Leaders of the European Union countries pose for a group photo outside Lisbon's 16th century Jeronimos Monastery after signing the EU's Treaty of Lisbon Thursday, Dec. 13 2007.
(AP Photo/Armando Franca)European Union leaders sign a reform treaty in Lisbon designed to replace the ill-fated EU constitution.
European heads of state signed on Thursday, December 13rd, a new Treaty, replacing the Constitution, in Lisbon. Once it is ratified, this text should facilitate decisions in an expanded EU of 27. Its content has elicited several reservations in the European press.
The Commission, Parliament and Council presidents on Wednesday (12 December) solemnly proclaimed The Charter of Fundamental Rights in the European assembly in Strasbourg, amid shouts from Eurosceptic MEPs.
Spoof road signs are erected in front of the European Commission headquarters in Brussels December 13, 2007. British campaigners for a referendum on the European Union's reform treaty were left deflated on Thursday when a protest stunt came to grief outside an EU summit.
REUTERS/Thierry Roge (BELGIUM)Despite much-improved results over the past two years, EU governments will have to focus more on "investing in people" and "unlocking SMEs' business potential" in the next three years if they are to cope with the competitive challenge of globalisation, the Commission has said.
On December 10th, the Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi arrived in France for a five-day official visit during which he is due to meet politicians, business executives and intellectuals. His presence is causing great controversy, President Nicolas Sarkozy being accused of giving precedence to lucrative commercial contracts at the expense of human rights.
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (R) and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi attend a ceremony for the signature of 10 billion euros of trade contracts between the two countries at the Elysee Palace in Paris, December 10, 2007. (Patrick Hertzog/Pool/Reuters)
by Kiki
Charles Bremmer writes on Gaddafi's visit in Paris and the controversy surrounding it. Sarkozy is defending the visit by arguing that it is important to encourage Libya, which has changed its ways and forsaken Terrorism.
by Adam Lewis
Apparently everybody. A report released today by the Belgian group Netwerk Vlaanderen takes a look at international banks that provide loans and investment services to companies with less-than-stellar human rights records. The companies receiving this capital are in industries such as mining, defense contracting and oil and gas—no surprises there.
The UN tribunal sentenced a former Bosnian Serb general to 33 years imprisonment for ordering the deadly shelling of Sarajevo and terrorising its civilians during the 1992-1995 Bosnia war
European Union leaders fly to Lisbon on Thursday to sign a treaty that most describe as essential to modernise the bloc's institutions after its enlargement in May...
Nicolas Sarkozy's chief political aide stressed in an interview with the FT the French president's determination that the EU should not be a 'machine that just advances on its own' and must allow elected national politicians to exercise more influence over competition, monetary and trade policies
Ekrem Dumanlı Greece, EU member or not?
After Struggle, a New French Mosque Is Born European Muslims, many of whom have spent decades praying in basements and abandoned buildings, find acceptance in new mosques.
Jan Techau , head of the Alfred von Oppenheim Centre for European Studies at the DGAP, says that Europe's role is changing. The dream of a European superstate is redundant. Instead, Europe should be looking beyond its borders.
Continue reading ""EU leaders sign landmark treaty" »
y Joerg Wolf 
