Manoeuvring and negotiations about the choice of person appointed to embody the stable presidency of the EU have gathered pace since the signature of the Lisbon Treaty by the Czech President - indeed the Treaty will now come into force. Amongst the names quoted feature many men and one woman. However women represent more than half of the EU's population. If we want representative institutions then after having granted the Presidency of the European Commission and the European Parliament to men, the presidency of the European Council should be given to a woman. It is not too late. One woman fulfils all of the required conditions: Vaira Vike-Freiberga, former President of Latvia. Support her candidature by signing the on-line petition.

In an interview given to the Swiss newspaper "Le Temps" Mikhail Gorbachev, former Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union explained his experience of the events that led to the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. He admitted that the fall of the Berlin Wall was not so unexpected since changes in Europe were already underway. In his opinion it was the new generation of leaders and not the arms race that led to developments. Mr Gorbachev thinks that the idea behind perestroika was to put an end to the totalitarian system, to develop towards democracy, the market economy, freedom of expression and the press, an opening towards other countries.

The Lisbon Treaty will soon enter force. On this occasion the Robert Schuman Foundation offers an opportunity to look again at its content and implications, via a chapter that brings together the official text, 10 sheets explaining its main innovations as well as the dates of ratification by each of the States and the latest publications by the Foundation on all issues raised by the Lisbon Treaty.

On 3rd November the European Commission published its autumn forecasts for the economic situation in Europe. It is forecasting recovery from the recession in the second half of 2009. The GDP is however due to decline by 4% in 2009. Progressive recovery will set in with the GDP rising by 0.75% in 2010 and by 1.5% in 2011. A rise in economic activity will depend on an improvement in the international economy and financial conditions as well as on monetary and budgetary policy measures taken by the European and national authorities. The unemployment rate is due to rise to 10.25% in the EU. Budgetary deficits are due to reach 7.5% of the GDP on average in 2010 and will progressively be absorbed.

On 4th November MEPs of the Committee for Women's Rights and Gender Equality at the European Parliament put forward measures designed to support equality between the sexes and to reconcile work with family rights and responsibilities. These measures notably enhance existing measures relative to parental leave, by supporting flexible working methods and a fair balance between professional and family life. They also pleaded in favour of a targeted action plan to counter violence perpetrated against women which affects right to life, integrity, security, physical, sexual and mental dignity as well as choice to have children and rights to healthcare.

The issue of climate change was the focus of discussions at the EU-USA Summit on 3rd November in Washington and notably that of how to come to an agreement in Copenhagen which both sides say they are firmly committed to. The situations in Iran and Afghanistan were also discussed. The EU and the USA established a new energy cooperation agreement and established an Energy Council.

On 4th November the European Commission announced the launch of the second part of the ACP-EU Facility funded by the European Development Funds covering the period 2009-2013. The first part concerned the implementation of the Facility whilst the second involves real measures ie joint Union and ACP Group funding to a total of 200 million euros to help poor populations in their access to energy services in line with sustainable development and above all which is cheap but also helps towards fighting climate change.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan received Swedish Migrations and Political Asylum Minister, Tobias Billstrom as well as the Vice President of the European Commission for the area of Justice, Freedom and Security, Jacques Barrot on 5th November in Ankara. This interview provided an opportunity to debate the issue of asylum, the right to return, the granting of visas and other issues linked to migration within the Mediterranean area. The Swedish minister believes that the debate on migratory issues was vital before being able to move on to enhancing cooperation linking Turkey to the EU in areas such as visa granting and illegal immigration in particular.

On 2nd November the German Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle travelled to Paris to meet his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner. He stressed how "precious" he believed Franco-German relations to be and hoped for the enhancement of cooperation between the two countries. The two ministers also said they wanted to "revive" the Weimar Triangle, the forum which rallies Germany, France and Poland. The German minister also met French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and French Prime Minister François Fillon.

On 7th November Cyprus inaugurated a new ultra-modern airport which is due to help the Mediterranean island become a major regional air transport centre and attract more tourists. The new airport at Larnaca was inaugurated by Cypriot President Demetris Christofias, notably with the French Secretary of State for European Affairs Pierre Lellouche.

On 5th November the Finnish and Swedish governments approved the Nord Stream AG project to build an offshore gas pipeline that will cross the Baltic Sea. Nord Stream will be the operator of this system which will include two parallel pipes. These pipelines which will be around 1220 km long will link the Portovaya Bay in the Vyborg-St Petersburg region on the Russian side to Greifswald in Germany passing via the Gulf of Finland. The gas pipeline will cross the exclusive economic zones of Finland and Sweden for 374km and 506km respectively. Denmark already gave the go-ahead on 20th October last. The construction of the pipeline is due to start in the spring of 2010.

The Franco-Polish Summit chaired by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk took place on 5th November. Taking part were the Foreign, Defence, European Affairs, Agriculture and Environment Ministers. During the summit four declarations were adopted with regard to security and defence in the areas of energy, environment and climate and also in terms of culture and heritage - finally a declaration was made on agriculture.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon travelled to Greece on 4th and 5th November. During his visit he met Greek Prime Minister Georges Papandreou and President Karolos Papoulias to discuss the Cypriot issue, illegal immigration as well as climate change and the economic crisis.

The Slovakian and Hungarian Foreign Ministers, Miroslav Lajcak and Peter Balazs set the first foundation stone of the new bridge crossing the river Ipel that runs along the border between the two countries. The two ministers stressed the importance of building bilateral relations. This ceremony comes just as tension, that was excerbated in September when the Hungarian President was refused access to Slovakia, is starting to settle again.

The European Court of Human Rights decided on 3rd November that the presence of a crucifix in Italian school classes is an infringement of parents' rights to educate their children according to their beliefs. The Court gave its decision after the case brought by an Italian citizen who in 2002 asked for the crucifix that was placed in the classrooms in the school where her children were being educated to be removed, pointing to a decision taken in 2000 by the appeal court. The latter said that the crucifix in public places was contrary to the State's secular nature. This decision has been challenged quite vehemently in Italy.

The Romanian parliament rejected the new government on 4th November. Romanian President Traian Basescu put forward a new Prime Minister, Liviu Negoita (P-DL) on 6th November. It is the first time since the Communist era that a Parliament refused to swear in a government. This political instability means that the IMF and the EU are demanding the formation of a new government before they grant the next part of their loan. Romania is expecting the third part of 1.5 billion euros in December from the IMF and one billion from the EU as part of an anti-crisis aid of 20 billion euros granted in the spring by several international creditors in exchange for a major reduction in pubic spending.

British Secretary of State for European Affairs, Chris Bryant received the President of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu on 4th November in London. He said he was pleased that the border dispute with Macedonia had finally been settled and stressed that Britain wanted to see free, local elections organised in Kosovo on 15th November with the participation of all of the communities. They spoke of the European Commission's report on Kosovo's progress on its path to joining the EU.

The ratification of the Lisbon Treaty by the Czech Republic was finalised on 3rd November after a wait that lasted several months. In the morning the Constitutional Court rejected the appeal lodged by the conservative senators and declared that the treaty was compatible with the Czech Constitution. Then several hours later the Czech President Vaclav Klaus signed the text. He notably achieved a dispensation from the Fundamental Rights Charter during the European Council on 29th and 30th October. The government indicated that all of the ratification tools would be in Rome on 13th November next.

The Slovenian and Croatian Prime Ministers, Borut Pahor and Jadranka Kosor, signed an arbitration convention on 4th November. They accepted to subject the border dispute in which the two countries are involved to international arbitration and to accept the verdict. Sweden, which is at present presiding over the European Council made enlargement one of its priorities. The process now continues and Croatia will be able to join the EU in 2011.

Aleksander Milinkevich is organising a European Forum on 14th November in Minsk. This event recalls that Belarus is firmly set in Europe. Several personalities will be taking place.

On 3rd November Radovan Karadzic, former head of the Serbs of Bosnia accepted to stand before judges at the ICTY. He is threatening to boycott the trial in which he is accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the Bosnia-Herzegovina war (1992-1995) because he says he has not had enough time to prepare his defence which he undertaking alone. The ICTY therefore decided to postpone the trial until 1st March 2010 and to appoint a lawyer to work with the accused.

Serb Finance Minister Diana Dragutinovic announced on 4th November that Serbia had come to an agreement with the IMF on the conditions with regard to the use of the loan granted by the latter. In exchange Serbia accepted to freeze salaries and pensions in 2010. The share of public spending in the GDP will drop from 44.5% to 41.4% in 2010. IMF representatives will travel to Serbia in February to check that reforms are being implemented.

According to a Eurobarometer survey published on 9th November by the European Commission, around one European in six says that he has suffered discrimination in the last twelve months ie as many in the previous survey that dates back to 2008. In particular 64% of Europeans are worried in the wake of the rise in youth unemployment during the economic crisis and a possible increase in discrimination linked to age on the labour market. The publication of this sutdy comes just one week before the European Equality Summit on 16th and 17th November next.

On 4th November Eurostat published statistics with regard to industrial production. The industrial production index fell by 0.4% in the euro area and by 0.7% in the EU in September 2009 in comparison with August 2009. In August prices increased by 0.5% however in both areas. The comparison between September 2009 and September 2008 shows a drop of 7.7% in prices in the euro area in comparison with 7.3% in the EU.

Cherche Midi publications have released "Europe à la carte" by Jean-Christophe Bas. This book presents articles by 70 decision makers from across the world and there are as many unique maps showing Europe as time has gone by. This work includes an article by Robert Schuman Foundation Chairman, Jean-Dominique Giuliani.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addictions published its annual report on 5th November with regard to the drugs situation in Europe. This report points to a progressive rise in drugs consumption in Europe. However the most used drug in Europe, cannabis, has declined. According to the report 74 million Europeans (15-64 year olds) have used cannabis at least once in their life in comparison with 13 million who have used cocaine.

The Charlottenburg Castle and the Marienkirche of Berlin are devoting a unique double exhibition to the Renaissance and the works of Lucas Cranach until 24th January 2010. Under the title of "Crananch and Renaissance Art under the Hohenzollern" the exhibition at the Charlottenburg Castle brings together over 200 objects that illustrate the religious conflicts, intellectual progress and cultural fulfilment of this period in the Hohenzollern history in Brandenburg. It also brings together thirty five of Lucas Cranach the Elder's pictures (1472-1553) together with those of his son Lucas Cranach the Younger (1515-1586). For its part the Marienkirche of Berlin is offering a glimpse at the relations between the court and urban society during the Reformation. The exhibition is called "Church, Court and Urban Culture". It notably illustrates the religious role given to the king during the Reformation.