As Israel strengthened its offensive against Hamas to cut off at source the terrorist attacks against it, it was announced that Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas was to meet French president Nicolas Sarkozy. Perhaps Abbas believed, to paraphrase Henry Kissinger, that if he wanted to call Europe, he had to speak to Sarkozy.

In effect, there may be some validity in that view, given the credibility Sarkozy built up through his dynamic leadership in the six months to the end of 2008 that France held the rotating presidency of the European Union, but the fact is that as of January 1 2009, Abbas should have been calling Prague, not Paris. It may also be pointed out that Sarkozy already had been scheduled to visit Egypt and Palestinian areas in the first week of January.

The Czech Republic took over the EU presidency at the beginning of this year, delighting media commentators who relished pointing out that Czech head of state Vaclav Klaus is a vehement Eurosceptic who is on record as saying that EU HQ in Brussels makes him think of Comecon, the trading bloc into which the Soviet Union corralled its flock.

Czech prime minister Mirek Topolanek is making a better show of it, even though like France, the Czech Republic is facing unscripted agenda items. For Paris, it was South Ossetia and the global credit crunch. For Prague, it has been the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute and Gaza, and these in the short space of days before the Czech Republic even had time formally to unveil its EU presidency priorities.

Topolanek, in a message on the Czech EU presidency website, sketched these priorities as  being three "e's" - economy, energy and external relations.

"It is our economic ambition to increase Europe's competitiveness, to enhance consumer confidence, but also the confidence of small and medium-sized enterprises in the market economy, to deal with the financial crisis in an effective and reasonable way, to carry on liberal reforms of the budget and EU policies, particularly the Common Agriculture Policy, and, last but not least, to promote employment," Topolanek said.

The Czech Republic regarded energy policy as a search for balance between the demands of the environment and the preservation of competitiveness and energy security in Europe."

"The debate on source diversification and new networks is pivotal for us. We believe it crucial for the future and security of the EU to have a common energy policy and to act as one when negotiating energy supplies," he said.

According to the Czech statement, "`External Relations' means the emphasis on Euro-Atlantic relations, which the Czech Republic, together with other EU member states, considers to be fundamental for our security and economic co-operation. A priority of the same importance for us is the openness and further enlargement of the EU. We want to further the integration of the Western Balkans. The Eastern Partnership is another important priority".

Specifically on the Western Balkans, Prague said that the region was "geographically and historically a natural priority for Czech foreign policy and logically also for the Presidency: we want to contribute to the progress in the accession negotiations with Croatia and also support the continuing integration of other countries in the region".

Topolanek said that it would be only the level of preparedness of these countries that would determine how fast they would manage to integrate into the European structures. "From the Czech point of view, only further integration can solidify the fragile stability of the region."

The Czech Republic, one of the EU states that has recognised Kosovo as independent, said that it wanted to make the EU's law and order mission EULEX "as efficient as possible".

While some media reports have suggested that there is a question mark over the Czech Republic's ability to lead the European bloc, at least it does not face Greece's problem - leadership of a bloc the credibility of which is in question.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) was left a bystander in the South Ossetia conflict in late summer 2008. Many commentators said that the OSCE, conceived in the Cold War as a forum between East and West, emerged after South Ossetia as less of a forum than a vacuum.

Mindful of the need for the OSCE to find a constructive role to establish its relevance, Greek foreign minister Dora Bakoyannis plans a series of visits to the Caucasus.

Speaking in November, Bakoyannis said that Greece wanted to strengthen the OSCE's role in early warning, crisis prevention and management.

She said that the conflict between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia could prove to be "the grounds for a revised security structure in Europe's geopolitical map taking under consideration the EU and NATO enlargement as well as Russia's strategic role," and said that Greece was ready to host a summit meeting if decided by the OSCE partners.

Given the global economic crisis, the performance of the G8 may be watched even more closely than ever. Notably, it appears that in the spirit of the G20 meeting in Washington towards the end of 2008, Italy intends taking an inclusive approach at the helm of the group of the world's eight most industrialised countries.

Italy will hold the G8 presidency throughout 2008, and will host the traditional summit, to be held this year in July in La Maddalena, an island off the northern coast of Sardinia.

Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi said that Italy plans to step up the involvement of important non-G8 countries during its G8 presidency.  These countries include China, India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Egypt, Australia and Indonesia.

Italy has pressed hard for an Egyptian role because of Egypt's status in the Middle East and Africa where it is "widely heard," Berlusconi said.

Foreign minister Franco Frattini said that Italy's presidency of the G8 will be an occasion for "a new global governance" and to create a more structured relationship between G8 countries and emerging powers.

He said that terrorism, nuclear disarmament and the situations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Africa would be on the political agenda, while economic issues to be given priority included reforms to the Bretton Woods system of monetary management, the development of renewable energy sources, the impact of climate change on the economy and food safety.