2020 was not just the year of the lockdown! It might also have been that of a European awakening, writes Jean-Dominique Giuliani. The European Union has responded to the challenges it has faced. It has not only responded, it has also innovated in a number of areas.

The outgoing Portuguese President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, leads all opinion polls that show him winning in the first round of the presidential election to be held on 24 January. Supported by two centre-right parties, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the People's Party (PP), he is expected to win against the other 6 candidates in the race. Prime Minister Antonio Costa's Socialist Party (PS) has decided not to present a candidate, but a party member, former MEP Ana Gomes, is competing without the party's endorsement.

After the festive season and in order to cope with a more virulent strain of the virus, European countries have taken new measures or extended those already in place, while the vaccination campaign is now being implemented. The Foundation offers you a summary of the health measures in place and travel conditions across Europe. It is an indispensable, regularly updated resource providing you with a better understanding of the situation.

The Trade and Cooperation Agreement concluded on 24 December between the European Union and the United Kingdom entered into force provisionally on 1 January. It provides for the absence of customs duties and import quotas on agricultural and industrial products. It includes a "non-regression" clause with respect to the standards currently in force, and rules on state aid, as well as mechanisms for consultation and dispute settlement. It provides for reciprocal access to territorial waters and a reduction of around 25% of European fishing quotas in UK waters by 2026. Ratified by the British Parliament on 30 December, the agreement will be examined by the European Parliament in February.

Portugal has held the six-month presidency of the Council since 1 January. The Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, received the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, in Lisbon on 5 January. The priorities of the Presidency are the fight against Covid-19, in particular vaccination, the strengthening of multilateralism under the sign of a "global Europe", as well as the strengthening of the "social pillar" of the Union, through more "social rights, access to education, the fight against all forms of discrimination and against inequalities".

On 6 January, the French, German and British Foreign Ministers expressed their concerns in a joint communiqué following Iran's decision to enrich uranium to 20%. This decision is a blatant violation of the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan for 2015 (JCPOA) which provided for the progressive lifting of sanctions against the country in exchange for abandoning its military nuclear programme. The three countries called on Iran to immediately cease this violation of the agreement and to return to the uranium enrichment limit of 3.67%. On 11 January, High Representative Josep Borrell also called on Iran to "refrain from any escalation and to immediately reverse its actions".

The number of detected illegal crossings of the European Union's external borders fell by 13% in 2020 compared to the previous year, to 124,000, according to preliminary figures published by Frontex on 8 January. This is the lowest number since 2013. Illegal arrivals have fallen by three-quarters in the eastern Mediterranean (20,000) and by 29% in the western Mediterranean (17,000), but have increased eightfold in the Canary Islands (22,600).

On 15 and 16 January, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is holding an online congress to renew its governing bodies and elect a new president. The three candidates are : Armin Laschet, Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia, Friedrich Merz, former chairman of the CDU-CSU group in the Bundestag, and Norbert Röttgen, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag. The winner will be the party's candidate to lead the CDU-CSU list in the parliamentary elections on 26 September.

Belgian customs seized 65 tonnes of cocaine worth €7.5 billion in 2020 in the port of Antwerp, the Finance Ministry announced on 5 January. In 2019, customs intercepted 62.1 tonnes in the port, which is the first point of entry for drugs into Europe.

In the week of 4 January, the French company Vinci began work on the 18 km-long Femern tunnel, which is to link Germany and Denmark by road and rail from 2029. Approved in 2008, the work was able to begin after the German Federal Administrative Court rejected 7 complaints on 3 November 2020.

On 4 January, the shareholders of Peugeot SA (PSA) and Fiat Chrysler Automobile (FCA) gave the go-ahead for the proposed merger between the two groups to create Stellantis on 16 January. The European Commission had authorised the merger of the two groups on 21 December, considering that competition in the sector will remain strong after this operation. Stellantis will have 400,000 employees, 14 brands and will be the world's third largest manufacturer in terms of turnover.

On 4 January, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reshuffled his government and appointed Makis Voridis as Minister of the Interior, Spilios Livanos at the Ministry of Rural Development and Food, Kostis Hatzidakis at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and Kostas Skrekas at the Ministry of Environment and Energy. The new government was sworn in on 5 January before the President of the Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou.

The Council of Europe has chosen to honour women's rights by selecting the finalists for the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize on 8 January. Created in 2013 and worth €60,000, the prize rewards exceptional actions by civil society each year. The three nominees are Saudi activist Loujain al-Hathloul, Congolese activist Julienne Lusenge and an order of Buddhist nuns in Nepal. The winner is due to be announced on April 19.

On 5 January, the World Bank published a report forecasting world GDP growth of 4% in 2021, a figure that will depend on how well the pandemic is brought under control and on the success of national vaccination campaigns. The report also forecasts other recovery scenarios, a pessimistic one in which vaccination is too slow and protective measures are maintained, leading to a growth of 1.6% in 2021, and an optimistic one in which recovery could reach 5% in 2021 if herd immunity is quickly achieved. For the euro zone, the World Bank forecasts growth of 3.6 in 2021, after a decline of 7.4% in 2020.

In its latest Economic Bulletin, published on 7 January, the ECB reviews the economic analyses that have guided the Governing Council's latest decisions. It also develops four models to estimate the macroeconomic consequences of the Covid-19 crisis on the euro area economies.

Inflation in the euro zone rose by 0.3% in December compared to November, Eurostat announced on 7 January. Energy prices rose by 1.6% while food prices fell by 0.4% compared to the previous month, a first since January 2020.

On the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the death of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, an online exhibition at the Uffizi Museum in Florence is presenting until 14 July 88 engravings by the painter Federico Zuccari illustrating the "Divine Comedy", drawings rarely shown to the public. The exhibition is complemented by paintings depicting Dante and works of art of his time.