In an editorial published on his internet site, Jean-Dominique Giuliani, Chairman of the Robert Schuman Foundation expressed said he was glad that the German government had been formed. He believes that from now on both German and French leaders must make a "true commitment to Europe". "In 2014 the European institutions will be renewed. France and Germany can and must oblige those who are to represent them to adopt a set of specifications which will modify institutional practices, and adapt the way they undertake their policies to economic and social requirements, making them more democratic enabling the acceptation of their decisions. They might also decide to implement a series of new initiatives in terms of taxes, economic policy, social vision, foreign policy. To do this the treaties do not need to be changed. Europe just has to be considered in terms of its policies, in other words, built on the will to make it more efficient.

The Greek Statistics Institute published a report on the labour market on 11th December 2013. In September 2013 unemployment totalled 27.4% in comparison with 27.3% recorded in August 2013 and 26% in September 2012. The number of workers in September 2013 declined by 54,128 people in comparison with September 2012 with a contraction rate of 1.5%. However there are more unemployed to a total of 77,161 people with a growth rate of 5.9%. Moreover there were 25,175 people less in the unactive population in comparison with September 2012.

On 12th December 2013 MEPs looked at the ECB's work together with its President Mario Draghi. They advised the latter to support the real economy and SME's more. MEPs then asked him about the steps required to complete Banking Union. Moreover they adopted a resolution that supports the work undertaken by the ECB but warn that there is a danger of bank and government dependency. The resolution also stresses the disparity between interest rates and access to financing by SMEs in the euro zone and asked the ECB to address this problem. Finally MEPs approved the appointment of a woman, Daniele Nouy, as head the ECB's Supervisory Board.

On 12th December 2013 the EU's Energy Minister approved the report on the progress achieved towards completing the internal energy market. They also approved the report on the development of the EU's energy policy as far as its external aspect is concerned. Finally ministers assessed a draft directive on the indirect change in the use of land thereby modifying the directives on the quality of fuel and on renewable energies. However no political agreement was found since several issues are still pending.

On 16th December 2013 the Commission adopted a communication on the completion of the single market for parcel delivery to stimulate e-trade in the EU and to enable on-line retailers and consumers to access, affordable, high quality parcel delivery services.

On 13th December 2013 the EU's Court of Justice cancelled the decisions taken by the European Commission allowing the launch of the GMO potato Amflora on the market. The court noted that the "Commission had infringed procedural rules regarding authorisation regimes for GMO's". The Luxembourg Court believes that if the Commission had respected the rules the result of the procedure might have been significantly different.

On 16th December 2013 the 28 EU Foreign Ministers assessed the situation in the Great Lakes, the Near and Middle East and Lebanon. They are concerned about the situation in CAR which is deteriorating daily. They are also concerned about Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law infringements. Moreover the ministers said they were pleased with the recent success of negotiations in the Iranian nuclear issue. They also re-iterated their commitment and support to the democratic and economic transition of Burma. Finally they studied the follow-up to the Eastern Partnership Summit on 28th and 29th November 2013. The EU's High Representative Catherine Ashton said that "ministers had said that the EU wanted to sign an association agreement including a full and comprehensive free-trade agreement as soon as Ukraine was ready and that conditions had been fulfilled."

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) gave the greenlight on 9th December 2013 for the use of mobile electronic devices, like Smartphones and tablets in "flight mode" ie without network connections on board planes for the duration of the journey. The European Commissioner responsible for transport, Siim Kallas, declared that "we are moving from the first stage in terms of relaxing electronic device use on board planes during all phases, taxiing in, take off and landing. The next stage will involve network connexion on board.

On 15th December 2013 Angela Merkel announced the composition of the government coalition CDU/CSU and the SPD, after a favourable vote by SPD members on the 14th December. Wolfgang Schäuble has been reappointed as Finance Minister, Ursula von der Leyen will be Defence Minister, Thomas de Mazière moves over to the Interior Ministry, Hermann Gröhe takes over as Healthcare Minister, Joanna Wanka will remain in post as Education Minister and Peter Altmaier will be responsible for the Chancellery. The CSU won 3 portfolio: Alexander Dobrindt takes over as Transport and Digital Infrastructure Minister, Hans-Peter Friedrich was appointed as Agriculture Minister and Gerd Müller will be Development Minister. The SPD has six ministers: Sigmar Steinmeier, Foreign Affairs, Heiko Maas, Justice Minister, Andrea Nahles, Labour and Social Affairs Manuela Schwesig, Family and Women's Minister and Barbara Hendricks, Environment Minister.

On 16th December 2013 the new grand coalition government, SPÖ and ÖVP, entered into office. It comprises 14 ministers, 4 of whom are women. The youngest member of the government is 27 years old. Indeed on 13th December 2013 in a joint press conference the Austrian Social Democrats and the Conservatives (SPÖ and ÖVP) announced the government programme which should lead Austria out of the economic crisis by 2018. At the heart of the programme feature the commitment to reduce the country's debt and to bring the public deficit down to zero by 2016. The government also has to approve structural reform notably a rise in the retirement age and an improvement in the administrative system. Finally the presentation of a growth pact has been planned.

On 12th December 2013 the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Artur Mas, announced that the referendum on independence from Spain will take place on 9th November 2014. Two questions will be put to the electorate: "Do you want Catalonia to become a State?" and "Do you want this State to be independent?" On the same day during his meeting in Madrid with the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said that this referendum was unconstitutional and could therefore not take place. He also called on the Catalan President's sense of responsibility and his commitment not to infringe the law. For his part Mr Van Rompuy stressed that the independence of the region of Catalonia implied its exit from the Union. It would then have to renegotiate its membership in line with article 49 of the Treaty on European Union.

On 15th December 2013 Ireland became the first country having benefited from an international bail-out to free itself of the troika's tutorship (comprising the ECB, the European Commission and the IMF). Ireland can now borrow on the markets to finance itself. However this does not mean that Ireland's economy is stable: unemployment is still high, poverty has increased since 2010, investment are not as high and growth has slowed. Ireland intends to improve its economic indicators over the next few years. The IMF paid its last tranche of aid on 13th December.

After the split in the "People of Freedom" and the transfer over to the opposition by "Forza Italia" Silvio Berlusconi's party, Enrico Letta's government won the confidence of the lower chamber on 11th December 2013 (379 votes out of 591) and in the Senate (173 votes out of 300). In his speech to the Assembly Mr Letta spoke of a government majority that enjoyed greater cohesion. He said that he wanted to put a government pact forward "'Impegno 2014" (Commitment 2014) so that structural reform, which the country needs, could be undertaken. In his speech Mr Letta also criticised the rise of populism and referred notably to Beppe Grillo's party, the "Five Stars Movement".

The future Czech government coalition said on 13th December 2013 that it would make growth consolidation its priority. The Czech Republic, a country of 10.5 million inhabitants has only just emerged from a long recession. Three parties with a parliamentary majority of 111 MPs out of 200 - the Social Democrats (CSSD), the populist movement, ANO and the Christian Democrats (KDU-CLS) - unveiled the details of their coalition agreement. CSSD head, and winner of the general elections, Bohuslav Sobotka - who it is thought will become Prime Minister said he wanted to change the economic policy to focus on living standards, employment, support to economic growth and investment.

On 16th December 2013 the Romanian parliament decided to postpone the vote on the controversial amnesty bill until next year. This would have enabled the liberation of politicians convicted of corruption.. "We have delayed the final vote (planned originally for today 17/12/13 ndlr).The bill will be debated in public until February 1st," indicated the leader of the Chamber of Deputies, Valeriu Zgonea.

After more than a month of protest thousands of pro-European demonstrators, waving the Ukrainian and European flags, rallied on 15th December 2013 in Independence Square in Kyiv demanding the departure of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. This massive rally aimed to put pressure on the president who is expected on 17th December in Moscow to strengthen economic cooperation with Russia. American Senator John McCain declared to demonstrators that they could count on the support of the US. The EU announced that it remained open about discussing the association agreement but prior to that Kyiv had to clarify its intentions. On 13th December Ukrainian oligarch and the country's wealthiest man, Rinat Akhmetov, published a press release in which he gave his support to the pro-European demonstrators. On 16th December MPs of the Party of Regions in office demanded that Prime Minister M. Azarov undertake a government reshuffle due to the political crisis affecting the country.

On 14th December 2013 Arianespace signed a contract for the purchase of an additional 18 Ariane 5 launchers for a total amount of 2 billion euros. They are to be launched as of 2017 and will come in addition to the 35 already ordered in 2009. "At the end of a record year of orders this contract guarantees the duration of Ariane whilst its competitiveness has been improved. This proves that there is confidence in the future which will help us offer our clients the service best adapted to their requirements," commented Stéphane Israël, CEO of Arianespace.

Jean-Claude Mignon, the present leader of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is to stand for the post of Secretary General of the Council of Europe and this has been approved by the Elysée. Two other official candidates are running: Thorbjorn Jagland, former leader of the Norwegian parliament and Secretary General of the outgoing Council of Europe and Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, former Justice Minister for the Republic of Germany. The vote will take place in June 2014.

On 9th December 2013 the European Commission indicated that within the Union there is an average 16.2% pay gap between men and women. It ranges from 27.3% in Estonia to 2.3% in Sweden. Figures indicate a weak downward trend with a 1.1% reduction between 2008 and 2011. The report reveals that the fight to counter the wage gap is encountering difficulties in terms of the implementation of equal pay and the reticence of women to turn to the courts. Moreover the effective application of the equal pay principle is impeded by the lack of transparency in pay systems, the lack of clear criteria concerning equal pay as well as a lack of clear information for workers who are victims of inequality.

On 12th December 2013 Eurostat indicated that in 2012 the GDP per capita expressed in purchasing power lay between 70% and 130% of the EU average. Austria, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Belgium lay at around 20% to 30% over the average; France, UK and Italy between the average and 10% over that figure. However Spain and Cyprus were positioned between the average and 10% below that figure; Malta, Slovenia, Czech Republic had a GDP between 10% and 20% below the average.

On 10th December 2013 the European Parliament published the third part of the Eurobarometer survey on the European Parliament entitled "One year before the European Elections 2014". This third stage indicates that more than one third of Europeans know that the European elections will take place in May 2014. Moreover the European Parliament's image has changed, whilst it was negative in November 2012 it is now positive. However interest in European affairs declined significantly between November 2012 and June 2013. Those interviewed would like to have more information on the debates focusing on the creation of new jobs, on European citizens' rights and on solutions put forward by the Union to rise to the challenge of the crisis. The fight to counter poverty and social exclusion are deemed a priority by Europeans.

562 writers from the world over, including Günter Grass, Elfriede Jelinek and three other Nobel Literature Prize Winners published an international appeal on 10th December 2013 in 30 daily newspapers entitled "Say no to surveillance society!" The initiators of this text are concerned about the extent of "mass surveillance" undertaken by states and businesses thanks to technological progress. The signatories call on the UN to create an "international declaration of digital rights" and on all governments to adhere to it.