42.5 million Turks are being called to vote on 22nd July to renew the 550 members of the Grand National Assembly, the only Chamber in Parliament. These elections are four months earlier than originally planned after the failure of Parliament to elect a successor to Ahmet Necdet Sezer as President of the Republic last May. The Grand National Assembly is elected every five years by proportional voting according to the largest remainder method. In order to stand an individual has to be 30 years old. To be represented in Parliament all political parties have to put candidates forward in at least half of the country's provinces and win at least 10% of the vote cast nationally. At present only two parties are represented in Parliament: The Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan with 363 seats and the People's Republican Party (CHP), the main opposition party led by Deniz Baykal with 178 MPs.

On 23rd June the 27 Heads of State and government came to an agreement on the content of the future treaty that will replace the European Constitution and is to come into application before the European elections of June 2009. The new treaty will no longer include terms assimilating the EU with a federal State, such as the word "Constitution" or symbols (the flag, the anthem, the motto) although the latter will continue to exist. The idea of a European Foreign Minister has given way to a "High Representative of the EU for Foreign and Security Policy" who will enjoy the same powers. The treaty will adopt the same voting system as proposed in the Constitution, ie for a decision to be adopted it has to achieve the support of 55% of the Member States representing 65% if the EU's population. But this will only come into application in 2014 instead of 2009 and until 2017 a Member State will be able to request the application of the present voting system. The field of decisions taken by the qualified majority and in agreement with the European Parliament will be extended to around forty more new areas mainly relative to judicial and police co-operation. Unanimity will however still be the rule for the foreign policy, fiscality, social policy, EU resources and the review of treaties. As from 2009 a stable presidency of the European Council will be elected by its counterparts for a period of two and half years instead of the present alternating six-monthly presidency. As from 2014 the Commission will have a number of commissioners equal to that of two thirds of the number of Member States, whilst at present each State has its "own" commissioner. Finally some additions have been made: there will be a reference to energy solidarity in the event of problems in supply, a reference to accession criteria for new Member States, a protocol on the internal market that requires "a system where competition is unhampered" and an enhancement of the powers of the national Parliaments.

On 20th June Parliament adopted a report on the FISCALIS 2013 programme designed to facilitate co-operation between national tax administrations over the next six years. MEPs would like more clarity and want to limit the system to Member States only; the Commission had proposed to include countries participating in the EU's Neighbourhood Policy too. Fiscalis 2013 with a budget of 157 million euros aims to provide a forum for increasing knowledge and exchange of best practice between national tax authorities, to enhance the fight against fraud and illegitimate trade by strengthening co-operation and mutual assistance, including via computer information exchange systems and to help cut red tape for taxpayers by looking at the optimal balance between controls and the administrative burden they cause.

On 19th June Parliament adopted a first reading report with regard to new controversial rules over the production and labelling of spirits. In spite of the diversity of traditional drinks in Europe community rules are necessary within the Single Market in order to guarantee the quality of the product, to protect producers' rights and to provide reliable information to the consumer. The new ruling put forward by the Commission is a new draft of existing legislation that should ensure conformity with the rules and norms set down by the WTO. This compromise still has to be approved by a final vote at the Council in September.

On 19th June MEPs adopted an initiative report that promotes the development of broadband internet and measures that are likely to reduce the "digital fracture" between urban and rural areas. At the end of 2006 28% of EU households had domestic access to broadband internet according to the lat Eurobarometer survey. With regard to broadband lines already installed Europe has been ahead of the USA since October 2005. However the results in terms of internet connections vary greatly across Europe. A means to increase broadband connections is to provide several services (TV, internet, mobile phones) at the same time.

The 27 Transport Ministers asked the Commission on 8th June to provide additional details on alternative funding scenarii for the Galileo Project, including various options for public funding. On 20th June MEPs launched an appeal for the revision of the financial framework. The 100% public funding option seems to be their preference. Etelka Barsy-Pataki (PPE-DE, HU), former Parliament rapporteur on Galileo reviewed the project's latest problems: "the question we are asking is whether the funding choice is the right one (...) We must not question the programme but ensure that we overcome the difficulties it is encountering," she indicated saying that the three Union institutions agreed that Galileo should continue with the aid of public funding.

MEPs adopted a resolution requesting the Commission and the Council to improve the consultation of Parliament in enlargement procedures of the Euro Zone. They plead for better control of the reliability of the statistics provided by candidate States. Parliament would like to see "an inter-institutional agreement on timing and an approach based on co-operation to be applied in the future for other countries which want to join the Euro Zone." According to this resolution this should emerge as "dialogue with Parliament in the early stages," so that MEPs have at least two months in order to express their opinions on proposals made by the Commission or the ECB.

On 20th June MEPs adopted a report that reviewed the work achieved by the Joint Parliamentary Asembly of the States of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific and the EU, a vital player in North-South co-operation. The report by Thierry Cornillet (ADLE, FR) highlights the progress made in negotiations with regard to economic partnership agreements and the need to act in the Darfur. The Joint Parliamentary Assembly offered a framework "for open, democratic, in-depth dialogue" in the negotiations on the economic partnership agreements between the EU and the ACP countries. MEPs said they were happy with the "increasingly parliamentary" nature of the ACP and the increasing commitment on the part of its members, the examination of the European Development Funds and issues related to exchanges between ACP countries and the EU.

On 20th June Parliament approved a directive establishing minimum standards for the acquisition and maintenance of supplementary pension rights and which favours the free movement of workers within the Member States. The report by Ria Oomen-Ruijten (PPE-DE, NL) stresses that the directive will only apply to supplementary pension regimes of workers: group insurance contracts, pay-as-you-go schemes agreed by one or more branches or sectors, funded schemes or pension promises backed by book reserves. Member States will be affected differently by this legislation: in some countries there is no supplementary pension scheme or coverage is low (in Poland only 0.6% of the working population); in others it is high (in Sweden, 75% of workers between 20 and 64 are affiliated).

On 21st June Parliament adopted a report with regard to the EU's provision of aid to partner countries in the Mediterranean. MEPs believe that the issue of the management of the MEDA programme "is improving without being totally satisfactory." This programme (8 billion euro over the period 1995-2006) comprises the EU's main funding tool for the application of support as part of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership. Countries which benefit from this are Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria,the West Bank and Gaza. The report stresses the urgent need to provide direct financial support to the Palestinian Authority and humanitarian aid to Gaza.

On 20th June the Commission adopted a strategy for EU financial assistance for the period 2007-2009. This completes the strategic planning of assistance under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) for this period to the candidate and potential candidate countries: Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo (under UN Security Council Resolution 1244). Financial assistance to those countries aims to help them enhance political and economic reform and development, on their path towards EU membership. For 2007-2009, the overall indicative amount of EU financial assistance to the countries is 3,961 billion euro.

A new world of electronics, will soon take a major step forward as the Commission adopted on 22nd June its proposal to launch a Europe-wide public-private research partnership in nanoelectronics, called ENIAC. With an expected budget of 3bn euros from industry, Member States and the Commission it will create a strong nanoelectronics research and manufacturing sector in Europe. This will ultimately generate innovative products with in-built intelligence in countless areas such as the consumer electronics, automotive, healthcare and environmental management sectors.

How do you translate "communauté de communes" or "lettre de cadrage" from French into German? How do do you explain "un mandat excédentaire" in French to the Bundestag? The answer lies in a new administrative Franco-German glossary presented on 21st June in Berlin. "The civil service in France and Germany," a 400 page bilingual publication reviews hundreds of words specific to the political and legal institutions of the two countries.The dictionary which is the result of an initiative launched in 2001 was written by the Ecole Nationale d'Administration Française (ENA) and the German Civil Service Academy (BAKöV)."In this way progress has been made towards better mutual understanding," stressed German Home Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, as he presented the book to the press along with French Civil Service Minister Eric Woerth.

German MPs gave the go ahead to a year's extension of the Bundeswehr's mission within the KFOR, NATO's international force in Kosovo. The extension that will last until mid-2008 was approved by the Council of Ministers on 13th June, and adopted by MPs, 515 votes in favour, 58 against and 2 abstentions.

A Secretariat General for the French Presidency of the EU Council was created according to a government decision taken on 15th June; this was published in the Journal Officiel of the French Republic on 19th June 2007; this has been undertaken in preparation for the French presidency of the EU in the second half of 2008. Under the orders of the Prime Minister the Secretariat General will be led by Claude Blanchemaison. He will co-ordinate the definition of the list of events and meetings that will take place under the French presidency in liaison with the Secretariat General for European Affairs and the ministries involved.

On 10th May the European Commission asked France to amend its legislation within nine months in order to eliminate the obstacles to the internal market rules represented by the special rights to distribute savings books ("livret A" and "livret bleu") granted to Banque Postale, Caisses d'Epargne and Crédit Mutuel. On 19th June French Prime Minister François Fillon announced that France would lodge an appeal for the cancellation of this request with the Court of Justice of the European Communities "given the legally doubtful nature of some parts of the Commission's decision."

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushenko attended the European Council on 21st June in order to meet European leaders and to talk with the European Commission President, José Manuel Barroso. This exchange mainly focussed on the enhancement of links between the Ukraine and the EU as well as on the preparation of the EU-Ukraine Summit that will take place in the autumn.

According to figures published by Eurostat on 18th June in January 2007, 20 of the 27 Member States of the EU had national legislation setting statutory minimum wages. They varied widely, from 92 euros per month in Bulgaria to 1 570 euros per month in Luxembourg. When adjusted to take into account differences in purchasing power, the disparities between the Member States range of one to seven. It should be noted that the proportion of employees receiving the minimum wage also differs greatly between Member States, ranging from less than 1% in Spain to 17% in France. The countries where the minimum wage is below 300 euros are Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Estonia, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Portugal, Slovenia, Malta, Spain and Greece had minimum wages ranging between 400 euros and 700 euros per month. In France Belgium, the Netherlands,the United Kingdom, Ireland and Luxembourg had minimum wages over 1 200 euros per month.

According to a report by the World Bank published on 20th June the populations of several Eastern European countries and those in the former Soviet Union will be amongst the oldest in the world in 2025. The average age of populations in these countries will rise beyond the present 38 to 49 by 2050. Hence according to these forecasts these countries will witness an overall population decrease of nearly 24 million over the next 20 years. Russia may lose 17 million of its 145 million inhabitants. The countries involved might still be able to avoid the most serious economic consequences of this ageing by accelerating their economic transition and reforming their retirement regimes as well as their healthcare system.