"We will do everything to find an agreement at the next summit, but conditions are not there yet," Hollande told reporters, flanked by Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.

At a meeting in November, the 27-nation bloc failed to agree on its €1 trillion budget for the next seven years (2014-2020).

>> Read: EU budget delay keeps pressure on UK over banking union

The average European citizen generates around 500kg of municipal waste per year, a source of environmental degradation unless properly collected, treated and disposed.

Refuse can contain important raw materials and resources, and the EU has introduced directives to enforce common waste management standards and targets. It has also co-financed waste management infrastructures in specific regions.   

Despite the recent sectarian violence that saw dozens of policemen injured in Northern Ireland, the EU programme for peace and reconciliation could be in jeopardy, senior Irish representatives have told EurActiv.

The EU's Regional Policy Commissioner, Johannes Hahn, held the conference on Thursday (31 January) to exhibit the work EU funds had done to facilitate the peace process and how it could serve as an example to other conflict zones.

Iceland's industry ministry said the island would fish 15% less mackerel this year than in 2012, taking the catch to 123,182 tonnes, to help assure sustainability of the stock.

"We are willing to further reduce our catch if other coastal states agree to do so as well," Industry Minster Steingrimur Sigfusson said in a statement posted on the ministry's website on Saturday. "I hope the coastal states will return to the negotiating table with us to discuss concrete proposals."

Development aid is likely to be one of the losers at the 7-8 February EU budget summit, but the relatively small sum for sexual and reproductive health fuels an outsized debate over how European money is spent.

Last year, Brussels provided €150 million for family planning and counselling, or less than 2% of the European Commission’s overall foreign aid spending.

EU plans to set a CO₂ emission limit for vans of 147 grams per km (g/km) from 2020 are “insufficient,” says a letter to the European Parliament’s rapporteur for CO₂ legislation, Holger Krahmer, signed by the European Small Business Alliance, Athlon car lease, and EuroCommerce.

Services linked to information and communication technologies have consistently outperformed an otherwise lacklustre economy, growing by 5% to 10% in 2012, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Internet Economy Outlook, published last October.

The explosion in supply of tablet PCs and smartphones, and the opportunities for online data storage in the cloud, have helped buoy the ICT sector even during the 2008 financial crisis. The OECD report says larger firms recorded 6% growth in annual revenue  between 2000 and 2011.

The Romanian authorities reversed their decision from last April to suspend Chevron from gas exploration activities.

The decision takes place nine months after protests in southeast Romania, in particular in the town of Vama Veche, where shale gas exploration is due to take place. 

>> Read: Chevron suspends shale gas exploration to 'reassure' Romanians

Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said he now plans to ask the European Commission and the European Central Bank for euro-readiness assessment reports in the first half of March.

Based on the two convergence reports, EU leaders will make a final decision this summer on Latvia's eurozone membership.

Latvian officials are confident the country will meet the Maastricht economic criteria to demonstrate its readiness.