The incoming presidency will focus on the implementation of the new Lisbon cycle for growth and jobs, energy, climate change and relations with the Western Balkans when it takes over the EU helm from 1 January 2008.

For the first time in 2008 the Commission proposed [...] higher spending for the competition, growth and jobs agenda than for agriculture.

Chinese and European Union leaders will meet in Beijing on Wednesday (28 November) to discuss a wide range of trade issues that have complicated the relations between the two economic powerhouses in recent years.

Galileo, the 30-satellite navigation system designed to rival the US global positioning system (GPS) will receive an extra ?2.4 billion than originally planned.

US ambitions to place parts of a missile defence shield in Poland is no longer an exclusive bilateral issue between Washington and Warsaw, but will be put up for a broader discussion, the new Polish leadership has indicated.

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has admitted he considered resigning from the top Brussels job amid infighting among EU member states over institutional reform in the bloc.

The old economies of western Europe are continuing to lose ground to Eastern Europe and traditional highflyers like the US and Norway.

But EU defence ministers failed to give more financial stability to the agency by setting a three-year-long budget - something pushed for by France.

David Miliband called for a strengthening of the EU's military capacities during his first major speech on EU policy during a speech at the College of Europe in the Belgian city of Bruges on Thursday.

Denmark's center-right coalition maintained a one-seat majority in national elections on Tuesday, Nov. 14, retaining its hold on government despite losing parliamentary seats overall.

U.S. Air Force Gen. Lance Smith relinquished command of NATO's Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) to U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis.

The next Chairman of the NATO Military Committee will be elected on 14 November 2007 in Brussels, at the third and final meeting this year among NATO Chiefs of Defence.

The situation in the Middle East and the integration of immigrants top the agenda when German Chancellor Angela Merkel meets French President Nicholas Sarkozy on Monday, Nov. 12.

The red tape-busting committee, led by the centre-right former Bavaria leader Edmund Stoiber, is meeting opposition within its target institution, the European Commission, for its extensive demands.

Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker has suggested that EU member states should have the possibility to become just part members of the bloc.

For the first time since 2001, the EU has outstripped the US in productivity growth, according to a recent competitiveness report from the European Commission that sees Europe 'on a growth path'.

A week of international diplomacy continues when French President Sarkozy makes his first official trip to the United States. His talks with US President Bush could alter the current state of trans-Atlantic relations.

A large majority of Irish people do not know whether they will vote yes or no to the new EU treaty which is expected to be put to a referendum in the country early next summer.

"The overall reform progress has slowed down in a number of countries", the annual general assessment of EU hopefuls to be published by the European Commission next Tuesday (6 November) states.

Afghan and ISAF Forces have launched the next phase of operations to target and clear Taliban from the area around Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan Province in order to consolidate an enduring security presence in the area.

A row is brewing over the location of the traditional December summit of EU leaders with Brussels pitted against Lisbon to hold the two-day political meeting.

The circumstances for rethinking the security strategy are propitious.

Although the ink has barely dried on the EU's new treaty, analysts are already scratching their heads as to how the document, with its unclear division of power between the EU's top politicians, is going to work in practice.

Top military officers of NATO nations concluded two days of discussions and exchanges at NATO Headquarters on a wide range of military-related issues.

France will next year push for a Europe of defence, proposing Brussels-based EU planning staff, exchanges between professional soldiers and a harmonization of military education.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President George W. Bush are both positive about this weekend's meeting at the president's Texas ranch, but neither side is predicting any policy breakthroughs.

Within the European Union there are a least five camps when it comes to dealing with Russia, ranging from the 'Trojan horse' countries to the 'new Cold warriors'.