Jean-Dominique Giuliani, Chairman of the Foundation is taking part in the Franco-German Forum on 22nd January in Bonn on the theme "Beyond Friendship: Franco-German relations in a Europe in Crisis."

The Economic, Social and Environment Council has put on-line the hearing of the Foundation's Chairman Jean-Dominique Giuliani regarding the transatlantic trade and investment partnership.

On 12th January the German coalition announced that people who were not German and who were sentenced to a prison term of over 3 years would have to leave the country if their life or health were not threatened in their country of origin.

The French Office for the Protection of Refugees and the Stateless published figures on 12th January regarding asylum requests in France which rose by 22% in 2015.

According to the Commission on 13th January the measures taken in 2015 should be undertaken completely and faster than at present, and some emergency measures, such as the temporary controls of the borders should be brought to an end as quickly as possible.

On 11th January Pope Francis used the occasion of his message addressed to the diplomatic corps to call on Europeans to receive immigrants more generously, whilst acknowledging that integration was difficult to a backdrop of Islamic terrorism.

On 11th January the European Commission deplored the slow progress made by Turkey in terms of slowing the flows of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea illegally.

On 14th January the IMF concluded that the Slovakian economy is one of the strongest in the EU in part due to an effective employment policy.

On 14th January the 19 Eurogroup ministers debated the Greek and Cypriot situations and reviewed the monetary policy undertaken in the euro zone by the ECB.

On 15th January the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker declared what his priorities would be in 2016: growth and employment, and the management of the various crises that Europe has to face.

On Monday 18th January the Foreign Affairs Council expressed its support to the UN Security Council's resolution 2254 that aims to establish a roadmap for the peace process in Syria and a discussion timetable. Regarding Libya, the Council adopted conclusions and positioned itself in favour of the political agreement of 17th December last. The EU and its Members will acknowledge the government of national unity as the only legitimate government. Regarding the Middle East conclusions were also adopted and the Council reasserted its determination to establish a climate of confidence. Finally even though it was not on the programme the EU's High Representative informed ministers of the progress made in terms of the Iranian nuclear issue.

On Monday 18th January Ministers exchanged views on the work programme of the Dutch presidency and welcomed the latter's commitment in terms of the challenges to be faced over the coming months. At the same time the General Affairs Council started preparatory work for the European Council of 18th and 19th February. This will provide an opportunity to come to a compromise agreement over the four requests made by the UK under the BREXIT negotiations and to see whether measures that aim to manage the migratory crisis have been correctly implemented.

The German State budget ended 2015 in surplus, estimated at 12.1 billion €, a sum that will be used to finance the reception and integration of refugees in Germany, said the German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble on 13th January.

On 13th January the Congress of Deputies elected Patxi Lopez (PSOE) as its leader. At the Senate Pio Garcia-Escudero (PP) was re-elected.

On 13th January the Council of Europe revealed its guidelines regarding the neutrality of the network to protect the freedom of expression and the private lives of internet users, thereby aiming to prevent all types of discrimination and to guarantee equality.

On 15th January Nils Muižnieks, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe addressed a letter to the Danish Immigration Minister, Inger Stojberg in which he expresses his concern about the compatibility of measures taken by Denmark regarding asylum and immigration with the Declaration of Human Rights.

A study published by Accourt shows that British SMEs pay a yearly £4 billion to banks for their transactions in another currency.

On 13th January the World Bank published its report on the dissemination of and access to digital technologies. Regarding Europe the report notes a deep divide between households and the weak integration of the digital market.

Until 26th June the Folkwang Museum of Essen is running an exhibition devoted to Pierre Soulages, notably presenting three new pieces of work.

The 28th edition of the London Art Fair will take place between 20th to 24th January and focus on contemporary work of the 20th and 21st centuries. It will also present two aspects of the work of new galleries (Art Project) and photography (Photo 50).