In view of the next European elections, the Robert Schuman Foundation has published the Permanent Atlas of the European Union. Unique in its genre, written by the Foundation's experts, it offers a full, accessible panorama of the Union, the euro zone and each of its 28 Member States. It summaries the vital elements of the Union's history and its political and statistical realities, and offers readers more than 50 physical and geopolitical maps of Europe...

On 4th December the Commission published a report on the management of migratory flows which points to a 90% reduction in terms of illegal arrivals via the Eastern Mediterranean and an 80% reduction regarding the Central Mediterranean in comparison with the record of 2015. In view of these reductions the Commission deemed that it was time to lift the temporary controls on the borders of Schengen which have been introduced by certain States since 2015. It invited the Member States to adopt five of the 7 reforms on political asylum before the European elections - since the latter are almost ready for agreement. The Commission hopes that work will continue for the two other proposals which are still a matter of conflict regarding the single asylum procedure and the reform of the Dublin regulation.

During the European Socialist Party (PSE) conference on 8th December in Lisbon, the Social Democrats elected Frans Timmermans as their lead candidate (Spitzenkandidat) for the European elections in May 2019. Addressing delegates Frans Timmermans declared that his party would try to "write a new social contract with the citizens of Europe".

On 4th December the European Economy and Finance Ministers approved the results of the negotiation with the European Parliament over several measures that aim to reduce risks within the banking union, to improve banks' capacity to lend money and to give them a more important role on the capital markets. They adopted measures regarding VAT. They debate a new Franco-German proposal for a tax on digital services, whic would take on board ad revenues of platforms to a total of 3% and would be introduced by 2021.

On 3rd December the Council extended the European Observation Mission's mandate in Georgia (EUMM Georgia) until 14th December 2020. It also allocated a budget of 38.2 million euro for the period extending from 15th December 2018 to 14th December 2020. The EUMM Georgia is a civilian mission deployed in September 2008 following the six point agreement made under the aegis of the EU, which brought the August war between Russia and Georgia to an end. It helps towards stabilisation, normalisation and the establishment of a climate of confidence between the two sides that were involved in this conflict.

Following the case that was brought before the Court of Justice on 27th November to know whether the UK could revoke unilaterally its notification of its withdrawal from the EU and thereby cancel Brexit, the Court deemed that article 50 effectively allows for this - but on certain conditions. It has to be done before the entry into force of the withdrawal agreement (or before the expiry period of 2 years which might be extended). It has to be decided according to national constitutional rules and be communicated in writing to the European Council. A decision like this puts an end to the withdrawal procedure. The Court deems that the decision to remain in the Union is not expressly ruled out by article 50 and is a sovereign decision.

The 1001 CDU delegates appointed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer on 7th December as the successor to Angela Merkel as head of the German conservative party (CDU). During her last speech as leader of the CDU over the last 18 years, the Chancellor asked her party to defend Christian and democratic values in a European and world context marked by nationalism and populism. Paul Ziemiak was elected Secretary General of the party in the place of Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

Following deep disagreement regarding the Marrakesh Pact, a UN text for safe, orderly, regular migration which was signed on 10th December the Ministers of the N-Va, a Flemish nationalist party, resigned from government. King Philippe accepted their resignation on 9th December. Prime Minister Charles Michel gave the vacant posts (Defence, Migration, Finance and Internal Affairs) to the three remaining parties in the coalition (MR, Open Vld and CD&V). The new government, without the support of the N-VA is in the minority in Parliament.

The leaders of 18 countries of the Central European Initiative and the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Johannes Hahn met on 3rd and 4th December in Zagreb, since Croatia is ensuring the organisation's annual presidency. They discussed the means to overcome security problems linked to illegal immigration, the brain-drain and climate change. The initiative is one of the oldest intergovernmental forums for regional cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe and was founded in 1989.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras travelled to Moscow on 7th December for a working visit on the 190th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries - the first in three years. His meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dimitri Medvedev aim to revive bilateral cooperation between the two countries that were upset by the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Greece in the summer. Trade, economic cooperation, energy projects, including the transport of gas as well as regional and international issues were on the agenda.

The Central European University (CEU) founded by American billionaire George Soros announced on 3rd December that it had been forced to leave Hungary due to an "arbitrary eviction" that violates academic freedoms. In a press release the CEU which had been present in Hungary over the last thirty years said that it was going to open up a new establishment in Vienna, the Austrian capital.

The new Luxembourg coalition was sworn in on 5th December by the Grand Duke. One month and a half after the elections of 14th October it is a similar coalition to the previous one - between the Luxembourg Socialist Workers Party (POSL), the Democratic Party (PD, Liberal ) and the Greens led by Xavier Bettel (PD) which officially took up its function.

On 4th December Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping. The latter declared that relations between China and Portugal were entering "their best period of all time", and that this partnership was also going to deepen that with the EU. Chinese investments are significant in Portugal, particularly in the areas of energy, banking, insurance and healthcare.

As the vote over the UK's withdrawal agreement from the EU draws closer Prime Minister Theresa May faced rising tension across the entire political spectre, with the risk of an overwhelming defeat in Parliament. Whilst her cabinet is insisting on the fact that there is no alternative the present agreement, Ms May has been pushed into a minority position by the MPs in the House of Commons who deemed on 4th December that the government was in "contempt" of Parliament as it had not published all of the government's legal opinion. On 10th December Ms May announced that the vote on the ratification of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU of 11th December would be postponed. She explained that the text "would be rejected by a significant margin" and that she was going to hold talks with the leaders of Europe and the European Commission during the Council of Europe on 13th and 14th December in a bid to obtain changes to the agreement.

The leader of the Swedish Parliament gave Stefan Löfven (Social Democrat) until 10th December to form a government. Coalition negotiations failed once again. The Social Democrats and the Centre Party will not work together, declared Annie Lööf, leader of the Centre Party.

The electoral "My Step Alliance" led by outgoing Prime Minister and leader of the party Civilian Contract, Nikol Pashinyan won the snap election on 9th December with 70.4% of the vote according to results communicated by the Electoral Committee. The opposition party "Prosperous Armenia" won more than 5% of the vote, the threshold necessary to make its entry into Parliament, and the Republican Party of former president Serge Sarkissian only won 4.7% of the vote. The elections were convened by Mr Pashinyan to consolidate his power after he took office in the wake of a popular uprising.

On 10th December during the conference on migration in Marrakesh, more than 150 UN Member countries formally approved the World Pact for Safe, Orderly, Regular Migration. The day before UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres asked the leaders of the world to "give the pact life". Of the 258 million migrants across the world, 50 million are children.

According to an OECD report published on 5th December France is placed first in the world in terms of fiscal pressure: in 2017 obligatory contributions totalled 46.2% of the GDP ie +0.7 points in comparison with 2016. France pulls ahead of Denmark whose obligatory contribution rate decreased by 0.2 points (46% in 2017).

On 15th December in Sevilla the European Film Prizes will be awarded by the European Film Academy to directors, scriptwriters and even actors from the continent. The five favourites in this 31st edition are "Cold War", "Dogman", "Happy as Lazzaro", "Border" and "Girl".