During the European Council on 19th and 20th December 2013 European leaders discussed defence issues for the first time since 2008. They adopted a series of cooperation programmes which illustrate the will to move forwards "step by step" in an area in which States want to protect their autonomy. The President of the Robert Schuman Foundation, Jean-Dominique Giuliani signed an editorial on his site entitled "European Defence: don't shoot the pianitst!" The Robert Schuman Foundation has also concluded a partnership with EuroDéfense.

On 18th December 2013 Romanian President Traian Basescu approved the 2014 budget negotiated by Victor Ponta's government with the IMF. In the beginning the President was against the promulgation of the budget and asked for a renegotiation. Mr Basescu notably criticised the introduction of a new tax on fuel stressing that it might affect economic growth negatively. The decision to promulgate the 2014 budget was finally taken with the agreement of the Prime Minister who announced the suspension of this tax for a three month period.

On 18th December 2013 the European Commission put forward three measures on new food and animal cloning in order to guarantee a certain degree of legal safety in this area. The measures ban the cloning of farm animals in the EU and the import of cloned animals. Moreover the marketing of food obtained from cloned animals will be banned. This legislation aims to facilitate Union market access for new, innovative foods whilst maintaining a high level of consumer protection.

On 19th and 20th December 2013, the 28 heads of State and government debated defence and adopted cooperation programmes which focused on three themes: increasing efficacy, the visibility and impact of the common security and defence policy (CSDP); increasing the development of capabilities, and enhancing the European defence industry. Moreover they welcomed the general approach to the single resolution mechanism which will comprise an element of banking union. They welcomed the annual growth assessment 2014 as well as the warning mechanism report. Even though economic recovery is still slow, unequal and fragile the economic outlook was improving gradually. They welcomed the success of the 9th WTO conference. Finally they welcomed progress with Serbia and Albania as part of the enlargement process. They were pleased with the signature of the association agreements comprising free-trade agreements with Georgia and Moldova. Regarding Ukraine leaders re-iterated that the EU was still prepared to sign the association agreement as soon as the country was ready. They are concerned about the humanitarian situation in Syria as well as Central African Republic and noted the organisation of a conference on Syria on 22nd January 2014.

On 18th December 2013 the 28 Finance Ministers came to agreement on banking union, a project designed to avoid a further euro zone crisis. They agreed on the general approach to the single resolution council and the single banking resolution fund. They adopted a declaration on the design of a safety net on the single resolution fund. At the same time the euro zone countries committed to negotiating an intergovernmental agreement by 1st March 2014 regarding the single resolution fund. On 20th December an agreement was found with the European Parliament on the draft directive on the recovery framework and the banking resolution.

On 19th December 2013 the European Court of Justice challenged the price of wind powered electricity in France since it deems that the tarif at which EDF purchases wind powered electrity is tantamount to state aid. EDF is obliged to purchase electricity produced by turbines in France at 80 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), which is higher than the market price. The French surcharge compensation mechanism was deemed by the Court in Luxembourg as State intervention since the latter comprises an advantage granted by means of State resources.

On 16th December 2013 ministers confirmed the appointment of Danièle Nouy as Chair of the Supervisory Board of the single supervisory mechanism at the European Central Bank. The ECB will supervise the euro zone banks as part of the Single Supervisory Mechanism and will be responsible for the general running of this mechanism.

On 19th December 2013 the European telescope Gaia built for the European Space Agnecy was successfully launched by a Soyuz rocket from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana. Its mission is to make a three-dimension atlas of the Milky Way and to provide answers to questions about its origins and development. It might last five or six years and should enable the precise location of around 1 billion stars. It might also detect asteroids and exoplanets. The telescope separated from the rocket about 41 minutes into the flight to position itself at 1.5 million km from Earth.

On 18th December 2013 Angela Merkel, newly re-elected as Chancellor, reserved her first trip for France. She was guest to French President François Hollande for a working dinner. The latter insisted on the need for a relationship of confidence between France and Germany in Europe. Both welcomed the Franco-German Council of Ministers on 19th February 2014 and called for the strengthening of Europe and the euro zone.

On 18th and 19th December 2013 the annual ambassadors conference took place in Rome. The President of the Italian Council, Enrico Letta opened the meeting stressing that economic growth was a strategic goal for Italy and for its foreign policy. He also said that growth of 1% in 2014 and 2% in 2015 was an achievable goal for the country if interest rates do not rise. He highlighted that economic growth should always be linked to public finance stability. On 19th December the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano spoke putting forward the outlook for European integration whilst the Italian Presidency of the Council of the EU is drawing closer. In his opinion new legislation based on growth and an EU far from "technocracy" was necessary to win citizens' support for European debate.

The former Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker is no longer hiding his ambitions to take over the Presidency of the European Commission. Indeed the European People's Party (EPP) started the appointment procedure on 19th December to appoint its leader to stand for the presidency of the European Commission.

On 19th December 2013 during the 8th Committee for Polish-Russian cooperation in Warsaw, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov and Polish Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski signed a declaration "2020 Program in Polish-Russian Relations" whose aim it is to strengthen relations between the two countries. The two ministers also stressed the importance of bilateral economic relations. Indeed Warsaw is the fifth Russian export market and the second as far as imports are concerned. Bilateral trade between the two countries in 2012 totalled 37.9 billion $. To close their meeting the two ministers hoped for tighter cooperation from a cultural point of view and for the completion of new infrastructures, notably the high speed Berlin-Warsaw-Moscow rail link.

On 17th December 2013 British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that as of January 1st 2014 all European job seekers in the UK will have to wait three months before being able to ask for unemployment benefit. This measure is part of a series of laws put forward in November 2013 by the British govenrment which aim to prevent European migrants in the UK from taking advantage of the country's social services. This series of laws makes the UK less attractive to migrants who "want to live off the State", maintained D. Cameron.

On 20th December 2013 Russian President Vladimir Putin granted freedom to the former Russian oligarch and former head of the oil company 'Yukos', Mikhail Khodorkovsky, imprisoned since 2004. The decision was executed immediately and the most famous politial prisoner in Russia was finally able to join his family outside of Russia. On 22nd December during a press conference in Berlin he reviewed what had happened over the last ten years. He explained that he wanted invest in the defence of Russian political prisoners. "You must not consider me a symbol of the end of political prisoners in Russia," he stressed. "You have to consider me as proof that the work undertaken by civil society can lead to the release of prisoners that no one was expecting."

On 22nd December 2013 pro-European demonstrators continued their protest in Independence Square (Maidan) against the regime. Opposition leaders announced the creation of a "The People's Movement Maidan" before meeting all of those throughout Ukraine who are "against corruption". Boxer Vitaly Klitchko declared that they would "continue to fight" and called to celebrate the New Year and Christmas in Maidan. Demonstrators criticised the Ukrainian President's rapprochement with his Russian counterpart. During their last meeting on 17th December 2013 Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia was prepared to reduce the price of gas to Ukraine from the present level of 400$/1000 m3 to 268.5$. Russia also promised a loan of 15 billion $ to help Kyiv end its balance of payments crisis. During the European Council on 19th and 20th December EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy deplored the pressure put by Moscow on Kyiv in order to prevent the signature of the association agreement with the EU. "This diplomatic action by Moscow might deteriorate relations with the Union," explained Mr van Rompuy. On 18th December 2013 opponent Yulia Tymoshenko also criticised the agreement with Russia, declaring that "it might be the beginning of the end of our independence".

On 19th December Eurostat indicated a surplus of 153 billion euro in the EU's international services trade in 2012. Trade increased particularly with the US and the countries of the European free-trade association (EFTA). Moreover services exports to third countries increased by 9% rising from 609 billion euro in 2011 to 662 billion in 2012. Imports increased by 6% rising from 478 billion to 509 billion euro. Hence the Union's services trade surplus totalled 153 billion in 2012, against 131 billion in 2011 and 109 billion in 2010.

The International Energy Agency published its report on coal in the world on 16th December 2013. The conclusions of this report are alarming. Although the IEA press release notes that there has been a slight slowing in world coal demand, partly due to China's policy, which is trying to reduce its dependency on this source, coal demand is due to increase by 2.3% by 2018. Between 2007 and 2012 it increased on average by 3.4% per year. Whilst most of this growth comes from non-OECD members, this is due to remain stable within the OECD members.

The Pablo Picasso Museum in Münster is devoting an exhibition to the work of Henri Matisse until 16th February 2014. It is called "Figure and Ornament" and shows 80 pictures, sculptures, carpets and clothes, illustrating the fascination the French artist had for Maghreb.