The man America called "the last dictator in Europe" – the President of Belarus – has been invited to a European Union summit on partnership with ex-Soviet states in Prague. Alexander Lukashenko has long been shunned in the west, and until last year was the subject of an EU travel ban.

Western governments and human rights campaigners say that opposition is stifled in Belarus, and a free media is virtually non-existent. The invitation came from Karel Schwarzenberg, the foreign minister of the Czech Republic, which holds the rotating EU presidency.

The Czech president Vaclav Klaus said he was "surprised" by the move, adding that he would not shake Lukashenko's hand, nor invite him to the presidential palace.

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Annemie Neyts MEP, the president of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party said: "They have contributed to each and every important piece of European legislation and regulation, always trying just like the liberal commissioners have been doing, to strike the right balance between effectiveness, efficiency, transparency principles and pragmatism."

Following just behind civil liberties on the Liberals' manifesto is the importance they put on the free market, and how they believe the free exchange of goods and services is essential to the EU's economic competitiveness.

Marco Cappato MEP, from Italy's Partito Radicale said: "This is a Europe of national states more than ever before. And yet we believe in a broader Europe, a European project that focuses on the rights of the person and the individual rights to democracy and freedom."

The Liberal group is hoping for a re-run of the period between 1999 and 2004, when it held the presidency of the European Parliament thanks to an anti-socialist alliance with the conservative European People's Party.

The leader of the EP Liberal group, Graham Watson, said: "There's a large part of the European People's Party who recognize that the market economy is still the most powerful tool that we have to lift people out of poverty quickly, which the left does not recognise or does not want to recognise."

It is likely the group will need to forge alliances with other parties because it is thought the Italian Liberals will breakaway and join the European Socialists.

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The proposal is longer – by two weeks – than the minimum maternity leave proposed by the European Commission last October, and many member states thought even THAT was too much.

Germany is one of those opposed to any increase, and gives its mother the bare minimum under current law, 14 weeks. Belgium and France are slightly more generous. Britain and Bulgaria already go beyond what is now being proposed, with 26 and 45 weeks maternity leave respectively.

But the daddy-of-them-all is Sweden where new parents get 75 weeks off – that is nearly a year and a half. So by the time it is over, the newborn could be a toddler who has sprouted teeth. But it is not strictly-speaking “maternity” leave in Sweden. The time off work to look after baby can be transferred between either parent.

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June’s European elections are being billed by EU officials as a chance for the bloc’s citizens to make their choice. However, recent polls suggest up to two thirds of the electorate could choose to give it a miss.

Some blame an image problem, others believe the apathy is more deep-rooted.

An EOS Gallup poll predicts 66 percent of eligible Europeans will not vote, by far the lowest turnout in the 30-year history of European elections.

For many MEPs like Alain Lamassoure, voters are being misled about what exactly they’re being asked to vote for.

“Political parties tend to hijack the European elections to push a national agenda and make up party lists according to domestic problems instead of understanding that in fact it’s about voters electing those people who will be representing them in the European parliament for the next five years,” he said.

Yet for many political analysts, diminishing interest in Brussels-based politics is in direct contrast to the growing role of the EU. As Pascal Delwit puts it:

“One paradox is that today we are are voting for representatives in an institution that is stronger than it was 30 years ago but at the same time citizens don’t perceive it like that and so don’t get fully involved.”

The Gallup poll goes on to point out that the biggest issue for European voters is the economy; first unemployment then falling purchasing power. However, only a third of potential voters have heard anything about European efforts to tackle the financial crisis.

National governments appear to be the ones taking either the credit or the blame.

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