Catherine Ashton, the British EU trade commissioner, has been appointed foreign policy chief of the European Council.
Al Jazeera’s Hamish Macdonadl spoke to her on the sidelines of a meeting of the leaders of the 27-member European Union, where Herman Van Rompuy, Belgium’s prime minister, was appointed the first president of the European Council.
Jan Fischer, the Czech Republic’s prime minister, has told EU leadres he fully expects his country to back the EU’s Lisbon Treaty by the end of this year.
But Vaclav Klaus, the president of the Czech Republic, who some describe as a Eurosceptic, is openly hostile to the treaty and will not sign it before a legal challenge in the Czceh Constitutional Court is heard.
The Lisbon Treaty cannot take effect unless all 27 EU countries ratify it. All but the Czech Republic and Poland have done so.
Jonah Hull reports.
Irish voters have backed a European Union treaty aimed at streamlining the future workings of the 27-member body.
The result takes the EU a step closer to having a president for the first time – the leading candiadte for which appears to be Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister.
Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull reports from Dublin on why Irish voters changed their minds and backed a treaty they had previosuly rejected.
Al Jazeera’s Tessa Parry-Wingfield reports on the new immigration laws that are threatening to plunge the country’s billion-dollar curry industry into crisis.
Restaurant onwers fear their chefs will not meet the new EU points-based criteria, which could spell disaster for curry fans across Britain.
Turkish and Chinese chefs are also being affected by the new laws within the UK.
Vuk Jeremic, Serbia’s foerign minister joins Sir David to discuss the upcoming elections.
Jeremic says that the poll is effectively going to be a referendum on Serbia joining the EU.
He warns that victory for the nationalists could isolate the country for another generation; and says Kosovo’s declaration of independence has created uncertainty and instability in the region.
Also, Knox Chitiyo is from the Royal United Sevices Institute tihnktank and tells Sir David what is next for Zimbabwe.