Czech parliamentarians did not manage to choose a new Head of State during the presidential election that took place in the Czech Republic on 8th and 9th February. Neither of the two candidates, Vaclav Klaus and Jan Svejnar won the absolute majority of the votes in each of the two Chambers (Chamber of Deputies and Senate). In the first round Vaclav Klaus, won 47 of the 81 votes in the Senate and 92 of the 200 in the Chamber of Deputies versus 106 MPs and 32 Senators for Jan Svejnar. In the second round the outgoing President won 94 votes in the Lower Chamber and 48 in the Senate, Jan Svejnar 104 MPs and 31 Senators. During the morning of 9th February the third round of voting took place with Jan Svejnar winning 113 votes whilst Vaclav Klaus won 139 ie one less than the total needed to be elected. The second presidential election will take place on 15th February next. The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia announced that it would put forward its own candidate in the next election.

On 20th December last after the approval of the 2008 budget by Parliament Prime Minister, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party PSOE) announced that the next general and senatorial elections would take place in Spain on 9th March 2008. The Head of Government was appointed on 25th November last by the PSOE members as their candidate. The two main parties PSOE and the People's Party (PP) - have run neck and neck in all of the polls. At one month before the elections the PSOE is now in lead. On 9th March next Andalusian voters will also elect their regional Parliament. According to a poll undertaken by Publiscopio and published on 4th February in the newspaper Publico, the Socialist Party is said to be ahead of the PP by 6.4 points with regard to voting intentions.

The Russians are being called to ballot on 2nd March next to appoint their future President. This is the fourth presidential election since the fall of the Communist regime in 1991. The elected candidate will become the third president of the Federation of Russia after Boris Yelstin and Vladimir Putin (2000-2008). After the landslide victory by Vladimir Putin's party, United Russia (ER) during the general elections on 2nd December last (64.3% of the vote) and the appointment by Vladimir Putin himself of his successor on 10th December in the shape of Dmitri Medvedev, victory on 2nd March by the present 1st Deputy Prime Minister goes without saying. According to a poll undertaken on 26th and 27th January by VTsIOM, Dmitri Medvedev is due to win 74% of the vote, Gennady Zyuganov, 12.8%, Vladimir Jirinovski 11.5% and Andrei Bogdanov 0.9%.

The annual edition of the Schuman Report 2008 on the State of the Union will be released on 12th February at 10:30 at the CAPE (Centre d'Accueil de la Presse Etangère) with Jean-Pierre Jouyet, Secretary of State for European Affairs and Alain Lamassoure, former Minister, MEP in attendance. Enrolment is recommended.

Romania and France have just ratified the Lisbon Treaty ie five Member States out of 27. The Robert Schuman Foundation keeps an updated map of how the ratifications are developing as well as a table explaining the ratification procedure adopted in each country.

On 19th February next, 2.3 million Armenians are being called to ballot in the first round of the presidential election. Outgoing President Robert Kotcharian, in office since 1998, cannot stand for a third term in office since he was re-elected on 5th March 2003. Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian (Republican Party HHK), is by far the favourite. He is credited with 60% of the vote in the polls and might be elected in the first round directly. If this is not the case a second round will be organised on 4th March.

On 7th February Zofija Mazej Kukovič, the Slovenian Health Minister, inaugurated the conference, "The Burden of Cancer - How Can it Be Reduced?" which was attended by the representatives of the Member States, the European Commission, the European Parliament, cancer specialists, associations and NGO's. The prevention of the illness, early diagnosis, treatment, recovery, palliative care and research comprise the means European has to act against cancer.

An agreement was signed in 2005 between Russia and Germany for the gas pipeline Nord Stream established on the Baltic seabed covering 1,200 km; the pipeline was due to link the two countries and transport Russian gas to Germany and Europe avoiding the Baltic countries and Poland. Many organisations have condemned the project due to the environmental risks that the pipeline represents in a sea that is already suffering from pollution and over fishing. Apart from the ecological concerns raised by this project the European Union-Russia relationship is also involved. A report is due to be written shortly by the European Parliament.

On 5th February the European Research Commissioner, Janez Potocnik launched Clean Sky, a research programme designed to make air transport more sustainable by encouraging the aeronautics industry to design and manufacture airplanes which are more respectful of the environment.

On 7th February European Commission Vice President Günter Verheugen launched Enterprise Europe Network, a new and powerful European support network for enterprises that will include more than 500 contact points for entrepreneurs in Europe. The mechanism aims especially to assist small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The "Enterprise Europe Network" aims to foster innovation, contribute to the internationalisation of enterprises and to facilitate their access to European funding.

On 8th February the Commission recommended that Member States adopt a Code of Conduct with regard to research in the area of nanotechnologies. Although Europe is in the vanguard of the emerging field of nanosciences and nanotechnologies (N&N), a developing field of science with the potential for major positive impact economically, socially and environmentally, knowledge gaps remain about the impact of these technologies on human health and the environment, as well as issues relating to ethics and the respect of fundamental rights. Based around 7 general principles covering issues such as sustainability, precaution, inclusiveness and accountability, the Code of Conduct invites Member States to take concrete action, for the safe development and use of nanotechnologies.

So that freight transport companies can moderate their use of the road and reduce their impact on road congestion as well as on the environment the European Commission published a call for proposals on 4th March for the creation and upgrade of freight transport services. This is part of the Marco Polo II Programme. To be selected projects have to address the problem of European road congestion and make freight transport more environmentally friendly in line with two major objectives of the European transport policy.

On 5th February in Vienna the RWE group, the German N°2 in the energy sector became the 6th member of the Nabucco project, thereby joining the Austrian OMV and its Turkish, Bulgarian, Romanian and Hungarian counterparts. The future gas pipeline that is to link the Caspian Sea to the European Union in 2012 and possibly include Iran amongst its suppliers, comes into direct competition with the Italian-Russian South Stream that is to enable the transport of Russian gas via the South passing via Austria, Greece and Italy by 2013.

During the 44th conference on the security policy on 8th to 10th February in Munich over 40 Defence Ministers met to discuss the theme of "A World in Disarray – Shifting Powers – Lack of Strategies." American Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned Europeans that failure in Afghanistan would foster Islamic extremism and would be a direct threat to their security. Under increasing pressure from the USA Germany will not however be able to increase its war effort. CDU Parliamentarians planned for a wider mandate for the army in Afghanistan to allow for the deployment of 1000 additional men - bringing the limit from 3,500 to 4,500 - and the extension of the present deployment towards the west.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel received Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on 8th February. During a meeting with young Germans and Turks the two heads of government called for people to rise above their prejudice - which occurs by getting to know each other better. Recep Erdogan suggested greater co-operation by facilitating the dispatch of Turkish teachers to Germany and by suggesting lessons in Turkish in Germany's high schools and universities. Since nearly 2.7 million Germans are of Turkish origin, migration and integration issues were the focus of discussion. Integration comprises one of Angela Merkel's government's priorities.

On 5th February French Prime Minister François Fillon convened an interministerial council on Europe. On this occasion he related the major projects of the future French Presidency of the European Union. Given the present financial crises on the world markets and the Société Générale scandal, the Prime Minister firstly decided to give priority to reaching agreement on the transparency and the stability of the financial markets with his European partners over the six months of the presidency. The environment is also one of the major priorities of the French presidency. With regard to this François Fillon would like to "achieve an agreement (...)by the end of 2008". France would also like to discuss the Europe's independence with regard to energy during its presidency. Finally France hopes to reach an agreement on the European Immigration Pact.

For the first time France assumed the role of Pilot-State in terms of consular protection for all European citizens living in Chad. This measure, adopted by the European Union Council, aims to improve the protection of Member State citizens in times of crisis in a third country, notably when some Members do not have a consular representation in that country. In Chad only Germany and France are represented. Apart from the European countries France soldiers also helped citizens from over 60 other countries including the USA and China. In all over 1,400 people benefited from the protection of the French army and left N'Djaména on board French military planes.

On 10th February after Parliament's adoption of the draft law allowing the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty French President Nicolas Sarkozy called on the French, in a televised speech, to rally together "so that Europe works" and to "rise above political differences of the past (...) France is part of Europe once again," he declared. "Now, we have to put politics back into Europe," he added.

During a journey to Romania on 4th February the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy signed a "strategic partnership" which included five themes: political dialogue, economic relations, scientific and cultural co-operation, the free circulation of people, defence and security. After talks with the Romanian President Traian Basescu, Romanian Prime Minister, Calin Popescu Tariceanu, he gave a speech to members of Parliament who ratified the Lisbon Treaty on the same day.

In December 2007, compared to November 2007, the volume of retail trade fell by 0.1% in the euro area and remained unchanged in the European Union. The non food sector decreased by 0.1% in the euro area and remained unchanged in the European Union. The, "food, drinks and tobacco" sector remained unchanged in the euro area and fell by 0.1% in the European Union. The highest increases were observed in Luxembourg (+4.1%), Sweden (+1.2%) and Slovakia (+1.0%), and the largest decreases in Latvia (-2.6%), Portugal (-2.0%) and Belgium (-1.2%).

On the occasion of the 5th Safer Internet Day on 12th February 2008, Eurostat, presented a selection of statistics concerning internet activities. The percentage of individuals aged 16 to 74 in the European Union who ordered goods or services over the internet increased from 24% in 2005 to 30% in 2007. Those who have not yet ordered goods or services over the internet in the preceding 12 months say they are concerned about giving credit card or personal details online. In 2007, nearly a quarter of internet users in the European Union had had a computer virus in the preceding 12 months, which resulted in a loss of information or time.

The Foundation for Innovation Policy has just published a report entitled "What the Lisbon Treaty changes" for the citizens, civil society, MPs, companies, employees, consumers and with regard to the running of the European Union.

'Notre Europe' has published a study by Eulalia Rubio entitled "The Case for a European Tax: Benefits, Practical Aspects and Options for Endowing the EU with a Veritable Own Resource."

From 1st February to 5th May the Liverpool Tate Museum will be holding the biggest exhibition ever presented in Britain dedicated to the French artist Niki de Saint Phalle. The exhibition reviews the life and work of the sculptor and painter who was born in France in 1930 and died in the USA in 2002. Niki de Saint Phalle emerged in the 1960's as an original and powerful figure in the world of modern art. Amongst the exhibits feature the famous series of "Tirs", "Nanas" and "Fiancées".