It is now time for the much-discussed Lisbon Treaty to begin to take effect. From Tuesday 1 December, Catherine Ashton will be the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. As such, she will be responsible for coordinating all parts of the European Union’s foreign policy and presenting the views of the EU to other countries, in international organisations and at international conferences.

Kerstin Lindblad works at the Division for Migration and Asylum Policy at the Ministry of Justice. Kerstin is Chair of the Visa Working Party.

The start of the UN Climate Conference (COP 15) in Copenhagen is not the only event taking place on 7 December – the last Energy Council meeting of the autumn is also taking place in Brussels. President-in-Office of the Council Maud Olofsson believes that the EU has an important role to play in the energy area in the future, and is delighted that three climate-smart directives are now being put in place.

The final third-country summit of the Swedish Presidency, EU-Ukraine, took place in Kiev today. As was the case in earlier summits, the Presidency’s two top priorities, the economic crisis and climate change, was on the agenda. But the major part of the meeting was devoted to two other issues: energy security and gas supply and Ukraine’s need for political and economic reforms.

Now the UN Climate Change Conference is underway in Copenhagen. Over 10 days the world is gathering to work out how to save the climate. But what is it that is at stake? Why is the earth’s average temperature changing? How can you yourself help to curb climate change?

Late on Sunday evening the EU member states decided to designate Ljubljana as seat of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators – ACER. The agency will complement and coordinate the work of national regulatory authorities.

Funding for climate change adaptation by the developing countries was one of the discussion topics on the second day of the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The EU’s Chief Negotiators also met with a series of European environment and youth organisations for a dialogue on the upcoming week’s negotiations.

In the middle of the ongoing Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, the EU’s heads of state and government are meeting in Brussels for final discussions on the EU’s position on the climate change issue. It is time for this autumn’s and the Swedish Presidency’s final EU summit. Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt talks about what it feels like to soon be vacating the Presidency chair and how pleased he is about the progress made in some of the Presidency’s priority issues: the economic crisis and the Stockholm Programme. These issues are also on the Summit agenda.

Yesterday’s differences continued during the fourth day of negotiations at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Today’s negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol had to be adjourned.