On 27th January last the Montenegrin Parliament voted 42 votes in favour, 13 against and 9 abstentions for its own dissolution, thereby opening the way to early elections, one year before the end of the planned term in office. The election will take place on 29th March at the same time as early local elections, notably in Zabljak, Tivat, Cetinje, Niksic and Budva. The monocameral Parliament comprises 81 MPs elected within a national constituency via a proportional system. Each list has to win at least 3% of the vote cast to be represented. Montenegro has been dominated for the last fifteen years by the Democratic Union of Socialists led by Milo Djukanovic, Prime Minister since 8th January 2003 and Filip Vujanovic, former Prime Minister (1998-2002), elected President of the Republic on 11th May 2003 and re-elected on 6th April 2008. The real stake in this general election is to see whether the UDS will succeed in winning the absolute majority or whether the votes for the Social Democratic Party will be necessary to form the next government coalition.

According to figures published by the German Statistics Office Destatis on 25th February the German GDP fell by 2.1% in the fourth quarter in comparison with the third, ie the greatest quarterly GDP decline in Germany since reunification in 1990. With price adjustment exports suffered in particular, dropping by 7.3% over one year, which was greater than imports (-3.6%) over the same period whilst industrial investment in the country dimished by 4.9% putting an end to 8 consecutive quarterly rises. Over the quarter consumer expenditure declined by 0.1% and the construction sector, which had been relatively safe from the crisis until now dropped by 1.3%. In 2008 the German GDP diminished by 1.7% in comparison with 2007. This decline is due to gather speed to reach 2 to 2.5% in 2009 according to the government and it will rise to 4% in 2010.

A parliamentary delegation from both sides of the Mediterranean travelled to the Middle East between 22nd and 24th February to take stock of the situation in the wake of the recent conflict and to try and revive the peace process. It was led by Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the European Parliament and the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly. "Our aim is to help revive the peace process and to work for this. We are convinced that under UN guidance a peaceful, sustainable solution based on the co-existence of the two States can be found for the Middle East ," he said.

On 23rd February Stockholm and Hamburg were named as the first winners of the new European Green Capital award. The Swedish capital will be European Green Capital in 2010 followed by Hamburg in 2011. The European Commission's new award scheme encourages cities to improve the quality of urban life by taking the environment systematically into account in urban planning. According to Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, "With their measures to tackle air pollution, traffic and congestion levels, greenhouse gas emissions, and waste and waste water management, Stockholm and Hamburg can act as role models for the rest of Europe."

On 23rd and 24th February the 27 Foreign Ministers looked into proposals aiming to provide additional aid as part of the European economic recovery plan in terms of investments in energy and infrastructure. These proposals plan for additional investment to a total of 5 billion euros. They maintained their commitment to Afghanistan. With regard to the peace process in the Middle East they set out the EU's contribution to the international conference for the reconstruction of Gaza on 2nd March in Charm-el-Cheikh.

On 25th February Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission for "Justice, Freedom and Security" attended the plenary session debates of the Economic and Social Committee with regard to the European immigration policy. He highlighted the positive effect of immigration on the European economy and the key role played by European civil society in promoting this policy. EESC Chairman, Mario Sepi, assured the Commissioner of its support of the harmonisation of the immigration and asylum policies in Europe. After the debate the Committee adopted two opinions on this subject: "A joint immigration policy in Europe" and "A plan for an Asylum Policy".

According to figures published on 25th February by the German Statistics Office (Destatis), the German 2008 deficit lay at 0.1% of the GDP ie 3.3 billion euros. This is the lowest figure since 2004 when it lay at 4%. Municipalities and the social security have even recorded surpluses contrary to the Federal State and the Länder. These encouraging results are the result of the budgetary consolidation work undertaken by the German government. However this trend will not be able to continue because of the world economic and financial crisis. The recovery plans adopted by the government should lead to an increase in loans even though the government would like to continue work to reduce the budgetary deficit.

Voting by post in Austria for the European elections on 7th June has been simplified. Notably it will no longer be necessary to mention the hour and date of the vote on the electoral card. Any postage costs will be paid by the State but citizens will have to hand in their voting slip to the appropriate authority. On 7th June Austrian voters will elect 18 MEPs to represent them in the European Parliament.

On 23rd February Spanish Justice Minister, Mariano Fernandez Bermejo announced his resignation after having been criticised for his management of a corruption affair and for the recent judges' strike in Spain. He was replaced by Francisco Caamano, who was Secretary of State for Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs until now.

On 25th February the EU Member States appointed two Finnish judges and the first Finnish Advocate General to the European Communities. Judge Allan Rosas who has served the European Court of Justice for a long time will continue to hold his position as judge.

On 26th February the French Employment minister announced that the unemployment rate had risen by 4.3% in January when 90,200 people registered with the unemployment agency. This is the highest rise in the number of unemployed in one month. The rise involves men more than women, +5.5% and +2.9% respectively, and more young people (+5.1%) than the 50+ age group (+3.9%).

Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany met the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso on 26th February in Brussels. He spoke in favour of quicker integration into the euro area by countries "which have undertaken a great amount of work" starting with Hungary. Whilst saying that he supported the rapid entry of the greatest number possible of EU countries into the euro area Mr Barroso said that it was first up to the candidate countries to "adapt to entry conditions to the euro area". The President of the European Commission refused to "speculate in public" on the possible "changes to the membership rules" recalling that it was not up to the Commission but the governments in the euro area and the European Central Bank.

On the occasion of the 27th Franco-Italian energy summit that took place in Rome on 24th February the Italian and French energy groups, ENEL and EDF signed a nuclear co-operation agreement. This agreement which was welcomed by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chairman of the Italian Council Silvio Berlusconi, focuses on the construction of at least "four third generation nuclear reactors (EPR) in Italy." ENEL and EDF will create a company owned on an equal basis to look into the feasibility of the project. However ENEL will be the majority shareholder in the structures which will own and manage the plants - structures whose capital will also be open to third parties. The agreement is set for five year span and may be extended.

On 26th February former Latvian Finance Minister Valdis Dombrovskis was appointed Prime Minister. He has been asked by the Latvian President to form a new government after the collapse of the ruling coalition. The choice of Finance minister was made necessary during this time of economic crisis. The new Prime Minister belongs the main opposition party, New Era. Until now he was MEP, (EPP-ED, LV).

The European Budget and Financial Programming Commissioner, Dalia Grybauskaite announced on 26th February that she would be standing for the presidential election in Lithuania in May. She explained that the world economic situation and the prospects over the next two years with regard to Lithuania in the context of the economic crisis and finally the violent demonstrations that took place in Vilnius on 16th January had convinced her to stand.

Luxembourg Treasury and Budget Minister, Luc Frieden undertook a working visit of Austria on 25th February. He met Vice-Chancellor and Finance Minister Josef Pröll. During their interview they spoke of on-going international and European issues with regard to the financial markets. Luxembourg has joined the Austrian initiative for a European stabilisation plan for the Financial Systems in Eastern Europe, which Vienna would like to see adopted by the 27. The Grand Duchy "showed its support for the Austrian initiative to guarantee the stability of the economy and markets in Central and Eastern Europe," said Josef Pröll after his meeting with Luc Frieden. The two countries agree that "the economic stability of Eastern Europe affects all of Europe and has to be dealt with on a European level," he added.

On 27th February Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he hoped that there would be an easing in the integration criteria into the European Monetary System for the zloty in order to accelerate his country's adoption of the euro. For a long time the Polish government has been speaking of 2012 as the deadline in terms of Poland's entry into the euro area but recently admitted that the date might now come later. The present mechanisms in application plan that before the formal adoption of the euro, Poland has to have been a member of the so-called "ERM2" system for at least two years - this system limits fluctuations in the national currency values to around 15% in comparison with the euro. But the zloty is not fulfilling this condition: it has lost more than 30% of its value in comparison with the euro since September.

On 25th February the Romanian government adopted the draft laws targeting the Penal Code, the Penal Procedure Code and the Civil Procedure Code, announced Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc. "These are normative acts to modernise the entire judicial system in Romania," he said. The adoption of the drafts for these new judicial instruments will help to decrease the length of litigations particularly in the civil and penal areas; administrative costs and those paid by the public will be cut since they fall in line with European regulations. They also mirror the European Commission's requirements as expressed in its most recent interim report published mid-February.

On 24th February British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was determined to ensure that banks lent money to companies and to private parties who were trying to "continue to live an ordinary life in an "extraordinary" period." According to the Prime Minister the protection of households, jobs and savings were his amin priorities. This year and in 2010 the Northern Rock bank, now owned by the government is due to lend 14 billion additional pounds in mortgages. He said that the pillars of the British recovery plan were: preventing the collapse of the banks, boosting the economy via investment and reducing taxes as well as implementing new policies to boost bank loans. In his opinion only international action will lead to a solution with regard to the recession. He announced the launch of an internet site which detailed the measures taken by the UK to recover from the crisis.

Slovenian Prime Minister, Borut Pahor held a meeting with his Croatian counterpart Ivo Sanader on 24th February. The meeting was mainly devoted to the exchange of information on establishing direct dialogue to deal more effectively with issues pending between the two countries.

Norway, which has one of the largest merchant fleets in the world is to send a frigate to take part in the EU anti-piracy operation, Atalante, off Somalia said the Defence Minister on 27th February.

On 25th February the Swiss government decided to send thirty soldiers to take part in the European "Atalante" operation in the fight against piracy off Somalia. Switzerland will provide "a medical team comprising a doctor and medical staff, up to four Commanding Offices, two army reconnaissance teams, grenadiers and three legal specialists." The Swiss government estimated the cost of its participation in the EU operation to a total of 9.8 million Swiss francs (6.6 million euros).

The Ukrainian company Naftogaz believed that it may encounter difficulties in paying its February gas bill to the Russian company Gazprom due to the catastrophic debts owed to it by local heating companies. The debt lies at over 500 million dollars for supplies made in 2008. Naftogaz has to pay this bill by 7th March. If there is a delay then Gazprom has the right to demand a forward payment until 2019 for gas supplies to the Ukraine. The Ukrainian authorities are trying to be optimistic about this saying that the national bank has already prepared the necessary sum to pay for the gas in dollars although Naftogaz does not have the means to pay. Another issue that has to be resolved: Naftogaz would like to import less Russian gas than the 40 billion m3 planned for in the contract agreed on 19th January in Moscow.

According to Eurostat figures published on 24th February in December 2008 compared with November 2008, the euro area industrial new orders index fell by 5.2%. In the EU new orders declined by 6.4% in December 2008, after dropping by 5.1% in November. Excluding ships, railway and aerospace equipment, industrial new orders fell by 4.7% in the euro area and by 6.4% in the EU. In December 2008 compared with December 2007, industrial new orders decreased by 22.3% in the euro area and by 23.3% in the EU. Total industry excluding ships, railway & aerospace equipment dropped by 22.1% in the euro area and by 21.2% in the EU.

The March issue of the review World Today published by Chatham House is mainly dedicated to the world economic and financial crisis and to the challenges that the G20 meeting will have to rise to in London on 2nd April next. The review also devotes several articles to conflicts on the African continent and the sustainable transport.

Choiseul publishing has released a book by Pierre Verluise entitled "20 ans après la chute du mur, l'Europe recomposée." Via a number of articles the author provides the elements necessary to understand the issues and perspectives of Europe in the 21st century. This work is prefaced by Jean-Dominique Giuliani, Chairman of the Robert Schuman Foundation.

The Pompidou Centre has suggested bringing together several major modern and comtemporary art museums with regard to a European offer : a European "pass" called "Museo Libre!, European Museum Card" rallying seven partner museums: the Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Berardo Museum in Lisbon, the Castello di Rivoli in Turin, the Sztuki Museum in Lodz, the Mudam in Luxembourg and the Pompidou Centre in Paris. This annual card designed for students under 26 within the EU, will allow them to visit freely the collections and temporary exhibitions in the seven major European museums of modern and contemporary art. The card costs 25 euros.