The European Union has issued a strong statement against Israel's just-announced plans to build a new settlement in the West Bank. From Brussels, Teri Schultz has more on the story.

Earlier this year, Denmark came top in a world map of happiness (the UK ranked 41st out of 178 nations). And for more than 30 years it has ranked first in European satisfaction surveys. So what makes Danes so content?

The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund will start operations in the beginning of next year. The EU Council of Ministers made the decision on establishing the Fund in Brussels today, the 19th of December.

Vartan Oskanian, Ra Foreign Minister, and Peter Semneby, EU Special Representative for South Caucasus, touched upon Armenia-EU relations.

The European Council meeting of 14-15 December will welcome the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU. To celebrate this important occasion, the Commission is organising a major event in the centre of Brussels hosted by President José Manuel Barroso and Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, and open to all. Representatives of Bulgaria and Romania as well as of the Member States will be present. The colourful event is open to the public.

To become a member of the European Union Turkey must fulfill its commitments and achieve economical, political, regional and social progress. The regional policy of Turkey is promoting difficulties and tension in South Caucasus and harms affects hampers the progress in the Republic of Armenia.

The EU is studying an offer by Turkey to open one port and one airport to traffic from Cyprus, reports Reuters.

The European Commission said the move, if confirmed, was "an important step" towards breaking the deadlock over Turkey's EU membership application.

Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues Co-Chair Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI) issued a statement for the House of Representatives record calling on Turkey to demonstrate a willingness to implement changes in its policy, specifically improving its relations with Armenia. In his statement, Knollenberg urged Turkey to honor its commitments, noting that the European Union (EU) has repeatedly asked Turkey to remove its blockade of Armenia, as well as pushed for normalization between the countries.

On Wednesday, the plenary session debated the outcome of last week's eighteenth Russia-EU summit - held in Helsinki on 24 November - with the Council and Commission. Energy, human rights, overflight payments, customs issues and Russia's ban on meat imports from Poland were all part of the discussion.

The European Union today repeated its long-standing call for Belarus to join the EU Neighborhood Policy.

November 14 the 7th sitting of the Armenia-EU Cooperation Council was held in Brussels. The Action Plan of Armenia and the European Union was ratified and came into force during the sitting.