By Daniel Korski - 26 Jan 12 - It is too early to write off Egypt's revolution. Unlike in the past, politics is now a live issue across the country, and that popular force is a difficult one to control or stop, and even the steps that have been taken now seemed impossible just over a year ago.

Karel de Gucht speech, 23 January 2012

Belgrade resident Jelena Stankovic, 33, works in an international creative marketing agency, surviving cut after cut in both staffing and salary.

In response to the Arab Spring the European Commission has proposed to create a new European Neighbourhood Instrument, based on the European Union’s reviewed approach to cooperation with its neighbours in North Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

No diplomatic meeting has personified the rise of the BRICS as much as the recent EU-Summit. Fresh from rigging an election, Russia’s president turned up in Brussels for the regular powwow - not to be lectured by EU leaders on the importance of free and fair elections, but to be begged for money.

The EU decided on Friday (December 30th) to renew trade preferences for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo until 2015. The preferences, which expired at the end of December 2010, will allow duty-free access of nearly all products from the region to the bloc. All exporters will be able to claim compensation for the duties they paid in 2011.

20-12-2011 - The European Union has recently disbursed €26.22 million to the Georgian Treasury in support of measures in two key sectors, internally displaced people and education, according to a press release from the EU Delegation in Tbilisi.

16 December - Since the first demonstrations in Tunisia in December 2010, a wave of popular discontent has shaken the Arab world, with people calling for dignity, democracy, and social justice. Despite the unexpected magnitude of these uprisings, the EU has been quick to recognise the challenges of the political and economic transition faced by the region as a whole. It has also recognised the need to adopt a new approach to relations with its Southern neighbours.

14 December - Summits are usually staged-managed to look as if they bring together cheerful leaders that have plenty of things to talk about. Before the financial crisis broke out both Russia and the EU shared a certain optimism about their future prospects

CRIN, 28 November 2011 - The deteriorating situation in the Syrian Arab Republic prompted the Human Rights Council to establish an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate alleged violations of human rights since March 2011.