Europe Follow

The US and Poland’s leaders have escalated the militarisation of Europe and the tensions between the West and Russia.

In the Czech Republic, just as in most European countries, we have been watching television pictures of Georgia’s "brave" president Mikheil Saakashvili "defending his small country against imperial Russia".

$90bn – amount injected into the money markets by the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank on 9 August last year as interbank lending dries up – signalling the start of the "credit crunch"£314m – funds borrowed at a penalty rate by Barclays Bank from the Bank of England on 21 August last year. Barclays borrowed a further £1.6 billion just nine days later$47bn – money pumped into the banking system by the Federal Reserve in November as the crunch bites£100bn – the amount added to the national debt when stricken bank Northern Rock was brought into public owner

Poland has been presented as a neoliberal success story in eastern Europe. And against the background of recession and near recession in several European Union (EU) countries, Polish economic growth looks quite healthy – it is currently 6.4 percent.

The largest party of the European radical left, Rifondazione Comunista of Italy, held its national congress last weekend and made a decisive shift to the left.

The protests against the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, in 2001 were one of the biggest and most important mobilisations in the European anti-capitalist movement.

Almost a third of 14 years olds taking their Sats tests in English at school will have their results delayed this year thanks to bungling by the private company ETS Europe, which was hired to process their exam papers.

The European Parliament has adopted a new law known as the Returns Directive which is aimed at fast tracking mass deportations.

The right of trade unions to take action to defend their members is under constant attack from the Labour government and the neoliberal agenda of the European Union (EU).

Irish voters have dealt a decisive blow to attempts to create a corporate, militarised European Union (EU) superstate by voting to reject the Lisbon treaty.

Gordon Brown’s government has pressed on with the parliamentary vote to ratify the Lisbon treaty on the European Union (EU), despite Irish voters rejecting it.

The neoliberal European Lisbon Treaty has been thrown out by the Irish voters as counting continues.