On 5th March next 4.4 million Slovaks are being called to ballot to renew the 150 members of the National Council of the Republic, the only chamber of parliament, 23 parties are running.

The third edition of the Permanent Atlas of the European Union is a work of reference which presents the Union, its institutions, each of its 28 Member States and now a new feature - their overseas territories - via their history, their culture and their everyday life...

The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk announced his proposals in response to requests to reform the Union put forward by British Prime Minister David Cameron.

On 2nd February the European Commission presented an action plan to counter the financing of terrorism.

On 1st February Cecilia Malmström debated China's status as a market economy with MEPs.

On 3rd February the 28 Member States came to agreement on the financing of 3 billion euro in aid of the refugee situation in Turkey.

An international conference in support of Syria, organised jointly by the UK, Germany, Kuwait, Norway and the UN, took place on 4th February in London in view of collating funds to help those affected by war in Syria.

On 4th February the ECB published the first economic bulletin 2016 devoted to recent economic and monetary developments.

On 4th February the Dutch Defence Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and her German counterpart, Ursula von der Leyen, signed two agreements on enhanced military cooperation.

On February 1st the Belgian and French Prime Ministers, Charles Michel and Manuel Valls decided to step up bilateral and European cooperation in terms of data exchange and reporting.

On 2nd February the leader of the lower chamber of the Spanish parliament announced the appointment of Pedro Sanchez by King Felipe VI to form a new government.

In an analytical paper dated February 3rd France Stratégie estimates the long term financial losses if the Schengen agreements were relinquished at 10 billion euro.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny announced on 3rd February the dissolution of the lower house of parliament (Dáil Éireann) by the President of Ireland Michael D Higgins. Elections will be held on 26th February next.

On 3rd February Beata Szydlo, the Polish Prime Minister held talks with the French President François Hollande in Paris.

On February 5th the European Commission adopted an opinion on Portugal's 2016 draft budget indicating that there was a continued danger of "non-conformity" with the requirements of the Stability Pact.

On 5th February British Prime Minister David Cameron travelled to Warsaw and to Copenhagen.

On 2nd February Martin Valfridsson (national coordinator for vulnerable European citizens) delivered his report in which he recommends that migrant children surviving from begging should no longer have access to Swedish schools.

Ukrainian Economy Minister Aïvaras Abromavicius announced that he was resigning from government on 3rd February.

On 5th February Peter Sutherland, the Special Envoy of the Secretary General for International Migration, indicated that it was a moral responsibility for European countries to help the refugees.

On 2nd February the US announced that they were quadrupling their military spending in Europe in 2017. The present package of 789 million $ is due to rise to 3.4 billion $.

Around 60% of young Europeans in the first part of their secondary education were learning at least two foreign languages in 2014 announced Eurostat on 1st February.

The European Affairs Committee at the French National Assembly has delivered an information report by Jean-Patrick Gille on European unemployment insurance.

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) is hosting an exhibition on Anton Maria Zanetti from 10th February to 3rd April next. This artist played a major role in 18th century Venetian cultural life.