Agenda
This WEEK in the European Union
Europe's attention will be focused on the US elections this Wednesday, when senator Barack Obama is set to become America's first black president if recent polls prove to be accurate.
Two days after the election of the new US president, EU leaders will hold an extraordinary meeting on Friday. Summoned by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who chairs the bloc's rotating presidency, the heads of state and government are to formulate a common position ahead of the G20 summit scheduled a week later in Washington to address the financial crisis and its effects on the world economy.
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The consequences of the financial crisis will also be reflected in the European Commission's autumn economic forecast for 2008-2010 to be published on Monday (3 November). The forecast will cover economic growth, inflation, employment and the government deficits. A day later, Eurogroup chair Jean-Claude Juncker will give the European parliament's economic affairs committee his assessment of the way the crisis is having an impact on the bloc's economies.
Also on Tuesday, the European Parliament begins its "Arab week", which will see a number of Iraqi MPs and the secretary-general of the League of Arab States meeting European legislators.
Enlargement reports
On Wednesday, enlargement is high on the agenda, with commissioner Olli Rehn presenting in the European Parliament an updated overview of the EU's enlargement policy and a summary of the progress made over the past twelve months by each of the countries that want to join the EU.
According to a draft version seen by EUobserver, Croatia could conclude accession negotiations with the EU by the end of next year, if it fulfills the remaining conditions, while Serbia could become an official EU candidate. Macedonia will still not be offered a date to open membership talks with the bloc, while Bosnia-Herzegovina is to be criticised for its "inflammatory rhetoric" that "adversely affected the functioning of institutions and slowed down reform".
Turkey still has a long way to go before concluding accession talks, the draft report reads, but the EU hails Ankara's role as promoter of regional stability after the Georgian crisis.
Lobby for Nabucco after the Georgian crisis
The August war between Russia and Georgia also highlighted Turkey's "strategic significance for the EU energy security, particularly by diversifying supply routes", the draft report reads, mentioning the importance to go ahead with the planned Nabucco gas pipeline, which will connect Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria through Turkey to the gas-rich Caspian countries.
Promoting Nabucco will be also the aim of energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs next week, when he starts a five-day tour on Wednesday to the Caspian countries, Georgia and Turkey. He is scheduled to hold high-level talks on the issue for the first time since Georgian crisis, a development that made Caspian countries weary about their relationship with the West.
An EU-China energy conference will take place Thursday and Friday in Brussels, gathering industry and administration officials from the two sides, with discussions focusing on renewable energy, nuclear power and carbon capture and storage.
EU foreign ministers and those of the 12 southern Mediterranean countries involved in the Euromed partnership will also be meeting in Marseille on Monday to decide on, amongst other subjects, a headquarters for the organisation.