That summit comes at an auspicious time, as the EU reviews its European Neighborhood Policy (launched in 2004) and the Eastern Partnership (launched in 2009), ahead of a second grand summit in Budapest under the Hungarian EU presidency in May 2011.

In that context, the timely holding of a second EU Africa summit, as foreseen in the Cairo Declaration, remains an important objective of the EU Africa dialogue.

The place to start is Ukraine. Fortunately, the EU Ukraine summit on September 9 in Evian, France, provides the perfect opportunity.

Sarkozy regards an EU economic government as a way to preserve his leadership in the EU beyond France s Council presidency, which is now ending. Although the Czech Republic will assume the EU presidency in January, this has not prevented the French President from convening a new EU summit under Sarkozy s leadership in the first half of 2009.

In the wake of Turkey s fraying relations with Russia, the decision to proceed with the planned EU Turkey Summit is an important one.

In the context of the upcoming September summit, the EU attaches importance to including strong language in the outcome document which condemns terrorism.

Within days of the votes, they failed to agree on the EU budget for 2007 13. French and British leaders engaged in a heated quarrel that derailed the subsequent summit, before Britain assumed the rotating six month EU presidency in July.

The drubbing that many governments suffered in the recent elections to the European Union Parliament places them in a difficult position as they maneuver ahead of this week's EU Summit. Only an incurable optimist can hope that the summit will bring glory to any of them.

Statements by new EU members leaders at the summit indicated that they were aware of such a possibility. They were worried about the EU s future certainly more so than their Western counterparts.

As its hard power ebbs, its soft power, as illustrated by the Copenhagen summit, seems to be very weak. This in part arises from a failure to provide the EU with political power.

This tension between Europeans goals and their ability to achieve them is playing out again in the wake of the recent EU summit. Europe s leaders now agree on a vision of what the EU should become an economic and monetary union complemented by a banking union, a fiscal union, and a political union.

None of this will be easy, not only because Europe s relationship with Russia has grown so chilly, but also because Putin is understood to despise the EU as politically impotent. Russian leaders may have misinterpreted as a sign of weakness Europe s representation at last month s EU Russia summit by two Portuguese politicians European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and Prime Minister Jose Socrates, whose government currently holds the revolving EU presidency.

The EU underscores its support for stronger United Nations wide coherence, starting with the implementation of the measures identified at the summit to promote coherence of policy, operational activities, humanitarian assistance and environmental activities.

The G 20 Summit in Antalya, held on November 15 16, was to cement Erdoğan s triumphant return to the world stage, ending a period of relative isolation by the West that reflected disapproval of his authoritarian tendencies. And a joint EU Turkey summit was scheduled for November 29 to formalize the action plan.

The EU would invite non EU states to do likewise

EU PROPOSAL

But the EU has so far failed to prepare the Western Balkans for accession, in line with its leaders promise at their Thessaloniki summit in 2003 to admit the Western Balkan states when they meet the Union s standards.

Noting with appreciation the Secretary General's recent letters of invitation addressed to Mr. Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission and Mr. Javier Solana, the EU High Representative for Common Foreign Security Policy, and his fruitful discussions with the EU Commissioner for External Relations, Mrs. Benita Ferrero Waldner, on the sidelines of the 17th Arab League Summit in Algiers.

First, the EU has to accept at least a million asylum seekers annually for the foreseeable future. And, to do that, it must share the burden fairly a principle that a qualified majority finally established at last Wednesday s summit.

Blair s EU disaster

Post EU Depression

EU European Union

Britain s Last EU Straw?

A Better EU Budget

Politicizing EU Competition Policy

Righting the EU Constitution

The EU vs. Democracy

Statement of the EU

2. Also decides to call the summit the World Summit on Sustainable Development

The Challenges Of EU Enlargement

26 http europa eu un.org.

The publication of some additional information is encouraged, for example, in the EU public procurement directive (the EU directive ).

The European Commission's Market Access Database provides information on exports from the European Union (EU) to non EU countries.

Donald Tusk, the former Polish prime minister who was chairing his first summit as President of the European Council, supports additional financing for Ukraine. But, as the Financial Times reports, several EU countries willingness to come up with the money remains lukewarm at best.

That is all the more true because the Brussels summit flung open the door to a fiscal union for the EU 17 . If a new treaty is negotiated by March 2012 and ratified in the following months, the EU will have taken a remarkable step forward indeed, only one step away from a real political union, which will have to follow if Europe is to end the crisis for good.

Indeed, one reason for this is that, on the opening day of the Russia EU Summit in Yekaterinburg on June 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that his country will honor its contract with Syria to deliver S 300 surface to air missiles. Putin stressed Russia s disappointment over the EU s failure to maintain the arms embargo against Syria, thus permitting each EU member state to arm the Syrian rebels.

Just look at the way it reacts when the other side decides not to show up (for example, its response to President Barack Obama s decision not to attend the May EU US summit in Madrid). If the EU wants to be taken seriously and have a tangible impact, it needs to learn that talking about the right things is no substitute for taking the right kind of action.

A Plutocrats Summit?

More than half of the country s trade is with the Union, and Moldova receives significant EU financial assistance. Most Moldovan emigrants work in the EU, and almost 75 of Moldova s population support EU membership.

How to Make EU Integration Popular

Putting Europe into the EU Budget

The Economic Governance the EU Needs

The EU Moves Ahead At Last

Who Needs to Be EU President?

At a time of anti establishment rage and political upheaval, anti EU campaigners can peddle three fantasies of a post EU future a free market, foreigner free, or socialist Utopia. The pro EU camp, by contrast, has to sell the reality of the EU as it is, warts and all.