Back from South Korea

If I ignore the heavy cold I have these days and which was not the most pleasant thing to get for such a long trip, I had three good days in South Korea together with European Council President van Rompuy, starting with the Nuclear Security Summit on Monday and Tuesday followed by the EU-South Korea Summit yesterday. At the Nuclear Security Summit I especially reported about the stress tests for nuclear power plants in the European Union and the necessity for cross-border cooperation on these issues since radiation does not know borders. The bilateral meeting with President Lee Myung-bak was also very fruitful. We discussed the economic situation in the European Union, the mutual relationship between South Korea and the EU that has been re-enforced in 2010 through our free trade agreement as well as the implementation of the G20 Action Plan for Growth. At the sidelines we also met with other leaders, such as the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Philippine Vice-President Jejomar Binay and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
In my absence, Vice President Reding chaired yesterday's Commission meeting as she usually does when I am away. So, dear Berlaymonster, I am fully aware that she took my chair! I will try to recover as much as possible from this cold today and tomorrow before I will go to Finland on Saturday where I hear we will have temperatures around 0°C, not the perfect weather in my current condition, but hopefully with good meetings.

In Kyiv

I was in Kyiv today - or yesterday as it is again past midnight - for the EU-Ukraine summit where we finalised the negotiations for the Association Agreement. We also discussed visa liberalisation and questions of the energy market. I also raised the issue of the detention of former Prime Minister Tymoshenko which is a matter of great concern for us. Nontheless, Ukraine is an important partner for European Union and I hope we will continue to strengthen our ties in this 20th year of independence.

Now this was very likely the last major political event of 2011 and I am soon heading home to Portugal. On 23 December, I am going to receive an honorary doctor of the Technical University of Lisbon and then I will enjoy some days of Christmas. It was a very intensive year 2011…