Brussels  - Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen confirmed on Friday that Ireland will hold a second referendum on the EU reform, or Lisbon, treaty in 2009, having received assurances at the EU summit in Brussels that Ireland will retain its commissioner.

Ireland, which rejected the Lisbon treaty in a referendum in June, has been under pressure to hold a second vote, and has held that the country must retain its EU commissioner despite a plan to reduce the size of the Brussels commission, in exchange for a second referendum.

Brussels  - French President Nicolas Sarkozy wrapped up his six-month stint as European Union chairman Friday with a brilliant diplomatic juggling act at the bloc's end-of-year summit in Brussels.

Mediating through 14 hours of tough negotiations with his 26 EU colleagues, "speedy" Sarkozy succeeded in sealing a landmark deal on climate change, brokered a massive economic recovery plan and ended six months of institutional deadlock by convincing Ireland to hold a fresh referendum on the reforming Lisbon Treaty.

Podgorica - Montenegro will begin the process of applying for membership of the European Union on Monday, local media reported Friday.

"Montenegro believes in European ideals" and this decision is the "beginning of most important and demanding phase that precedes the full membership of Montenegro in the European Union, " the government said in a statement.

Montenegro will hand in its application in Paris during the meeting of Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic and French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

London  - Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Friday shrugged off German criticism of Britain's approach to the current global financial crisis.

Brussels  - In a memorable 1970 sketch, British comedy team Monty Python took a swipe at government bureaucracy by inaugurating the "Ministry of Silly Walks."

In it, a Mr Putey asked the ministry to grant him funds to help him improve his not-so-silly walk.

Python's sketch was designed to make people laugh.

But after Thursday's decision to keep a full-scale executive for the European Union, observers in Brussels are starting to wonder whether the European Commission might risk a similarly Pythonesque fate.

The current executive has 27 "cabinet ministers" or commissioners - one for every member state of the EU.

Brussels  - The French presidency of the European Union on Thursday stuck to its guns on a series of laws aimed at fighting climate change, setting out a "final compromise" barely changed from earlier proposals criticized by environmentalists.

Critics said that the compromise offered so many concessions on so many points that it would be hard to work out all the implications of a deal.

"The task is to think about our children and leave them a planet which is worthy of life," Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme said.