The Council welcomed Radovan Karadzic's arrest. It is addressing several major external relations issues of the European Union: the preparation of the EU-Ukraine Summit, the situation in the Middle East, Zimbabwe, Iran and combating piracy off the coasts of Somalia.

Bernard Kouchner, French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, will chair a meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations Council, which brings together the 27 EU foreign ministers every month.

Valérie Pécresse, French Minister for Higher Education and Research, brought together for the first time the European ministers for space affairs to attend discussions in Kourou (French Guiana) on 20-22 July 2008.

The aim of the conference is to take stock of existing training courses and review training needs, with a view to establishing some future guidelines.

Chaired by Anne-Marie Idrac, the Minister of State with responsibility for Foreign Trade of France, the extraordinary meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations convoked on 18 July to prepare the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will resume its work in Geneva on Monday 21 July at 14.30.

The French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs presented the priorities of the French Presidency to the OSCE on 17 July.

Jean-Pierre Jouyet, Minister of State to the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, with responsibility for European Affairs, gave details to the Permanent Representatives on the revitalisation of the European Defence Policy.

This seminar will concentrate on specific ways of reinforcing EU action in the fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems.

43 Heads of State and Government will meet on 13 July in Paris to launch the Union for the Mediterranean.

43 Heads of State and Government will meet on 13 July in Paris to launch the Union for the Mediterranean.

At the invitation of Jean-Pierre Jouyet, the ministers for European affairs will meet for a meeting on 12 and 13 July, during the Brest 2008 International Maritime Festival.

The ministers responsible for European affairs met in Brest on the sidelines of the "Brest 2008" maritime festival on 12 and 13 July to have an informal debate on the three topics proposed by Jean-Pierre Jouyet in the context of the French Presidency of the European Union.