Contrary to common widespread fears, the two EU enlargements of 2004 and 2007 have not led to a massive influx of central and eastern European workers to the “old” member states, according to a European Commission report to be released on Tuesday (18 November). [more]

A Joint European Union and Council of Europe Programme on Transparency and Efficiency of Judicial System of Ukraine is holding its start-up Steering Committee on 20 November 2008 in Kyiv (the Programme is planned to operate till December 2010). In connection to this, a press conference will be organised to present the programme.  [more]

The European Parliament’s (EP) International Trade Committee is to visit India shortly to discuss the progress of ongoing negotiations between the European Union and India on a free trade agreement (FTA.) “I as rapporteur am currently finalising my report and its due to come before the international trade committee visit to India,” MEP Sajjad Karim of the United Kingdom, who heads the delegation on the EU-India FTA, told EuAsiaNews in Brussels. [more]

“Recently I sat at a table with 20 top constitutional lawyers from different countries asking if a pan-European referendum was possible and the answer was ‘no way,’ because of all the different constitutional arrangements. It’s more complicated than any other solution,” Stefano Bartolini from the European University Institute in Florence said at a conference organised by the EU parliament ahead of the 2009 elections. [more]

Prague and Warsaw have poured cold water on French calls for a moratorium on a planned US missile shield in Europe, with both capitals saying that president Nicolas Sarkozy overstepped his mandate. “I don’t think that third countries, even such good friends as France, can have a particular right to express themselves on this issue,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Saturday (15 November). [more]

As a law student in Lisbon in the late 1960s, Jose Manuel Barroso passed around an illicit copy of “Je t`aime, Moi non plus“ a heavy-breathing French tune of a lovemaking couple that Portugal`s fascist dictator had banned as too racy, according to Economic Times. [more]

EU foreign ministers agreed on Monday that frozen talks on a new strategic pact with Russia should restart, despite Lithuanian opposition, with the negotiations expected to begin within weeks, accoring to AFP . [more]

The French EU presidency on Thursday (6 November) failed to get Lithuania on board to restart EU-Russia treaty talks, despite a hard-hitting paper from the office of EU top diplomat Javier Solana that warned about the safety of EU monitors in Georgia. [more]

The Czech Republic will not ratify the Lisbon treaty this year, but it might do so in the first quarter of 2009, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek (Civic Democrats, ODS) told reporters today after a meeting with his Finnish counterpart Matti Vanhanen, according to Czech Happenings .
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The other week 200 young journalists from all over Europe descended on the European Parliament for workshops and debates. It was part of the annual “Youth Media Days” from 15-17 October that aims to help young journalists discover their trade and meet other reporters from different countries. [more]