The EU's first military initiative was driven by France and Britain, the EU's two major military powers.
High marginal tax rates and burdensome business and labor market regulations put huge wedges in the EU's labor markets and severely limit the EU's growth potential.
Two weeks ago Beilin met with the EU's External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and elicited from her a clear EU rejection of Olmert's plan to determine Israel's borders.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Olmert's response to Palestinian violence
"Given Ryanair's remedies package clearly addresses every issue raised in the EU's Statement of Objections, any decision to prohibit would be manifestly unfair and in contravention of EU competition rules, " said Ryanair's Robin Kiely.
Many EU leaders object to America's planned National Missile Defence project and the U.S. has made clear its worries that the EU's new rapid reaction force could undermine NATO.
Cyprus President Demetris Christofias says reaching a deal on the EU's 2014-2020 budget will be a priority in Cyprus's six-month EU presidency.
The key issue, therefore, relates to an independent Scotland's membership of the EU. As outlined, an independent Scottish state could not automatically become a new member of the EU upon independence because there is no explicit provision for this process in the EU's own membership rules.
Serbia's Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic called for more talks with rival ethnic Albanians leaders of Kosovo - even though Baroness Ashton said after last week's failed talks that the EU's mediation bid had ended.
On Wednesday, President Hollande is meeting the European Commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, and other commissioners in Brussels for talks on boosting eurozone growth, as well as to talk about France's efforts to reach the EU's deficit target.
Also on the agenda for Monday's meeting will be the EU's relations with Israel and Iran, both affected by the September 11 attacks on the United States and the ensuing U.S. military strikes against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
The move reflects the Commission's continuing frustration with the EU's telecommunications market, where liberalization may exist on paper, but where competitors are still having trouble breaking into new markets because the incumbents remain not only the dominant service provider, but also control the infrastructure and networks which competitors must use.
Friday's agreement - which required the backing of all 27 members - represents the first reduction in the EU's multi-annual budget in its history and comes after EU leaders failed to agree a deal in November amid deep divisions over proposed austerity measures.
The EU's top court has backed the European Commission's bid to boost pay for EU staff by 3.7%, instead of the 1.85% that the member states wanted.
On Tuesday, the European Commission announced Mr Dalli's resignation, saying that the EU's anti-fraud office (Olaf) had established that a Maltese businessman had tried to use his contacts with Mr Dalli for financial gain.
The government was angered by the last-minute cancellation of Monday's meeting of ECOFIN - the EU's finance ministers - and are insisting that, in future, meetings of the 27 must not be set aside for meetings of the 17.
Olli Rehn, the EU's current enlargement chief, likens the EU accession process to a journey that matters as much as the destination.
Furthermore, both France and Germany have already undermined their credibility as Europe's leaders by having blatantly breached the EU's stability pact with their big budget deficits.
The original plan put forward by the European Commission was that funding would be taken from the EU's Progress Programme , a six year EU-wide employment strategy.
If America's agricultural policies are bad, the EU's are worse.
Britain's Conservative Party, hostile to the EU's draft constitution and membership of the single currency, sits in the European People's Party block, made up mainly of continental Christian Democratic parties that are much more integrationist than the Conservatives.
He said "urgent changes" were needed in the EU and Labour would seek to repatriate certain powers - including funding for industry and infrastructure that are part of the EU's regional policy - to ensure the EU "worked better for Britain".
On Thursday Europe's leaders will meet to decide on the EU's budget for 2014-2020.
Such areas include the Middle East peace process, dealing with Iran's nuclear programme and promoting reform among the EU's southern and eastern neighbours.
One way of looking at Belgium's divide is as a counterpart to the EU's split between a Germanic, frugal north and a subsidy-dependent Latin south.
The EU's main audit body has criticised the way EU farm subsidies are allocated in Central and Eastern Europe, saying the recipients include estate agents, airports and hunting clubs.
The U.S. has been irritated too by the EU's agreement that Persson should make an official visit to North and South Korea seeking to aid the reconciliation process on the peninsula.
According to Vitor Bento, a former Treasury Secretary and a member of the council of state which advises Portugal's president, it is now clear the EU's "piecemeal" approach to indebted countries cannot work.
Europe's internal challenges are immense, particularly the EU's expansion from 15 members to 25 and Germany's and France's need to find the will to initiate fundamental, Margaret Thatcher-like reforms to revivify their stagnant economies.
Disagreements between France and Germany marred December's summit in Nice, where leaders of the EU's 15 members disagreed over how best to revamp the bloc's operating rules to accommodate a dozen or more new members over the next decade.
Hillary Clinton, America's secretary of state, and Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign-policy supremo, sent him a stern letter.
ECONOMIST: A country caught precariously between east and west
应用推荐