French and British Home Affairs Ministers Bernard Cazeneuve and Therese May met on 20th August to sign an agreement stepping up their cooperation in terms of immigration in Calais in the north of France where thousands of refugees of all nationalities are converging in the hope of ending their European journey in the UK. The agreement notably provides for the creation of a "joint command and control centre" to counter traffickers. The Eurotunnel site will be made secure with the creation of an "integrated control room" and search teams operating 24/24 to prevent all types of intrusion.

The growth of private activity gathered pace in August in the euro zone notably thanks to Germany and in spite of a slowing noted in France said Markit on 21st August as it published the first PMI index estimation. This rose to 54.1 in August against 53.9 in July stressed Markit in a press release.

On 22nd July the European Commission adopted the last series of measures necessary for the operational launch of the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI) as of autumn 2015. This series of measures includes a communication on the contribution made by the National Promotional Banks (NPB), an agreement between the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) on working methods, the confirmation of the pre-financed projects, the appointment of four EFSI steering committee members. On the same day the IEB approved further financing totalling nearly 10 billion € in support of strategic infrastructures for 45 projects, five of which will enjoy the guarantee of the Union's budget under the EFSI. The five projects focus on the large scale deployment of smart meters for the improved management of energy consumption in the UK, loans aiming to improve financing access for small scale projects involving renewable energies in Germany and France as well as the upgrading of internal navigable routes in the Netherlands.

On 4th August the Council officially approved the principle adopted on 17th July last by the Commission and the Council via the adoption of a regulation to modify the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM) whereby a protection of non-euro zone Member States must be guaranteed in the event of possible economic and financial risks generated by the financial assistance granted to a euro zone Member State. The changes put forward will enable the compensation of non-euro zone Member States in the event of financial losses.

On 20th July the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that finalises the nuclear agreement signed in Vienna on 14th July by Iran, the five permanent members of the Council (US, China, Russia, France, UK) and Germany. The agreement provides for the progressive, conditional lifting of sanctions, in exchange for Teheran's guarantee not to acquire any atomic weapons. Hence if Iran respects the agreement to the letter the seven UN resolutions adopted since 2006 against Iran "will be abolished." On 28th July the EU's High Representative Federica Mogherini welcomed the opening of a new chapter in relations with Iran on the occasion of her visit to Teheran. On 31st July the Council agreed on the first legal measures regarding the implementation of the Common Action Plan adopted during the agreement on 14th July. These initial measures aim to transcribe the measures included in the Security Council's resolution dated 20th July.

In a speech delivered to the Conference of French Ambassadors in Paris on 27th August Benoit Coeuré, a member of the ECB board, highlighted the strengths and assets of the euro and called for increased governance. Under the third aid plan of 86 billion euro Athens' creditors plan to undertake a first assessment of the reforms promised by the Greek government in October. "We might possibly act earlier," so that Greek banks can access the ECB's regular financing operations, declared Mr Coeuré in an interview with the Börsen Zeitung on 15th August. "The issue at stake for the board of governors is to see whether these "first actions" are enough to meet our criteria," he added.

Germany and Brazil announced joint action to reduce global warming during a visit on 20th August by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel together with seven ministers and five deputy ministers. The Chancellor is counting on strong commitment on the part of Brazil in view of the international climate conference (COP21) at the end of November in Paris. "Brazil is 'a key player' in terms of all climate goals. But it is also key for the upkeep of biodiversity in the world since Brazil is the richest country in terms of this. And what is destroyed cannot be replaced," stressed the Chancellor hoping that the example set by Brazil will have a domino effect in Latin America and on other emerging economies.

On 29th July the European Commission demanded that Zagreb should not leave the arbitration process on-going with Slovenia to settle a border dispute whilst the Croatian parliament voted in support of withdrawal. This decision came after revelations about discussions between the Slovenian judge in the arbitration process and a government official from Ljubljana. This led to the resignation of the Slovenian judge. Croatia and Slovenia agreed in 2009 to turn to the Permanent Arbitration Court (PAC) in the Hague to settle their quarrel, which dates back to the dissolution of Yugoslavia at the beginning of the 1990's, over access to the northern Adriatic. On 19th August the PAC announced that the arbitration process would only begin again when the two judges in the arbitration process have been replaced.

Denmark will organise a referendum on 3rd December on whether to remain in Europol and on the integration of the EU's judicial and police cooperation system announced the government on 21st August. To be able to remain within the police agency the country has to review one of the four opt-out clauses in the European treaties that it negotiated after the "no" given by its electorate to the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. This referendum on technical legal issues was initially planned for 2016. But the date has been brought forward according to the Danish press to prevent an assimilation by voters with the referendum to be organised by the UK in 2016 or 2017. "The central issue is the upkeep of Danish participation in cooperation within Europol," declared the Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

Estonia is to install a fence along its border with Russia to step up the protection of this area, a Schengen external border, of which the country is a member, indicated the Estonian Home Office on 27th August. The barbed-wire fence which will be 2.5 metres high will be erected along 110km of the Russian-Estonian border except in the marshy areas. Its construction will start in 2018.

On 29th July the French group Nexter and German KMW both manufacturers of the Leclerc and Leopard tanks sealed their alliance to form a new European armoured vehicles giant. The result of eleven years of talks and negotiations, the agreement seals the association between two entities in a joint enterprise representing an accumulated turnover of 1.8 billion €, and a total staff of 6000 people. The future alliance, whose provisional name is Newco will be based in Amsterdam (Netherlands). This rapprochement should help both groups withstand world competition. Hence Newco will occupy second place in terms of European land arms as well as fourth position worldwide.

The euro zone Finance Ministers reached agreement on 14th August on the 3rd aid plan to Greece totalling up to 86 billion euro spread over three years. The agreement was adopted on 14th August in the morning by the Vouli, the Greek Parliament. 222 MPs of 300 voted in support, 64 voted against (32 of whom were from SYRIZA) and 11 abstained (all from SYRIZA). Now the national ratification process for the agreement can begin, with some countries like Germany, Spain and the Netherlands having adopted the text. The first tranche of the plan totalling 26 billion euro was released by the ESM on 19th August. 10 billion euro paid into an account are to be used to recapitalise the Greek banks. 13 billion euro were paid immediately to the country to ensure that Athens could honour its reimbursement deadlines. Hence on 20th August the country paid the ECB 3.4 billion euro. Athens also reimbursed 7.16 billion euro granted to it as an emergency in July to honour a payment to the ECB as well as the debt it had with the IMF. The remaining 3 billion euro will be paid "at the end of November at the latest," depending on the progress made in terms of the reforms demanded of the country by its creditors.

Andrzej Duda (Law and Justice PiS) elected last May was sworn in on 6th August as President of Poland. Aged 43 he succeeds Bronislaw Komorowski (PO). He took oath before MPs and Senators who met with the former Polish heads of State and government in attendance, including the historic leader of the union Solidarity, Lech Walesa. The competences of the Polish head of State are relatively limited since the government exercises real power. The upcoming parliamentary elections in the autumn will be a major political text notably in the event of a possible return to office of Law and Justice (PiS) led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Mr Duda's mentor.

Moldovan MPs approved the appointment of a new Prime Minister Valeriu Strelet on 30th July to lead a pro-European government after making the fight to counter corruption his priority. Mr Strelet won the support of 52 MPs out of a total 101. The new Prime Minister who leads the Liberal Democratic Party in office will head a coalition of pro-European parties. The post of Prime Minister had been vacant since the resignation mid-June of Chiril Gaburici. The government comprises 21 members including 6 women.

The Ukrainian Constitutional Court approved a project to reform the constitution on 31st July which includes plans for greater autonomy in the separatists regions in the East. The presidential project supported by the West, which considers this a means to appease the armed conflict, was dispatched by MPs on 16th July to the Court whose greenlight was necessary before the bill's approval. "The Court's decision on decentralisation is a major step towards change for the State", said Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. As a result on 31st August the Ukrainian parliament gave its greenlight to the draft constitutional reform. MPs adopted the text 265 votes in support - a minimum of 226 was required. This vote took place in a climate of extreme tension outside of Parliament with fighting occurring between the Ukrainian police force and nationalists. This led to the death of one policeman whilst a further 100 people were injured.

According to estimates published on 14th August by Eurostat, the euro zone's GDP rose by 0.3ù in the second quarter of 2015, whilst this increase totalled 0.4% in the EU. In comparison with the second quarter of 2014 the GDP recorded an increase in the euro zone and the EU of 1.2% and 1.6% respectively.

On 31st July the European Commission published the results of its Spring 2015 Eurobarometer based on individual interviews undertaken between 16th and 27th May 2015 amongst 31,868 people in the EU's Member States and candidate countries. Firstly the migratory issue is the main point of concern for European citizens (38%) ahead of the economic situation (27%) and unemployment (24%). Moreover the survey stresses that most of those interviewed support the Commission's priorities notably in the areas of energy (72%) investment (59%) and migration (73%). In addition to this the survey reveals an improvement in the way the EU is perceived by the Europeans with a positive EU image totalling 41% in May 2015 against 39% in November 2014 (date of the last Eurobarometer survey). Finally the survey notes expectations regarding the economy are improving whilst support to the euro remains stable (69% in the zone euro).

From 2nd to 12th September the 72nd International Venice Film Festival will be taking place. Under the management of Alberto Barbera, the Mostra will be presenting 55 films this year: 21 in the official selection Venezia 21, 16 "hors competition" and 18 in the Orizzonti section. The festival is open to professionals, journalists and also the general public.