The first round of the presidential election in Portugal will take place on 23rd January. The president of the Republic is elected every five years by direct universal suffrage. Anyone who wants to stand must be aged at least 35 and collate the signatures of at least 7,500 voters. Six people are running this time: Anibal Cavaco Silva, outgoing head of State; Manuel Alegre, Socialist Party; Francisco Lopes, Communist Party ; Fernando Nobre, independent candidate; Defensor de Moura, independent candidate; José Manuel Coelho, New Democracy Party. Just one month before the election Anibal Cavaco Silva is running as favourite. Several polls forecast his victory in the first round. If no candidate achieves an absolute majority on 23rd January a second round will be organised between the two candidates who have won the greatest number of votes on 6th February.

According to a press release presented on 31st December by the National Statistics Bureau the country's economy recorded growth of 0.2% in the third quarter of 2010 in comparison with the same period the year previously. This growth marks the first step towards recovery by the economy since the end of 2008.

On 29th December the European Commission announced the arrival in 2011 of "universal" chargers for mobile phones: harmonised standards to ensure the safety of chargers have just been published and the "first universal chargers and mobile phones that match the new standards are due to enter the European market in the first months of 2011. Promised a long time ago the standards do not concern multifunction telephones that can be connected to a computer or internet (Blackberry or iPhone for example).

On 20th December last the 27 Environment Ministers approved an agreement establishing a European standards scale in terms of CO2 emissions for light utility vehicles. This agreement plans for a 175g/km limit on the average CO2 emission for these light vehicles registered in the EU as of January 2013. Ministers also reached agreement on the new European rules with regard to biocidal products (insecticides, disinfectants and repellents). For the very first time this new rule prohibits substances in biocidal products that can cause cancer, mutations and fertility problems. Finally ministers recalled the importance of assessing environmental risks as part of the authorisation procedures involving GMO's.

High Representative Catherine Asthon appointed Nicholas Westcott as Director of the European Diplomatic Service (EEAS) for Africa on 6th January. She welcomed the appointment of Claude-France Arnould, as Executive Director of the European Defence Agency for a three year term in office.

On 9th January German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle travelled to Afghanistan; he met Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul as well as the Afghan President Hamid Karzai. He declared that Germany would continue to support Afghanistan after 2014 - the date when NATO troops are due to transfer responsibility for security over to the Afghan security forces. "Germany will continue to support Afghanistan after 2014 particularly in the area of training the Afghan police," he said during a press conference.

On 6th January 207 days after the last general elections in Belgium the country was plunged again into crisis with the announcement of a new failure: Johan Vande Lanotte who was in charge of writing the paper that aimed to bring the points of view of the four Dutch speaking parties and the three French speaking groups together over the future of the Belgian Federal State, announced his resignation. He said that he had not encountered "enough determination to start negotiations" on the part of those involved. The two main parties in Flanders, the New Flemish Alliance (NVA, secessionist right) and the CD&V (Christian Democrats) had "fundamental remarks" to make with regard to the draft institutional reform that he had laid out.

Spanish Parliament approved the 2011 austerity budget on 21st December 177 votes in favour, 171 against - this aims to reduce public deficits drastically. The government that only has a relative majority in the Chamber of Deputies concluded agreements with two regional parties to ensure the approval of the budget - these were the Basque Nationalist Party( PNV, Centre Right) and the Canaries Coalition.

On January 1st Estonia became the 17th member of the euro area. 1.3 million Estonians bid farewell to their currency, the crown, - this replaced the Soviet rouble in 1992 after the Baltic country's divorce with the USSR. Estonia is the third country from Central and Eastern Europe to adopt the euro after Slovenia (2007) and Slovakia (2009).

Since January 1st Finland has been ensuring the presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers for a one year period. Its aim is to improve the role played by Nordic countries in the fight to counter climate change.

On 6th January the law with regard to various measures was promulgated to adapt the French law to that of the European Union. It enables France to catch up in the transposal of several community directives in the area of environment and climate, with regard to the establishment of a geographical information infrastructure in the European Community, the application of the Kyoto protocol, the emissions permit and legal security with regard to France's international commitments. In addition to this it includes several measures relative to regulated professions and activities such as chartered surveyors, the running of a driving school and even automotive experts.

In the night of 22nd to 23rd December the Greek parliament adoptd the draft budget 2011 that plans for 14 billion euros in savings in order to respect the strict conditions set by the EU and the IMF in exchange for their aid to balance the country's economy.

Since January 1st Hungary is ensuring the presidency of the Council of Ministers of the EU. The Hungarian Presidency's site was presented to the press on 3rd January.

On 1st January Lithuania took the chair of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Giedrius Cekuolis, former Ambassador of Lithuania in France was appointed as Special Representative of the OSCE by Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Azubalis. The latter would like energy security and IT, together with the fight to counter drug trafficking to be the focus of attention amongst the OSCE's 56 members, the HQ of which is in Vienna.

The Dutch government decided to dispatch a new contingent to Afghanistan comprising 545 men and which will focus on the training of local police forces - six months after the withdrawal of Dutch soldiers from the country said Prime Minister Mark Ruttte on 7th January. "The government decided to dispatch a training contingent for the police forces in Afghanistan covering the period 2011-2014," he declared. The dispatch of this mission still has to be approved by Dutch MPs.

On 22nd December the Romanian Parliament adopted the draft budget 2011, 207 votes against 143 - this was vital for the release of the aid agreed in 2009 by the IMF and the EU. The budget forecasts growth of 1.5% after a GDP contraction of around 2% expected in 2010. Bucarest is promising to bring the public deficit down to 4.4% against 6.8% in 2010 as it cuts into current spending. In spite of the measures that aim to balance public finance the government says that this project will mean a 15% rise in civil servants' salaries", that were cut by a quarter in July.

On 5th January British Prime Minister David Cameron was host to company heads who have promised to take part in a £100 million fund (115 million euros) designed to launch a campaign to promote tourism in Britain across the world by giving value to several upcoming events of international scope: the marriage of Prince William in April 2011, celebrations of Queen Elizabeth's II Jubilee for the 60th anniversary of her reign and the Olympic Games in London in 2012. The Prime Minister hopes to be able to create 50,000 jobs with these events and take advantage of £2 billion (around 2.3 billion euros) in additional spending on the part of foreign tourists.

On 29th December the Croatian Parliament approved the ministerial reshuffle undertaken by Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor (HDZ, Conservative). Several ministers were appointed: Martina Dalic - Finance Minister; Domagoj Milosevic as Deputy Prime Minister responsible for Investments; Davor Bozinovic - Defence Minister; Branko Bacic at the Construction Ministry and Jasen Mesic at the Culture Ministry.

Three pro-European parties announced on 30th December their continued alliance to form a government that has a majority of 59 seats out of 101. However two MPs were still lacking in order to elect the Head of State. The head of the Communist Party Vladimir Voronin did however initimate that there might be a compromise: "It would be good if a neutral candidate were to be put forward." Marian Lupu was elected as the leader of Parliament. In this capacity he is now interim Head of State in line with the Moldovan Constitution.

On 29th December the Montenegrin Parliament approved the new government led by Igor Luksic, 46 votes against 25 and 2 abstentions. Five new ministers were appointed and the European Integration Ministry was merged with the Foreign Office. Mr Luksic promised to establish economic and structural reforms and to ensure the country's fiscal and financial stability.

The French naval shipyards DCNS and STX and the Russian OSK are to build two warships together for the Russian navy according to the Mistral model at the end of an official bilateral agreement which might be extended by the building of two additional ships. In a joint press release published on 24th December the French and Russian Presidencies "said they were pleased with the achievement of this unprecedented cooperation that will be beneficial for industry and employment in both countries; it also illustrates the desire and ability on the part of both France and Russia to develop major partnerships in all areas including that of defence and security."

The Federal Council appointed Micheline Calmy-Rey as President of the Helvetic Confederation for 2011.

From 4th to 13th January Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Li Keqiang will be travelling to Spain, then Germany and the UK. In Madrid on 4th January Li Keqiang met the second Spanish Deputy Prime Minister, Elena Salgado, the King of Spain Juan Carlos and Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Both sides signed a series of cooperation agreements on finance, telecoms, energy and agricultural products. During his meeting with German Chancellor on 7th January they addressed bilateral relations, economic cooperation and dialogue on Human Rights. On 9th January the Chinese Deputy Prime Minister arrived in the UK for the last stage in his European journey. He first spoke in Edinburgh with Scottish Prime Minister Alex Salmond of relations between China and Scotland. On 10th January he will be in London to meet his British counterpart Nick Clegg, Prime Minister David Cameron and Finance Minister Georges Osborne.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) called on 5th January for the Belarus authorities to stop the repression of independent media and journalists after the controversial presidential election there. "I am deeply concerned about the unprecedented wave of violence, intimidation, arrests and persecution of journalists that started after the presidential election on 19th December 2010," wrote Dunja Mijatovic, responsible for the media at the OSCE to the head of Belrus diplomacy Serguey Martinov in a letter that has been published.

Euro area annual inflation is expected to be 2.2% in December 2010 according to a flash estimate issued by Eurostat on 4th January. It was 1.9% in November. It is the highest rate of inflation since October 2008 when it reached 3.2% said Eurostat. It then fell to 2.1% in November 2008, before dropping long term below the 2% threshold.

The Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES) has published a study on the justice and internal affairs policy of the EU after the Lisbon Treaty written by Arnold Kammel and Marie Lukova. The authors analyse the most important changes included in the Lisbon Treaty and explain the content of the Stockholm programme as well as the EU's internal security strategy.

The French Institute for International Relations (IFRI) has published a book entitled "L'Europe et le monde en 2020, essai de prospective franco-allemande," (Europe and the World in 2020: a Franco-German prospective), written by Andreas Marchetti and Louis-Marie Clouet. Using their expertise and scientific work 23 German and French researchers offer readers a unique prospective analysis of the EU and the world in 2020.

The German Museum Federation has built a new web site (www.museumbildet.de) which shows what is on offer in German museums. The new database offers more than 900 cultural venues organised by Land.