The European Union and six post-Soviet republics will on Thursday sign a joint declaration on "eastern partnership" that will mention human rights observance, support to democratisation and market economy, and political and security cooperation, Karel Schwarzenberg said today.

The Prime Minister of the Great Britain and EU leaders will convene in Brussels today for an informal EU Council meeting on the global economic crisis. Gordon Brown will also brief leaders on the preparations for the forthcoming G20 Summit, which will take place in London on 02 April 2009.

A proposal for establishing a European Asylum Support Office was discussed by interior ministers during a public session at the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting on 26 February. The new agency would be a centre of expertise to step up and coordinate practical cooperation among member states on various asylum matters.

The newly formed Icelandic coalition, interm government will take office today, according to a coalition leader. The new government will also include a new prime minister, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, the country's and the world's first openly gay prime minister. A commissioner in Brussels has suggested that Iceland could be fast tracked to join the European Union (EU) by 2011.

European Central Bank cuts interest rates by 0.75 percent - its biggest ever move and its third cut in two months. Major European interest rate cuts fail to rally world markets.

European Union economists and officials are working on a $164 billion aid package to help stimulate the economies of its 27 member nations.

Russia's drive for recognition as one of the world's major powers took a long step forward as the EU's French presidency publicly backed President Dmitry Medvedev's call for a new "security architecture" for Europe.

The European Union says 15 nations that use the euro as their currency are officially in a recession, as world leaders gather in Washington to discuss the global financial crisis. The 27-nation EU as a whole avoided the same fate only by recording zero, rather than negative, growth in the second quarter.

It appears to be back to business as usual for Brussels and Moscow, even if the two sides continue to disagree about the fine print. A senior EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity this week in Brussels, was adamant that the EU-Russia summit did not equal a return to the sides' former relationship.

The whole framework of Armenia and EU relations was discussed during Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's working consultations, featuring members of the National Security Council of the Republic of Armenia, members of Government, heads of a number of interested agencies. The president says both Armenia and the European Union are interested to deepen mutual relations within the framework of the European Eastern Policy.

The EU says partnership talks with Russia will be resumed, despite Lithuania's objections. The talks were suspended following Russia's war with Georgia. However, the day was not a total loss for Vilnius, which succeeded in getting the EU Presidency to restate its commitment to Georgia's territorial integrity.

In a move which was partly an audacious bluff and partly a complex legalistic gambit, the French president faced down determined opposition from Lithuania and Poland to open the door to normalizing the EU-Russia relationship three months after the Georgian conflict.