1. Greece's two mainstream political parties agreed on a pact for a unity government after intense pressure from the EU, which warned the country would be left to go bankrupt if a cross-part consensus was not achieved.
2. Germany has rejected demands by France, Britain and the US to allow national gold reserves to be put as collateral for the eurozone bailout fund.
3. A two-day meeting in the south of France of the world's most powerful leaders drew to a close with few concrete agreements, leaving EU leaders no wiser on how to control their single currency crisis.
4. Italy agreed to be put under surveillance by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of a plan to restore market trust in the eurozone's third-largest economy.
5. Greek PM George Papandreou stepped down, and was replaced by a former vice-president of the ECB. A referendum on the new bail-out deal for Greece has been shelved.
6. A former EU commissioner Mario Monti (a senator for life) was installed as prime minister of Italy after right-wing leader Silvio Berlusconi under pressure by the markets and Italy's EU partners worried that the ongoing political crisis in the country could sink the eurozone.
7. The EU's joint policy body, Europol, is angling to host a new European cyber centre, with the European Commission due next year to decide where to put its key defence against cyber crime.
8. The freshly re-negotiated agreement on the transfer of personal data of air passengers flying from Europe to the US still raises privacy concerns, MEPs familiar with the text have said. But a veto by the Parliament is unlikely, however.
9. France reacted with anger after a major ratings agency accidently suggested it had downgraded its credit rating status, but a prominent French economist believes the country is fighting the inevitable.
10. Two years after the European Charter of Fundamental Rights became part of the EU treaty, its confusing application has created problems for press freedom, minority and asylum seekers' rights, human rights czar Thomas Hammarberg has said.
11. With France's borrowing costs on the up and with its prized triple-A rating under threat, French leader Nicolas Sarkozy publicly advocated a fast-lane Europe for 'core' euro-countries.
12. Negotiators from the European Parliament and EU member states agreed to just over a two-percent rise in the Union's budget for 2012.
13. Turkey's former ambassador to the EU described it as a spent force in world affairs, amid general acceptance EU-Turkey accession talks are going nowhere.
14. Members of the European Parliament in the key committee dealing with parliamentary rules approved a new ethics code obliging them to more transparency and disclosure after a cash-for-amendments scandal uncovered earlier this year.
15.Incoming Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti named a government entirely composed of unelected figures. All ministerial posts will be held by technocrats, bankers and diplomats.
16. EU and US leaders met for a bilateral meeting with little of substance agreed and against a backdrop of exasperation in Washington over the handling of the eurozone crisis.
17. One of the main weapons in the record industry's arsenal against illegal file-sharing has been struck down by the EU's top court as a breach of fundamental rights.
18. The EU has said it will sign up to extending the international treaty on climate change but has little hope the world's major polluters will follow suit. It also called on developing countries to commit to legally binding targets.
19. The jailing of human rights campaigner Ales Bilalitski in Belarus has prompted EU diplomats to get more creative in how they handle President Lukashenko.
20. EU deputies in the justice committee have approved a proposal to grant those deprived of liberty the right to be informed of their legal rights in the form of a written letter.
