The third edition Atlas of the European Union has just been published in paper and digital form. The book presents the Union, its institutions, its 28 Member States and a novelty, their overseas territories. An ideal Christmas present for someone who wants to know everything there is to know about Europe.

Austria started erecting a two-metre high fence on 7th December along 4km of its border with Slovenia.

The German, French and Italian Culture Ministers demanded on 8th December that the Commission introduce "effective" measures to counter the trafficking of cultural objects in order to foil one of the sources of financing of terrorist groups like Islamic State.

On 8th December the ESM paid 2.71 billion € to recapitalise the Bank of Greece. On 11th December an agreement was found for the payment of an additional billion euros in aid. The Greece cannot do without the IMF in its financial support programme warned the head of the euro zone support fund, Klaus Regling, on 13th December.

The President of the Council, Donald Tusk addressed a letter to the European Council on 7th December regarding the referendum on the future of the UK within the EU.

On 9th December the European Commission put forward a regulation on the "portability" of digital content that will enable Europeans, who have subscribed to digital content (TV, cinema, music, video games, ebooks), to continue to enjoy programmes for which they have paid when they are travelling within the EU.

On 8th December the Finance and Economy Ministers came to agreement on the code of good fiscal conduct and on a possible common corporate tax, in response to the tax rulings involving some Member States.

On 14th December the second EU Accession Conference took place between Serbia and the European Union. The two partners opened two new negotiation chapters, chapter 34 focusing on financial control and the part of chapter 35 focusing on the normalisation of relations with Kosovo. The Union's leaders welcomed the smooth functioning of the negotiations which were officially launched on 21st January 2014. The 11th Association Conference between Turkey and the EU took place on the same day during which a new negotiation chapter was opened, i.e. chapter 17 focusing on economic and monetary policies. It notably provides the guarantee of the independence of the central bank and the ban on any privileged access to the public sector on the part of financial institutions. The Union's leaders did however address the issue of human rights and the Rule of Law, two vital issues in view of membership of the European Union.

The European Space Agency (ESA) signed a contract totalling 350 million € on 9th December with Airbus Defence and Space to build Juice (JUpiter ICy Moons Explorer) which is due to be launched in 2022 via an Ariane 5 rocket for a seven and a half year trip to the system of Jupiter.

On 9th December the German Chancellor Angela Merkel was appointed personality of the year 2015 by Time. The American magazine lauded her ability to "rise to the challenge" of the difficulties faced by Europe this year.

On 7th December five European information protection agencies (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Hamburg) published a joint declaration in which they stressed that following their legal action in a Belgian court, Facebook will be banned from following passive users' connections, ie users who do not have an account on the social network.

The Bulgarian Justice Minister resigned on 9th December after parliament's rejection of a chapter in the reform of the judicial system demanded by Brussels in order to make the system more effective in the fight against crime and corruption.

The last survey before the Spanish election published on 11th December forecasts the People's Party of present Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, victory with 26.7% of voting intentions, ahead of Ciudadanos 23.2%, Podemos 19.1% and the PSOE 17%.

On 8th December in a vote by the Assembly, the French Parliament finally adopted the draft bill approving the European Council's decision dated 26th May 2014 regarding the EU's own resources.

On 13th December in Rome the meeting on Libya provided an opportunity to invite Libyan political leaders to accept a draft UN agreement in view of forming a government of national accord.

On 10th December the Lithuanian parliament adopted the budget for 2016, 76 votes in support, 34 against and 14 abstentions. This budget, disapproved of by the European Commission and the Eurogroup Finance Ministers, is marked by the accent placed on the Defence Sector the financing of which will increase by a third to reach 574 million €.

On 9th December British Prime Minister David Cameron declared in Bucharest that he wanted his country to remain a member of a reformed EU whilst admitting the "difficult" nature of some reforms put forward to prevent a Brexit. On 10th December the Polish Prime Minister declared that she supported the EU reforms put forward by her British counterpart but that there were points on which there was not "full" agreement.

On 11th December the first meeting of the Stabilisation and Association Council between the European Union and Bosnia-Herzegovina took place.

Ukraine is prepared to confront Russia in court regarding the difficult issue of a 3 billion dollar debt, for which Moscow is demanding payment before 20th December warned Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk on 9th December.

The Swiss Assembly appointed the new Federal Council (government) on 9th December which was sworn in for the next legislature (2016-2019). On 11th December their functions were defined.

According to a report by the UN Commission for Human Rights published on 9th December the conflict in the east of Ukraine has caused the death of 9,098 victims and 20,732 injured since April 2014.

On 7th December an organisation campaigning for the upkeep of the UK in the EU, British Influence, published its report on the possible effects of the Brexit.

The Eugene Delacroix Museum in Paris is running an exhibition until 7th March 2016 together with the Antiquities Department of the Louvre, on Delacroix's relationship with ancient art.