The European Council has agreed that the European Union is ready to contribute to climate change financing with fast-start funding of EUR 2.4 billion annually for the years 2010 to 2012. Some East European Member States will contribute symbolic amounts (Bulgaria has pledged a 20 000 Euro contribution).

The new Rules of Procedure of the Council have been published in the Official Journal. One of the important principles is that the Council will meet in public when it deliberates and votes on a draft legislative act.

The European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights shows that discrimination on the basis of ethnicity is a major problem for many minorities in the EU.

Employment is the main domain where minorities experience the greatest levels of discriminatory treatment.

The Roma, Sub-Saharan Africans and North Africans face very high levels of discrimination in their everyday lives.

Bloomberg reports that Greece has blocked a proposal to set a starting date for starting accession negotiations with the Republic of Macedonia.

This comes after a meeting between the prime ministers of Greece and Macedonia, George Papandreou and Nikola Gruevski in November. The meeting ended without any progress on the name issue.

This is an interview with the Bulgarian foreign minister and current candidate for commissioner Rumiana Jeleva with New Europe (via Julien Frisch).

The Council has agreed on a framework for reform of the EU patent law. The Council approves the idea of a European and EU Patents Court (EEUPC) that will have exclusive jurisdiction in respect of civil litigation related to the infringement and validity of EU patents and European patents. The EEUPC should comprise a Court of First Instance, a Court of Appeal and a Registry.

Stoyan Baltov is dead. He was beaten to death on this day, December 5th, 2008 in front of a disco club in Sofia.

His death prompted a series of protests that climaxed on January, 14th 2009. On this date police dispersed the protestеrs in front of the Bulgarian Parliament with brutal force.

Today the case against two of the murderers is still in the prosecution’s office (it was referred back by the court for further investigation). The other participants in the beating are not considered responsible for Baltov’s death.

There is no independent investigation of the legality of the Bulgarian police’s actions on January, 14th 2009, either.

What does this mean for young Bulgarians that would like to lead a normal, meaningful life in Bulgaria? It means that they are not protected. It means that it is better to rely rather on yourself than on the Bulgarian institutions. It means hopelessness.

Make no mistake about it – unless the murderers of Stoyan Baltov are punished, there will be no legitimacy for the Bulgarian state in the eyes of the young Bulgarians. Unless we prove that murderers get punished in this country, we will only encourage new murderers. Should the Bulgarian institutions remain silent in this case, many more will simply choose the way out of here.

Is that what we want?

The Council has decided to establish three new authorities for supervision at the micro level: the European Banking Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, and the European Securities and Markets Authority.

The three bodies will work in cooperation with national supervision bodies and their decisions will be legally binding.

The European Council has adopted two decisions that are based on the new institutional arrangements in the Treaty of Lisbon that entered into force yesterday.

The first decision provides that the Presidency of the Council, with the exception of the Foreign Affairs configuration, wil be held by pre-established groups of three Member States for a period of 18 months. Each member of the group will in turn chair for a six-month period all configurations of the Council. The other members of the group will assist the Chair in all its responsibilities on the basis of a common programme.

The second decision adopts the Rules of Procedure of the European Council.

The newest revision of the founding treaties – the Treaty of Lisbon, has entered into force. This is a good day for the European integration after a very difficult period of debate.

So what will change now?

• Few main changes may be outlined:
• The European Union becomes a legal entity;
• The three pillars (European Community, Foreign and Security Policy, Justice and Home Affairs) are merged together;
• A new rule of double qualified majority in the Council (from 2014);
• Co-decision becomes the ordinary legislative procedure;
• Early-warning system allows national parliaments of the Member States to indicate when the subsidiarity principle may have been violated;
• Creation of the post of President of the European Council (for 2.5 years);
• Creation of a High Representative of the Union for Foreign
• Affairs and Security Policy who is also a Vice-president of the Commission;
• Right of citizens’ initiative, etc.

During the next few days I will attempt to summarize more information about the most important reforms.