Belarusians and the citizens of the EU countries have common geographical location in the Old World and they also share common problems, in particular, concerning family care and worries about their future. A sociological poll shows that both the EU and Belarus are equally alarmed about the rising prices, however overall, Belarusians have more trust in their government, while the Europeans rely on powerful Brussels.

Ukraine will soon receive a new agreement on association from the European Union. This news was delivered to journalists by the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ogryzko at a press conference.

The world’s largest trading networks, French "Auchan" and German "Metro Cash & Carry" are looking closely at Belarus. The Swedish Concern IKEA also still has hopes for attempting to open a business in our country (both as a retailer and manufacturer).

The issue of deployment of an American anti-missile defense system in Europe is becoming more heated. Negotiations between the USA and Poland have concluded and the USA has announced that preliminary agreement has been reached. This information has not, however, been confirmed by the Polish government who say they have not yet made a final decision.

An official opening of the Centre of Belarusian culture in Poland was celebrated in Bialostok and Warsaw. This is the first Belarusian Centre of the kind outside Belarus.

The European Union is highly interested in signing agreements with the governments of the developing countries regarding the return of illegal migrants to their territories. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany informed about it a group of Belarusian journalists in the course of their visit to Berlin within the framework of an educational programme in the end of June. According to the data of the German Foreign Ministry, eleven agreements in question were concluded to the moment, including Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and a number of Balkan countries. The EU also realizes the necessity to improve the cooperation on the issues related to fighting illegal migration and border security within the European Union. In order to fulfill this goal, a special service for protection of marine borders, in particular, in the Mediterranean region, as well as a border agency in Warsaw tasked to ensure information exchange between the EU Member States, were set up.

France, becoming the EU Presidency for the 12^th time, inherited quite a few problems. The French announced clearly their priority areas: immigration, security, energy and environmental protection and agriculture. The co-called “Belarusian issue” was never taken closely by Paris, though not disregarded. It seems that nothing would change in the course of the following half a year.