Ireland takes over the EU presidency this week, amid promises to help restore growth to the European economy.
It marked the event with a modest EU balloon-flying and flag-raising ceremony in Dublin castle on New Year's eve.
On Monday (7 January), it will also switch on its "Skylum" - an artwork in the EU Council building in Brussels in the form of an inflatable bubble, which changes colour and makes sounds when people walk under it and which aims to symbolise a marriage of new te...
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.