The European Union's digital library, Europeana, opened on Thursday Nov. 20, only to be overwhelmed and crash. Inspired by ancient Alexandria's attempt to collect the world's knowledge, Europeana objective is to bring Europe's cultural heritage out of its museums and libraries and onto the internet.

The European Commission is behind Europeana and provides the annual budget of 2.5 million euros (US$3.15 million). At its launch commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said, "Europeana is much more than a library; it is a veritable dynamo to inspire 21st century Europeans to emulate the creativity of innovative forbears like the drivers of the Renaissance."

A landmark occasion occurred in the European Union last week. For the first time ever, the European Court of Auditors gave a "clean bill of health" to the EU’s account. It has only taken 14 years.

Previously the Auditors had refused to endorse the accounts, although it found the accounts themselves "reliable." This means that the European Commission had accurately recorded all transactions, assets and liabilities, but there were problems with how the money was used.

Chinese political activist wins Freedom of Thought award.

Hu Jia, a prominent Chinese human rights activist and dissident, is the winner of this year's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. China's ambassador to the EU had warned that selecting Hu Jia would, "bring serious damage to China-EU relations." China issued a similar warning to Norway when Hu Jia was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The European Parliament has awarded the Sakharov Prize annually since 1988. The prize honours individuals or organizations for their efforts on behalf of human rights and against oppression and injustice. Previous recipients include Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi and the Belarusian Association of Journalists. The prize is worth 50,000 Euros (US$65,000).

Nominations are in for the least sort after awards in Europe.

Voting has opened for the annual 'Worst EU Lobbying Awards'. The public are invited to visit this site, familiarize themselves with this year’s nominees and cast a vote for the most outrageous behaviour. There are two categories, "Worst EU Lobbying" and "Worst Conflict of Interest."

According to the organizers the idea behind the awards is, "to discourage controversial lobbying practices by exposing them to the public." This is the fourth year the competition has been held and it promises to be a close race.

Meeting at the weekend in Paris, the heads of states of the eurozone have agreed a response to the banking crises. The eurozone comprises the 15 countries that use the euro. This meeting was the first such, since the euro was launched in 1999.

The three key components of the plan are

• Countries will inject capital into their banks if necessary by buying preference shares
• Countries will guarantee interbank leading until the end of next year
• The European Central Bank will attempt to boost liquidity

The eurozone states have based their plan on the £500 billion (US$865 billion) UK plan announced last week. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown attended the eurozone meeting even though the UK is not a member.