Outgoing President of the Czech Republic, Milos Zeman (Citizens Rights Party - SPOZ) came out ahead in the first round of the presidential election on 12th and 13th January 38.56% of the vote. In the 2nd round on 26th and 27th January, he will face Jiri Drahos (independent), the former President of the Academy of Science who has the support of the People's Christian-Democratic Union (KDU-CSL), (a centrist party led by Pavel Belobradek), and the movement Mayors and Independents (STAN), (a party led by Petr Gazdik, who won 26.60% of the vote). Turnout lay at 61.92%.

For its first meeting of the year the College of Commissioners agreed on 10th January on the institutional priorities for 2018. They cover the following issues: the reform of the economic and monetary union, making safe the EU's borders, the revision of the asylum system, reform of Schengen, the completion of the single digital market and the rapprochement of the Western Balkans with the EU. There was also a debate on the EU budget after 2020.

On 8th January the Council announced that it was aligning its lists of people and entities from North Korea which were the focus of sanctions with the most recent UN Security Council resolution. On 22nd December the latter was adopted in response to uninterrupted activity by North Korea in the area of nuclear arms and ballistic missiles.

In a joint declaration published on 8th January Federica Mogherini, Christos Stylianides and Neven Mimica supported a new political strategy for the reconstruction of Iraq. It would mainly take the shape of humanitarian aid to Iraqis by stabilising areas that have liberated of Daesh, as well as the promotion of a stable government model.

In 2006 the European Union and Morocco signed an agreement on fishing - however the independent, voluntary organisation Western Sahara Campaign complained because this agreement which applies to the territory and waters of Western Sahara occupied by Morocco. On 10th January the Advocate General of the Union's Court of Justice published his conclusions in which he challenges the legality of the fishing agreement in breach of the respect of the rights of people in the Western Sahara for self-rule as well as the illegal situation that is a result of this.

The European Court of Auditors published a special report focusing on "the joint assistance in preparation of projects in European regions" (Jaspers initiative). Auditors at the Court notably recommend that the "Commission should intervene more in the strategic planning of the Jaspers initiative to be able to abandon it if its main objectives are achieved."

On 12th January the leaders of the CDU-CSU and the SPD came to agreement in negotiations in view of forming a German government. However the members of the SPD still have to vote on this in Bonn on 21st January, to validate the presence of their party in the future "grand coalition".

For his first official trip abroad Chancellor of the Austrian Republic Sebastian Kurz travelled to Paris on 12th January for a working lunch with President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron. This meeting provided an opportunity to address the issues of the Union's migratory policy, security in Europe, the economic policy and the need to make the EU more democratic.

On 12th January the Bulgarian Parliament rejected a veto set by the President of the Republic against the anti-corruption law recommended by the European Commission. According to the Constitution, with his veto rejected the President is now obliged to promulgate the law to enable its entry into force.

The President of the Italian Council and the President of the French Republic want to go further in terms of cooperation between the two countries. The "Quirinal Treaty" would be transalpine counterpart of the one linking Paris and Berlin. France and Italy are to work towards the drafting of a bilateral treaty to strengthen their cooperation said the head of the Italian government, Paolo Gentiloni.

The heads State and government of the Czech Republic, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Malta and Portugal met in Rome on Wednesday 10th January for the 4th Summit of the Countries of the South of the EU. They agreed on a common policy to manage the crisis and migratory flows. They also provided their support to the drafting of transnational lists during the elections of the European Parliament.

The President of the European Commission and Polish Prime Minister dined in Brussels on 9th January. In a joint declaration they indicated that they had discussed many issues including the rule of law in Poland to the backdrop of the triggering of article 7 against Warsaw. It was admitted that both leaders will meet again at the end of February to "continue their talks".

Romanian Prime Minister Mihai Tudose presented his resignation on 15th January following disagreement with the leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Liviu Dragnea. "I am leaving in dignity" he declared after a meeting of the PSD leaders who withdrew their support of him. This resignation still has to be approved however by the centre right president Klaus Iohannis.

On 8th January the Prime Minister Theresa May went ahead with a ministerial reshuffle following the resignation of Damian Green, Deputy Prime Minister at the end of December. David Lidington - to date Justice Minister will take over his post. The Education, Justice and Northern Ireland Ministers are now respectively Damian Hinds, David Gauke and Karen Bradley.

The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker proposed mediation on 8th January between Slovenia and Croatia which rejected international arbitration granting Ljubljana sovereignty over the small bay of Piran on the Adriatic Sea. In June the permanent arbitration court of The Hague attributed more than two thirds of the Piran Bay to Slovenia with the aim of ending a dispute that dates back to the dismantling of Yugoslavia 25 years ago.

The NATO Secretary General travelled to Sälen in Sweden on 14th January as part of a conference on international security. Sweden took advantage of the event to announce a major contribution to NATO's budget. In his speech Jens Stoltenberg recalled that NATO was in transition given the present security challenges, and that this required closer cooperation between the countries in the north.

On 9th January Eurostat published unemployment figures for November 2017. This lay at 7.3% in the EU. This is the lowest rate recorded since October 2008. It totalled 8.7% in the euro zone. This is the lowest rate recorded in the euro zone since January 2009.

A report published on 11 January by the Cambridge Econometrics Institute ordered by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, analysed five possible scenarios for the Brexit. In the event of a "no-deal", the UK might lose nearly 54 billion € in investments and 500,000 jobs by 2030.

The National Library of France (BnF) is hosting an exhibition until 25th February devoted to the prints by painter Antoni Clavé. These large scale red, black and white prints illustrate all of Clavé's talent both from the technical and stylistic points of view.