As part of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Robert Schuman Foundation has established four partnerships with the media to speak of Europe with the citizens of France; it has an agreement with L'Express.fr; Autoroute FM, the newspaper Saône-et-Loire and Ouest France. The partnership with the newspaper Saône-et-Loire and Ouest France are starting this week.

On 8th September, Nicolas Sarkozy, President in office of the European Union, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission and Javier Solana, High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy travelled to Moscow (Russia) and to Tbilissi (Georgia) to try and settle the Russo-Georgian conflict. After long discussions Nicolas Sarkozy and Dimitri Medvedev agreed on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia apart from the separatist territories in a month's time - they also agreed on the deployment of at least 200 EU observers by 1st October at the latest. International discussions planned for in the six-point plan drawn up by Mssrs Medvedev and Sarkozy on 12th August will start on 15th October in Geneva. The European leaders, who then travelled straight to Tbilissi, repeated their support of their Georgian counterpart Mikhail Saakachvili who announced that there would be a conference on the aid to give to his country in October. For his part the Georgian president repeated that any solution to the Russo-Georgian conflict had to respect the territorial integrity of Georgia. He also said that he has signed a letter in which he repeated "his commitment to respect the August agreement" which excludes all use of force, a condition set by Moscow with regard to a withdrawal of its troops from Georgian territory.

Anja Weisberger's (EPP-ED, DE) report harmonising the technical standards for the approval of hydrogen powered cars was adopted on 3rd September, 644 votes in favour, two against. The new law will enable the smooth running of the European hydrogen car market together with the establishment of security requirements. In the case of infringement Member States will be obliged to adopt sanctions with regard to manufacturers. MEPs encourage the establishment of a European hydrogen supply network, a prerequisite for the success of these vehicles. Finally this ruling will be beneficial for the environment since the use of hydrogen will contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions if it is manufactured using renewable energy sources.

On 3rd September MEPs approved three reports which focus on the classification, labelling and packing of chemical products in the wake of the compromise adopted by the Council. Whilst at present a chemical product can be classified differently depending on the country, the new legislation, which introduces the UN's globally harmonised system (GHS) into European law, creates a common base with regard to the dangers of chemical products. This new system aims to ensure the protection of human health and the environment during the maintenance, transport and the use of substances. It enables European companies to avoid the costs associated with the assessments of using hazardous products.

On 2nd September MEPs debated the new social agenda put forward by the Commission on 2nd July. They listened to French Labour and Social Relations Minister, Xavier Bertrand and European Employment, Social Affiars and Equal Opportunities Commissioner, Vladimir Spidla. They welcomed the Commission's proposal but many MEPs from the Socialist Party (PES) and the European United Left regretted that it did not include more specific, substantial measures. The new social agenda renews the Commission's programme in the social sphere. It includes proposals for community legislation on discrimination outside of the labour market, laws regarding patients in the context of cross-border care and the improvement of the running of European Works Councils. A resolution will be debated in the European Parliament during the next plenary session after debate on patient mobility.

On 3rd September the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the impact of marketing and advertising on gender equality. Following the report by Eva-Britt Svensson (EUL/NGL, SE), Parliament draws attention to the importance of stereotypes in the representation of men and women in advertising. It underlines the need to broadcast principles of gender equality in the media and the role played by the education system in the development of a critical mind amongst children with regard to image and the media in general. Parliament has invited the Member States to look into the issue and the Commission and the Council to implement existing texts and programmes related to gender equality in order to solve the problem.

On 1st September the regulation modifying and simplifying measures with regard to pesticide residues entered into force. This regulation adopted in 2005 harmonises the maximum limits of pesticide residues in food and aims to ensure food security for consumers, above all in countries where no limits were applied before. It will help to facilitate the exchange of food products by replacing 27 pre-existing national measures. However two ecologist associations Greenpeace and PAN (Pesticide Action Network) have lodged a complain against the regulation with the Court of Justice criticising the measure because it will harmonise from the bottom up.

On 3rd September in Brussels José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission and Olli Rehn, Enlargement Commissioner received Serb President, Boris Tadic together with his Prime Minister, Mirko Cvetkovic, Foreign Minister, Vuk Jeremic. After this first meeting since the formation of the new Serb government, José Manuel Barroso said he was in favour of implementing the commercial aspect of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement. He said that Serbia might gain official candidate status to the European Union in 2009, if all conditions were respected. Serbia would like to join the EU by 2014 but does not want however to relinquish Kosovo.

On 4th September the European Commission received the conclusions of the International Energy Agency (IEA) with regard to the European energy policy. The IEA is the main intergovernmental organisation in the world in terms of the analysis of energy policies. Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Energy welcomed this analysis which "clearly shows that the EU is now recognised as an entity in its own right in the area of energy." The IEA approves the main orientations in the proposals made by the European Commission, notably the coherent approach to energy, climate change and the liberalisation of the energy and gas markets. The IEA encourages the EU to establish a more coherent external energy policy whilst strengthening the role played by the Union's institutions. The analysis comes at a decisive time in the on-going negotiations at the Council and the Parliament.

On 2nd September Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society defended her project to reform European telecommunications regulations before the European Parliament - the project aims to encourage competition and innovation. She promotes the potential progress for consumers notably in the development of wireless internet networks by the use of frequencies made available by digital TV and the portability of telephone numbers to facilitate changes in operator. But the debate focusses on the proposal for the creation of a European Electronic Communications Market Authority which would replace present co-operation between national regulators within the European Regulators Group. Parliament is suggesting a European telecommunications organisation with reduced control on the part of the Commission. Voting on first reading will take place on 23rd September in the Parliament and on 27th November in the Council.

On 5th and 6th September the 27 Foreign Ministers who met informally called for an international enquiry into the responsibilities with regard to the conflict in Georgia and maintained their support of the deployment of an autonomous observation mission in line with the General Affairs and External Relations Council on 15th September - this mission would be part of the European Defence and Security Policy -ESDP- and notably complement the OSCE mission which European countries are contributing to in a co-ordinated manner. They also spoke of the means to deploy effective aid to help reconstruct Georgia.

During his monthly press conference, the Chairman of the European Central Bank (ECB), Jean-Claude Trichet forecast a decrease in the euro zone's GDP growth rate in 2008 and a slight rise in 2009. The ECB is now forecasting growth between 1.1% and 1.7% in 2008 and between 0.6% and 1.8% in 2009. It believes that inflation will range between 3.4% and 3.6% in 2008 and between 2.3% and 2.9% in 2009. Because of this it has decided to leave its main loan rates as they are (4.25% with regard to refinancing operations).

On 2nd September Maria Böhmer, German Migration, Refugee and Integration Minister announced that the measures implemented over the past year as part of the law to apply European directives with regard to residence and asylum rights are proving positive. In her opinion the attendance of integration lessons is rising and the offer of lessons is improving. In addition to this the measures to facilitate the insertion of foreigners who have been rejected as asylum seekers but whose expulsion has been temporarily suspended has been improved. Measures taken in terms of family groups have had positive effects. The Minister said she hoped that a greater number of foreigners who have lived in Germany for a long time will take German nationality and she stressed that the minimum length of time to aspire to this has been reduced from 8 to 6 years for people who can speak German fluently. Since 1st September all naturalisation procedures involve tests with regard to German policies and society.

On 4th September Wolfgang Schäuble, German Home Minister, convened a summit meeting on the protection of personal data and on the means to prevent the illegal trade of millions of personal data held about consumers. Contrary to present practice companies will no longer have the right to communicate personal data except for if they have explicit permission granted by the person concerned. The government also wants to tighten up on sanctions in cases of infringement of the law. A working group has been given the task of drawing up details with regard to this measure by mid-October. Finally the government will prepare a draft law by mid-November on "a data protection audit" in order to reward companies which do more than demanded by the law to protect data. The government had already amended data protection laws in July in view of improving consumer protection.

A survey by TNS Sofres for the association "Civisme et Democratie" (CIDEM) reveals that 2 out of 5 French citizens feel that they are European even though they lack basic knowledge with regard to how the EU is run. 54% of those interviewed would feel more European if they could vote for the President of the European Union. This study entitled "Les Français et la citoyenneté européenne" reveals that the euro symbolises Europe best in the opinion of 54% of those interviewed, far ahead of the European Parliament (12%) and the European Commission (9%).

After the European Council dedicated to the Georgian issue on September 1st Romanian President Traian Basescu has pointed to the frozen conflict in Transnistria. "Whether it is a question of Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia or Nagorno-Karabakh, the mechanisms created at the start of the '90's in the wake of the UN Security Council have merely maintained the conflicts," he explained. He said he was pleased with the inclusion of the situation in Moldova on the agenda of the next European Council in October. In addition to this a Romanian delegation delivered an informal paper to the 27 Heads of State and Government which addresses the impact of the Georgian crisis on other frozen conflicts in the region.

The 69 member countries of the UN organisation for food and agriculture (FAO) came to an agreement on 3rd September on directives that aim to limit the impact of fishing on deep water fish and their fragile habitats. "After two years of negotiations they adotped the directives which aim to limit the effects of fishing on deep water fish and their weakened habitats. The directives suggest a framework which the nations must adhere to when they are fishing on the high seas outside of their national jurisdiction," indicates the specialised agency whose HQ is in Rome.

According to figures published by Eurostat on 3rd September the euro area GDP decreased by 0.2% and that of the EU by 0.1% in comparison with the previous quarter. Over the first quarter of 2008 growth rates lay at 0.7% in the euro area and 0.6% in the EU. In comparison with the 2nd quarter of 2007 the GDP of the euro area recorded growth of 1.4% and the EU, 1.6% against 2.1% and 2.3% in the previous quarter.

According to figures published by Eurostat on 5th September, with the EU-Ukraine summit in mind on 9th September, trade between the EU and the Ukraine more than tripled between 2000 and 2007. Exports rose from 5.5 to 22.4 billion euros whilst imports increased from 4.8 to 12.4 billion euros. In 2007 the Ukraine comprised 2% of EU exports and 1% of EU imports and was its 16th trade partner. Manufactured goods comprised 3/4 of European exports. The Ukraine's main trade partners in the EU are Germany, Poland and Italy.

The Bruegel Institute has published a paper by Dalia Marin " The New Corporation in Europe" which shows how European companies are adapting their production structures after enlargement. According to the author the integration of the new Member States is helping to keep companies in Europe. As globalisation spreads the Union will have to increase its work to integrate the economies of its neighbours as part of the neighbourhood policy in order to avoid relocation.

The conflict between Moscow and Tbilissi will cost the Georgian economy up to two billion euro according to a study published on 3rd September by the Vienna Institute for Economic Studies. In its assessment the Institute took into account both material damage - figures presented by Georgian President Mikhail Saakachvili at the end of August lay at 1.4 billion euro - the future decline of production, exports and investments in the country. "Over the last few years, Georgia has experienced a real boom particularly thanks to the construction of oil and gas pipelines. Investor confidence in this area may decrease in the wake of the crisis. And we also may see a return of violence in the Nagorno-Karabakh," notes Vassili Astrov, one of the study's authors.

The British think-tank Chatham House has just published a study by Guy de Jonquières on the "Doha Débâcle". The author looks into the perspectives of the international trade system. In his opinion the failure of this is rather more to do with the dysfunction of the WTO institutions that have to adapt to world economic changes than to differences between the Member States.

The Bertelsmann Foundation has published a study "One voice for the Euro". In economic terms the euro is a success. Now it is time to upgrade the po-litical importance of the Eurozone. The Europeans would like to play a greater leadership role in the global economy. That is precisely the reason why they should pave the way for a reform of the International Monetary Fund, and pool the representation of their interests in the IMF. Author Robert Vehrkamp advises that above all it is up to Germany and France to take the lead.

The Robert Schuman House has published a collective work managed by Sylvain Schirmann entitled "Robert Schuman et les Pères de l'Europe". The first part brings together the work undertaken by twenty researchers and historians in a seminar on 10th-12th October 2007; it reveals the life and thought of Robert Schuman. The second part focusses on the intellectual and political education of the Fathers of Europe.