The EU will not give the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia the green light for starting accession talks next week as the Balkan country had hoped.

A majority of French would prefer to have a referendum on the newly agreed EU treaty, rather than a parliamentary ratification as decided by president Nicolas Sarkozy, a fresh survey has shown.

High-level talks between the EU and Russia in Mafra, Portugal, on 26 October, failed to yield any progress on the most contentious issues in the relationship.

The EU's new treaty is the same as the rejected constitution - only the format has been changed to avoid referendums, says Valery Giscard d'Estaing, architect of the constitution.

Force planning procedures, financial arrangements, and reserve forces issues were all debated. These discussions could be seen at the basis for consultations which will lead to fairer burden sharing.

"US missile defence proposals are unacceptable and do not suit Russia," Serdyukov said.

Cooperation was the word on the lips of many speakers at the SDA’s annual conference, "Defining a European Security Strategy," co-organised with Thales and Finmeccanica.

NATO Defence Ministers began their meeting in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, with two discussions on operations, primarily NATO's top operational priority: Afghanistan.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi said Italy might block the new system from being inserted in the new EU Treaty to be agreed at a summit in Lisbon next week.

Just one week before EU leaders meet in Lisbon, the UK prime minister has pulled the veto card, threatening his counterparts he will not sign up to the document unless the country's special exemptions are fully respected.

The Portuguese Presidency and the Commission have shown optimism that an agreement can be found on the proposed Reform Treaty.

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called parliamentarians to play a key role in explaining to our publics the Alliance’s main engagements, challenges and its ambitious agenda for the next summit in 2008.

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso is worried that his institution will be sidelined under the new EU treaty which potentially introduces a new power hierarchy into the European Union.

The opposition leader, social democrat Helle Thorning-Schmidt, wants Denmark to enter into a political discussion once the treaty text has been negotiated and not just wait for a legal assessment.

Paris is stepping up its push for tougher sanctions against the Iranian regime while Berlin and Rome are putting up firm opposition.

Russian energy giant Gazprom has threatened to cut gas supplies to Ukraine, just two days after the pro-Western parties claimed victory in parliamentary elections in Ukraine.

Polish prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski on Monday (1 October) defended his EU record in a pre-election TV debate, saying the past two years of scrapping in Brussels have earned Warsaw "respect."

Ukraine's Western-leaning opposition seemed headed for victory on Monday, Oct 1 over pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich's Regions Party in a tightly-contested election.

Their discussions centred on preparations for the upcoming Bucharest Summit, which Romania will host in April 2008.

the NAC will meet with Secretary Rice, Secretary Gates and National Security Advisor Hadley. Discussions will centre on current operations, in particular Afghanistan, and on preparation for the upcoming Bucharest Summit.

The West-oriented parties of Yulia Tymoshenko and president Viktor Yushchenko took 33 percent and 15 percent of votes respectively in Sunday's elections, according to preliminary results.