Just as the Greek crisis shook the strength of the euro area the Chairman of the Robert Schuman Foundation, Jean-Dominique Giuliani published an editorial on his internet site "The European Union: from the Zollverein to power?" in which he pleads in favour of budgetary coordination between the members of the Eurosystem so that they speak with one voice within international financial organisations.

According to an OECD study published on 17th February the GDP in the OECD zone rose by 0.8% in the fourth quarter of 2009 higher in comparison with growth of 0.6% witnessed in the previous quarter. In the USA and Japan the GDP increased by 1.4% and 1.1% respectively. GDP growth in the euro area slowed by 0.1% in the fourth quarter. Year on year the GDP in the OECD zone declined by 0.7% after a fall of 3.4% in the third quarter of 2009. The main part in GDP decline in the OECD zone can be explained by developments within the euro area which represents 0.5 percentage points overall.

On 18th February the European Commission gave the greenlight for the acquisition of Yahoo's on-line search activities by Microsoft since this merger does not significantly impede competition in Europe. In virtue of this agreement Microsoft will acquire a ten year licence over Yahoo's search technologies and will become the exclusive supplier of results and advertisements and will retain 12% of the revenue generated. This will enable it to increase its market share and thereby compete against Google which has a 90% market share, since the enhancement of competition may provide greater added value to advertisers.

On 18th February MEPs approved three resolutions with regard to Human Rights. With regard to Venezuela they said they were concerned with the authoritarian drift of President Hugo Chavez who has closed channels that did not broadcast one of his speeches; he also severly repressed demonstrations that followed. MEPs also condemned the "coup d'Etat" by Mr Rajoelina in Madagascar which infringes the agreements of power sharing between the Madagascan parties; they also condemned the repression of the opposition, the censorship of the media and the initimidation and arrest of journalists. Finally they called on the Burmese junta to stop using child soldiers and ethnic cleansing campaigns and to guarantee that the next elections will take place in line with international norms, notably with the liberation and participation of Aung San Suu Kyi. To support this resolution MEPs asked the Council to maintain restrictions targeting the Burmese regime and for it to assess the effectiveness of the measures taken.

The Finance Ministers of the 16 Member States of the euro area who met on 15th January looked into the economic situation of the euro area. According to Eurogroup chair, Jean-Claude Juncker "growth is asserting itself but will remain weak and moderate in 2010." They gave Greece one month for it to show the first results in its recovery plan with regard to public finance. Although the situation is not satisfactory it will have to take additional measures. On 16th March next the Greek government will send the European Commission and the European Central Bank a report on the results achieved. Greece committed to reducing its public deficit by four GDP points, dropping from 12.75% to 8.70% in 2010 and to bring this below the 3% mark in 2012. They agreed to put forward the present governor of the Central Bank of Portugal, Vitor Constancio, as the future Vice-President of the European Central Bank.

On 17th February one week after the Federal Constitutional Court questioned the means of calculating social minima in the wake of the Hartz IV reform in Germany the Employment and Family Minister published a catalogiue of "exceptional needs" which will be effectively funded by the nation. The Federal Constitutional Court declared that the present means of calculating benefits was unconstitutional because it did not allow people to live decently from a material, cultural or social point of view. It asked for reform before the end of the year. In the meantime recipients of social minima benefits can ask the State to fund exceptional needs. The publication of a catalogue of measures aims to avoid an anarchical rise in demands for "exceptional requirements'" funds on the part of these recipients whose benefits total 359 euros per month (plus rent and heating).

The 14 Ministers of the Danube basin who met on 16th February in Vienna committed to cleaning up and protecting this 2,860km long river, the second biggest in Europe in length after the Volga. The representatives of the countries lying on the banks of the Danube (Germany, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Montenegro and Moldova) as well as executives from the European Commission adopted a management plan to implement by 2015 so that "the river's environmental situation together with that of its affluents are improved". Various measures have been planned ranging from a reduction in pollution, the maintenance of dykes and the construction of hydro-electric power stations.

Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme has made a trip to the Balkans. He travelled to Albania, Montenegro and Serbia on 16th February. He said how happy he was with the work achieved by the Balkan countries over the last few years "a region that had been destabilised by war" and in "which there were now democracies that were working towards a market economy, truly set in a Euro-Atlantic trend." He also pointed to Albania's integration which would be a factor of stability in the region.

DONG Energy, the energy leader in Northern Europe and Siemens signed a cooperation agreement in areas such as energy consumption, renewable energy and CO2 emissions. Both parties should use joint knowledge and technology to stimulate new initiatives in terms of optimisation, distribution and energy production. The partnership should also focus on buildings designed to produce energy for their own consumption as well as on consulting advice on the part of the energy sector for private and public companies. Siemens is also planning to improve the energy efficacy of its buildings and installations. Siemens will buy its electricity from the offshore wind farm Horns Rev 2, held by Dong Energy in the North Sea off the Danish coast. Horns Rev 2 was inaugurated in September 2009 and is at present the biggest offshore wind farm.

On 17th February the working group for the growth project gave Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen its interim report. It appears that the potential of the information society to renew working methods and develop new prodcuts is of vital importance for the future of Finland. New solutions might then help enhance productivity, guarantee social redistribution in spite of a reduction in the labour force and support the competitiveness of companies in Finland. The group's goal established in autumn 2009 is to identify the means that will enable the promotion of improvements in productivity in 2010. The issue of employment will therefore be the focus of debate.

On 17th February the examination of the proposal to align women's rights in France with those of European countries where they receive greater guarantee took place a mood of consensus, with all the amendments from the left and the right being adopted. "We do not think that this resolution would be accepted as it stood, that it would be unanimously accepted including the amendments," said rapporteur Pascale Crozon. This clause of "the most advantaged European woman" aims to establish an inventory of the most advantageous legislation for women in Europe and to retain the best ones.

On a visit to London on 19th Feburary Greek Prime Minister Georges Papandreou announced that Greece was not asking the EU for a rescue plan. He re-iterated that his county had a progressive reform programme to face the crisis. He denounced the apathy of the previous government and recalled that Greek citizens widely supported his programme and were determined to change their country. In answer to journalists after his interview with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown he said he preferred to wait for the assessment of his programme on 15th March before announcing any new measures. Mr Papandreou excluded any requests of the IMF.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle travelled to Hungary on 17th February. He met Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai as well as his counterpart, Peter Balazs. In an interview with the Hungarian newspaper "Nepszabadsag" he explained the main orientations in Germany's foreign policy. He said he intended to direct Germany's policy towards central and eastern Europe to achieve as high a level of confidence and cooperation as that which Germany has developed with France.

The National Statistics Institute (Istat) published data on 15th February relative to trade in December 2009. With regard to flows wih other Union countries exports and imports respectively recorded an increase of 1.4% and 9.1% in comparison with December 2008; this resulted in a trade deficit that grew to reach 1.396 million euros. On a monthly basis exports increased by 3.3%, imports by 3%. If all trade with all countries in the world is taken into account, in comparison with the previous year exports declined by 1.9% and imports by 3% (bringing the deficit to 123 million euros) but in comparison with November 2009 there has been a rise of 4.4% and 1.6% respectively.

Irish Defence Minister Willie O'Dea presented his resignation on 18th February after wrongly accusing an opposition member of having been involved in the management of a brothel said the government. Willie O'Dea is however challenging the reasons for this resignation which according to him is because the Green party no longer supports the government coalition. The Irish government just avoided a vote of no-confidence on the same day; this could have brought the government down as it has been struggling since the start of the economic crisis.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced on 20th February the end of the government coalition which he had led since 2007. He delivered the resignation of his government to Queen Beatrix. The government has fallen victim to internal differences over the country's continued presence in Afghanistan - which is being requested by NATO beyond the summer. Early general elections are due to take place before the summer according to the Interior Minister. Elections were due to be held in March 2011. The portfolio of the Labour Party ministers are due to be taken over by ministers from the CDA and the CU in a temporary government responsible for managing current affairs and preparing for the elections.

The European Investment Bank is to lend 20.8 million euros for the construction and use of the bioethanol factory in Goswinowice (South West Poland). According to Marta Gajecka, the EIB's Vice-President responsible for lending operations in Central Europe this loan will help the country achieve the specific objective which stipulates that renewable energies will have to represent a minimum 10% of fuels used in transport by 2020. This project will help make Poland less dependent on energy imports and will help to create jobs in a rural area. The new factory will produce 139 million litres of bioethanol per year using local and imported maize.

Romania would like "long term cooperation" with the Russian gas giant Gazprom, declared Romanian Economy Minister Adriean Videanu on 19th February. "Romania which has been invited to join the South Stream Project is going to analyse every initiative that aims to contribute to the country's energy security and to that of the EU with interest," he indicated during a press conference.

According to the British Statistics Office in January the number of job seekers increased in the UK with 23,500 additional unemployed last month ie the highest monthly increase since July 2009. The market was expecting a reduction in applications of around 10,000. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5% of the working population ie 1.635 million unemployed. In the fourth quarter of 2009 unemployment rose to 7.8%. Although employment rates remained at 72.4% it should be noted however that there has been a decline in full time work (-37,000 people) and an increase in part time (+25,000), which generally has not be purposely chosen.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle travelled to Slovakia on 18th February. His Slovakian counterpart Miroslav Lajcak pointed to the major economic partnership which linked the two countries: 400 German companies are established in Slovakia employing 70,000 people.

Unemployment in Sweden increased in January to 9.4% in comparison with 8.6% in December said the Central Statistics Bureau (SCB). From January 2009 to January 2010 unemployment rates had risen by 2.1 percentage points affecting "every age category from 20 to 54" said the SCB. On 31st January 2010 Sweden had 458,000 job seekers ie 108,000 more than a year before and 41,000 more than in December. At the end of January the Swedish government reviewed its economic forecasts and is now reckoning on an unemployment high of 9.5% in 2010 in comparison with 10.7% estimated up until now. After suffering the crisis full on Sweden emerged from recession in the 2nd quarter of 2009 and its new growth forcast of 3% in 2010 is one of the highest in the EU.

The new Croatian President Ivo Josipovic took office on 18th February. Jurist and classical composer he is the country's third president since independence in 1991. He succeeds Stipe Mesic. Ivo Josipovic set his main goals as leading his country into the EU by 2012 and to supporting the fight against corruption. He will have to work with the government led by Jadranka Kosor.

On 17th February Kosovo celebrated two years of independence which is still being challenged by countries such as Serbia and Russia. Kosovar President Fatmir Sejdiu spoke to Parliament and recalled that the young country had a long way to go as far as development was concerned. Serbia reacted by way of its President, Boris Tadic who called on the UN and the Security Council to declare Kosovo's declaration of independence invalid.

On 20th February Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yulia Timoshenko gave up her challenge to the victory of the presidential election by her rival, Viktor Yanukovich thereby opening the way to his investiture as president on 25th February. After more than five hours of debate the college of fifty judges accepted the withdrawal of the case.

The Russian Duma approved Protocal 14 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom thereby amending the Convention's system of control. The President of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Jean-Louis Costa welcomed this vote because the protocol which had already been ratified by the 46 other Member States of the Council of Europe can now come into force. It should enable the improvement in efficacy of the system which examines the cases put to the ECHR.

According to figures published by Eurostat on 17th February for the month of December 2009 the euro area recorded a surplus of 4.4 billion euros with the rest of the world in comparison with -1.8 billion in December 2008. The balance recorded in November 2009 was +4 billion, in comparison with -6.9 billion in November 2008. In December 2009 in comparison with November 2009 exports increased by 3.1% and imports by 1.7%. The first forecasts for the extra-Union trade balance for December 2009 indicated a deficit of 2.5 billion euros in comparison with -11.3 billion in December 2008. In November 2009 the balance lay at -6.8 billion in comparison with -24.4 billion in November 2008. In December 2009 in comparison with November 2009 seasonally corrected export figures rose by 2% and imports by 0.5%.

La Documentation Française has published in its series "Réflexes Europe" a paper by Fabien Terpan on "The EU's foreign, security and defence policy". With the Laeken Declaration in 2001 the European Security and Defence Policy became an operational part of the CFSP with the aim of acting to resolve crises via operational, civilian and military means. With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1st December 2009 the ESDP became the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).

Until 18th July the Pinacothèque in Paris is devoting an exhibition to Norwegian painter, Edvard Munch (1863-1944), known only for one piece of work: the Cry, emblematic but not representative of his entire work. The exaggerated fame of this picture led to the eclipse of the artist's real dimension and true message. The exhibition shows the other face of Munch via 60 paintings and 40 drawings.