The activities stretch over most of the summer, from a ten-week torch relay beginning on May 19th to the closing ceremony of the Paralympics on September 9th.

ECONOMIST: Security at the Olympic games

If the Italian government refuses to change its plans, a meeting of the full commission on September 9th will almost certainly announce that the Malpensa decree breaks European law.

ECONOMIST: Italian airports

At a European Union-Ukraine summit in Paris on September 9th, the EU too had little beside warm words of support to offer.

ECONOMIST: Russia's western neighbours

Nor have reports that Chris Patten, a former governor of Hong Kong and a European commissioner-designate, will recommend wholesale reform of the Royal Ulster Constabulary in a report due on September 9th.

ECONOMIST: Back to work