as it is sufficiently different from the original constitution. But this argument has been dealt blows by two parliamentary committees. The Commons Foreign Affairs Committee over the weekend concluded that there was "no material difference" between the treaty and the foreign policy aspects of the constitution.

At the moment, it is not clear whether the president's post - essentially representing the European Union externally - should have some sort of staff. There are currently no provisions for this in the treaty. In addition, there is the thorny issue of all the pending EU laws that may be affected by the fact that the entry into force of the treaty will see MEPs have full co-decision rights.

Montenegro on Monday (15 December) presented its official application for EU membership to current EU President Nicolas Sarkozy, hoping to win EU candidate country status some time next year. EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn welcomed the country's move, saying: "Today Montenegro has reached a historical milestone marking the country's important engagement to common European values and fundamentals."

The commission says the country is still lagging behind in many fields and EU membership is not expected to occur in the very near future. Among other issues, Podgorica, the capital, needs to reform further the public administration of the country, as well as its judicial system and to make further efforts in the fight against corruption – problematic areas common to all Balkan states.

Legal guarantees promised to Ireland and paving the way for a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in the country are to be written into a protocol together with Croatia's accession treaty to the EU in 2010 or 2011, current EU President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday (12 December).

EU leaders in Brussels this week (11-12 December) agreed to a series of concessions to allow Dublin to make possible a second vote on the bloc's Lisbon Treaty some time in the course of next year.

In order to make these promises legally binding, they will be written into a protocol in Croatia's accession treaty - that has to be ratified by all EU countries to enter into force. "To give a legal value to the engagements made to Ireland by the 26 other member states, we have committed that at the time of the next EU enlargement – whether that will be in 2010 or in 2011, when probably Croatia will join us ... we will use that to add a protocol [on Ireland] to Croatia's accession treaty," Mr Sarkozy told journalists after the EU summit.

he European Commission is working on an 'Eastern Partnership' with Ukraine, Georgia and other countries lying on its eastern borders, diplomats and EU officials have announced.

Ukraine wants an 'Eastern European Partnership', modelled on the defunct Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, as a precursor to future EU membership, the country's ambassador in Brussels told journalists yesterday (6 November)

According to Veselovski, the partnership's added value compared to the EU's current neighbourhood policy would reside in a joint effort to change perceptions about the region, which he said is too often portrayed as a conflict-ridden area unfit for EU integration. 

Czech Prime Minister and current EU presidency holder Mirek Topolánek today (13 March) warned that stopping enlargement and introducing new barriers in Europe is a "road to hell". He was writing in English during an online chat session, in response to a question from EurActiv.

As EU countries are only expected to offer Croatia a realistic chances of joining the bloc in the near term, holding back the membership aspirations of Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania, Topolánek, who had just returned from a tour of the region, strongly advocated a more generous approach to the Western Balkans.  "The citizens of the countries which try to prevent further EU enlargement are opposing the principal idea of the European Community. The civilisation mission and the enlargement of a space of security, prosperity and freedom must be perpetuated, since these are the values upon which the EU was founded. Introducing new iron curtains, barriers or walls is a road to hell," Topolánek said. 

Synopsis This text offers a comprehensive overview of the content and development of major theoretical approaches to European integration, as well as critical assessment of current theoretical debates, and an assessment of their value in conducting empirical research. Chapters offer insights into the development, achievements and problems of the respective approaches and follow a set pattern which allows for easy comparision between approaches based on 'bestcases' and 'testcases'. Written by major scholars, it will provide a state-of-the-art handbook of integration theory.

Published: Wednesday 4 July 2007 | Updated: Thursday 5 July 2007 Serbia has to adapt to the EU and not the other way round if it wants to become a member, argues David Gowan in a June 2007 paper for the Centre for European Reform (CER). Related: LinksDossier:   EU-Western Balkans relations The EU must stand ready to encourage and reward any shift in Belgrade’s stance towards Kosovo by resuming association talks and eventually offering candidate status, he believes. However, Serbia must earn this by genuinely and consistently demonstrating European values and maturity of behaviour if membership is to become a reality, he adds.