This WEEK in the European Union

Apart from the headline-grabbing eurozone events, on the agenda of foreign affairs ministers' meeting on Monday are talks on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the situation in Syria after the French and US embassies got attacked and a chat with Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on the war in Afghanistan.

Ministers are also likely to appoint an EU special representative for the southern Mediterranean.

Also on Monday, in the northern Polish town of Sopot, on the shores of the Baltic Sea, home affairs ministers are to look at how to reinforce the external EU borders "so as to avoid" the re-introduction of internal frontiers.

Home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom is also likely to brief ministers about the findings of the announced EU inspection of the Danish customs checks put in place since the beginning of the month, which had sparked tense debates between Brussels, Berlin and Copenhagen.

Justice ministers meeting also in Sopot on Tuesday will have a first look at a proposal to establish an EU-wide contract law to run in parallel with national legislations for when an online customer, for instance, wants to purchase a product or a service in another member state.

Both EU consumer protection associations and business lobby groups have vocally criticised the plan, saying it would actually add to the legal confusion instead of easing it.

The reform of the European Court of Justice is on the agenda of the general affairs council on Tuesday in Brussels, where EU affairs ministers or ambassadors of member states meet. At stake is an increase in the number of ECJ judges from 27 to 39 and making the functioning of its chambers more flexible so as to better cope with the increasing number and complexity of EU-related cases.

Schengen-hopefuls Bulgaria and Romania on Wednesday will hear from the EU commission how their efforts in tackling corruption and organised crime are coming along, two reports awaited by France and the Netherlands, the main nay-sayers on their Schengen bid.

With a no-confidence vote scheduled next week in the Bulgarian parliament on the same topic, centre-right Prime Minister Bojko Borisov is under increased public pressure to deliver on his anti-graft promises. EU sources say his nervousness is legitimate, since the draft reports are "not giving enough ammunition" to change the French and the Dutch position.