The Prime Ministers of the Visegrad countries, accompanied by the President of Macedonia and the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, gathered at a summit in Prague. The purpose was twofold – to celebrate 25th anniversary of the Visegrad Group cooperation and to discuss the views on the migration challenges Europe and Balkan in particular are facing. The main topics discussed revolved around external border protection, EU-Turkey Joint Action Plan and stabilizing the situation in the Balkan region.

During a symbolic meeting in Rome, the Foreign Ministers of the 6 founding members of the EU (back then the ECSC) acknowledged the move towards a two-speed Europe the EU is heading towards and agreed to commit to further integration among the core members of the EU. The ministers stated that the current crises the EU is facing requires more integration, not less, and reiterated their commitment to the principle of ''ever closer union'', even if this would lead to a Europe of multiple speeds. 

Follow an earlier agreement signed in July 2015, on 25 January 2016 the Defense Ministers of Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine agreed to launch a joint brigade by January 2017, composed of 4000 forces. Talks have been going on already since 2007 but have been accelerated due to events in Ukraine in 2014 and 2015, which has increased concerns about Russia's behaviour in the region. The so called ''LITPOLUKR brigade'' is to take part in UN Peacekeeping Missions. The headquarters of the brigade is in Lublin, Poland.

The candidate of the Social Democratic Party and the People’s Party – Social Democratic Centre, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has been elected as the new President of Portugal. He received 52% of the votes, which means there is no need for a second round of elections. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will succeed his party colleague Anibal Cavaco Silva, who is leaving after two years in office.

Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci made an unprecendented and symbolic joint appearance during the World Economic Forum in Davos on 21 January 2016. They said they believed in a solution to unify the island in 2016. The island has been divided since 1974, during which the Turkish army invaded the Turkish part, following a coup d'etat by the Greek military junta. Earlier efforts have been made to unify the island, such as in 2004 with the Annan Peace Plan, that was voted down in a referendum by the Greeks. The atmosphere seems more favourable now for a deal due to the relatively recently discovered gas reserves next to Cyprus and the earlier economic troubles Cyprus has faced as unifcation could lead to potential economic benefits for both sides of the island.

“Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution” was the topic of this year’s annual meeting of world political and business leaders in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. The World Economic Forum was established 45 years ago by Klaus Schwab and it aims to “coordinate the activities of the leaders” on the global scale because in this manner they can “face global threats such as terrorism, conflicts and economic instability”. Usually, 1000-2000 participants attend the annual meeting in Davos, including politicians, businessmen, academics and journalists. This year’s discussions were dominated by issues regarding migration, the global economy, deepening income inequality in the world and the position of the United Kingdom towards the European Union.