On 22nd January at 6pm in Brussels and just as the European Commission is about to publish its "Climate and Energy" package, the Robert Schuman Foundation is organising a debate on the theme of "the revival of energy production: a European challenge - an environmental, industrial and political challenge". Herbert Reul (MEP - PPE-DE, DE), Helmut Schmitt von Sydow (Chief Advisor - DG Energy) and Antoine Pellion (Civil Engineer from the Ecole des Mine and author of the new 'Note' by the Foundation "Reviving energy production in Europe: an environmental, industrial and political challenge) will attend the meeting.

The Robert Schuman Foundation, together with the Embassy of France in Poland and the Polish Robert Schuman Foundation are organising a seminar focussing on "The Presidencies of the European Union in 2008" in Warsaw on 16th January. Pascale Joannin, Director General will take part in this meeting along with François Barry-Delongchamps, Ambassador of France in Poland, Jozef Drofenik, Ambassador of Slovenia in Poland, Jan Borkowski, Secretary to the Polish Foreign Affairs Ministry and Anna Radwan-Röhrenschef, Chair of the Polish Foundation.

On 20th January next over 6.5 million Serbs are being called to appoint their future President of the Republic. This election comes just as Kosovo, a Serb province under international administration since 1999, is considering declaring its independence. Nine people are offically running. According to the most recent polls Boris Tadic is due to win with 33% of the vote. The outgoing President is said to be ahead of the Radical Party leader Tomislav Nikolic, who is due to win 27%. Velimir Ilic and Milutin Mrkonjic are due to win 4% of the vote each and Cedomir Jovanovic, 3%. The other four candidates are only due to win a small number of votes. If none of the candidates wins the election in the first round a second round will be organised on 3rd February.

On 8th January the inaugural meeting of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union along with the European Commission was held. Slovenian Prime Minister, Janez Jansa presented the themes of the presidency: the ratification procedure of the Lisbon Treaty, the implementation of the 'Energy and Environment' package, the start of the 3rd stage of the Lisbon Strategy and relations with the Western Balkans in order to find long term solutions to the problems of stability in the region.

On 7th January in order to finance and stimulate innovation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the European Commission proposed measures to boost cross-border investments of venture capital funds. Up to now venture capital funds, which are vitally important for the financing of growing innovative small companies, face too many problems to overcome different national regulations for cross-border fundraising and investment. For this reason they often do not reach the necessary critical mass. Therefore the European Commission advocates a broad partnership with and between Member States to work towards mutual recognition of the current national frameworks for venture capital funds.

On 7th January the European Commission announced that it wants to unlock market potential for innovative goods and services by lifting obstacles hindering innovation in a first batch of six important markets: eHealth, protective textiles, sustainable construction, recycling, bio-based products and renewable energies. These markets with high economic and societal value represent an annual turnover of more than 120 billion euros and 1.9 million jobs in the EU. The Commission's goal is to push the EU to first place whilst bringing advantages to the consumer and supporting SME's as well as an ambitious strategy in terms of innovation.

On 10th January the European Commission published a consultation paper on the future framework which will apply to State funding of public service broadcasting. This consultation gives Member States and stakeholders the opportunity to submit their views at an early stage, before any Commission proposal, on the possible revision of the Broadcasting Communication. Comments should be submitted by 10th March 2008 and must address current rules, the relevant Commission decision-making practice and the possible scope for amendments. The Commission hopes to improve and simplify the legal framework governing this domain. The project aims to strengthen the European Union's competitiveness.

On 11th January the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) signed a Cooperation Agreement establishing the Loan Guarantee Instrument for trans-European transport network projects (LGTT). This new instrument will facilitate greater participation of the private sector in the financing of transport infrastructure of European significance, especially for investments in TENs projects where there is a high level of revenue risk in the early operational period of a project. The LGTT, which forms part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) programme and the EIB's Action for Growth initiative, will partially cover this risk and thereby significantly improve the financial viability of TENs investments. The capital contribution of 1 billion euros (500 million euros each from the Commission and the EIB) is intended to support up to 20 billion euros of total capital investment.

According to figures published on 8th January by the German Renewable Energy Federation the renewable energy sector provided Germany with nearly one tenth (9.1%) of its energy in 2007, ie 219 billion kilowatt hours versus 8% in 2006 and 6.6% in 2005. Renewable energy also enabled the prevention of 115 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in 2007. This development should continue since the German goverment has taken steps to bring the share of renewable energy in overall energy consumption up to 20% by 2020. The windmill represents 45% of electricity production, hydraulic power, 25% and other types of renewable energy (solar, biomass, biogas, geothermal) only represent 3%.

In November 2007 Tout l'Europe (the French information centre on Europe) organised an on-line survey about European social reality. Internet users were invited to say what they thought about: well-being, inequality, employment and work, immigration and integration. According to the survey's results participants believe that the most striking social changes over the last twenty years have involved the world of work, family life equally and then poverty levels and inequality.

Liverpool, the European culture capital 2008 successfully launched a year of celebration last weekend. Organisers counted on the town's vast musical heritage as well as on sports, architecture and the port. A wide range of events was on offer. This British town is home to the greatest number of museums outside of London - Liverpool will be the venue for unprecedented exhibitions in the UK ranging from Niki de Saint Phalle, Gustav Klimt, Le Corbusier, Monet and Pissarro. Several events were also staged in Liverpool: the Turner Modern Arts Prize, the BBC Electric Proms, the MTV Europe Music Awards, the Round the World Clipper Yacht race 07/08, the British cycling tour, the World Fire Fighter Games.

Georgians approved the project put forward by President Mikhail Saakachvili to take their country into NATO by 72.5% according to the results of a referendum published on 11th January by the head of the Central Election Committee. This referendum, which was purely consultative, was organised on 5th January, on the same day as the early Presidential election. In addition to this 69.8% of voters said in another referendum that they were in favour of elections in the spring rather than the end of the year, announced the chairman of the Commissionn, Levan Tarkhnichvili.

Serb Foreign Minister, Vuk Jeremic announced on 10th January that Serbia's strategic objectives were to protect its sovereignty and its European integration. After a meeting with his German counterpart Frank Walter Steinmeier he declared that a compromise had to be the key to the future status of Kosovo. Vuk Jeremic maintained that Serbia would sign the Stabilisation and Association Agreement on 28th January, whilst his German counterpart hopes that an agreement within the European Union will be found so that this document can be signed since the condition set by the (rendition of Mladic and Karadzic to the ICTY) still has not been honoured by Serbia.

According to figures published by Eurostat on 7th January the euro area seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate stood at 7.2% in November 2007, unchanged compared with October. It was 7.9% in November 2006. The European Union unemployment rate was 6.9% in November 2007, the same as in October. It was 7.7% in November 2006. In November 2007, the lowest rates were registered in the Netherlands (2.9%) and Denmark (3.2%), and the highest in Slovakia (11.0%) and Poland (8.5%).

In November 2007, compared with October 2007, the volume of retail trade fell by 0.5% in the euro area and by 0.2% in the European Union. In October retail trade fell by 0.7% and 0.4% respectively. The largest increases were observed in Luxembourg (+13.5%), Latvia (+1.6%) and Finland (+0.9%), and the highest decreases in Belgium (-1.1%), Portugal (-1.0%) and Slovenia (-0.8%).

According to figures published by Eurostat on 9th January Euro area and European Union GDP both grew by 0.8% in the third quarter of 2007, compared with the previous quarter. In the second quarter of 2007, growth rates were +0.3% in the euro area and +0.5% in the European Union. In the third quarter of 2007 and among the Member States for which seasonally adjusted GDP data are available, Lithuania (+5.2%) recorded the highest growth rate compared with the previous quarter, followed by Latvia (+2.8%) and Slovakia (+2.5%). The GDP rose by 1.2% in the USA and by 0.4% in Japan during the third quarter of 2007.

According to a census undertaken by the Italian association Fortress Europe, published on 7th January 1,861 illegal immigrants died during 2007 as they tried to reach one of the countries in the south of the European Union in comparison with 2,088 in 2006. The association notes a drop in the number of deaths in the Canary Islands (735 in 2007 in comparison with 1,035 in 2006) and in the Gibraltar Strait (135 in comparison with 215); however there was an increase in the number of deaths in the Sicilian Channel (551 versus 302) and in the Aegean Sea (257 versus 73). In all out of the 1,861 deaths counted by Fortress Europe in 2007 nearly all of them - 1,126 happened in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Center for Transatlantic Relations has just published "The Transatlantic Economy 2008" by Daniel S Hamilton and Joseph P Quinlan. According to the study's conclusions trade between Europe and the USA has undergone exceptional growth the last five years, with American exports benefiting from a strong euro in comparison with the dollar.

Until 27th January the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium is presenting a unique collection of around fifty paintings by Rubens. This collection comprising oil sketches, cabinet paintings and alterpieces, is quite exceptional since it reflects the most productive period of Rubens life when his creative genius and entrepreneurial spirit were at their best and brightest(1614-1640).

The educational offices of the University Paris-Sorbonne is organising a seminar on 18th and 19th January next on "Events that have marked European minds '711-1948)". This is the fifth in the series of "Journées de l'Histoire" inviting us to journey across the major dates in European history: from the progress of Islam into Europe in 711 to the Iron Curtain in 1948.