Russia's Central Bank is running down its stash of foreign cash to try to stop its currency from plunging and contain the crisis threatening its economy. So far this year the Central Bank has burned through more than $110 billion in foreign currency supplies. That's more than a quarter of what it has in reserves right now. Russia's total international reserves, which also include gold and other liquid foreign assets, had fallen to $398.9 billion by December 19, 2014.

Improving fundamentals, successful reform programmes and, last but not least, lower oil prices will make emerging Asia once again the fastest growing region in the world in 2015, according to forecasts by international economic institutions such as World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Studies show that the region will enjoy average GDP growth of nearly 7% in the coming year, which is by far stronger then the forecast for the entire Asian continent at 4.5%.

Entering 2015, Europe faces a number of new challenges from both within and abroad. Popular discontent with austerity is growing and fueling rejectionist political movements, and with a number of elections on the calendar including in Greece, Spain, Portugal, and the U.K.there will be ample opportunity for voters to express their displeasure.

Contrary to popular belief, lobbyists have a useful function. Lobbyists with ties to specific industries gather input from their members and communicate the pulse of the industry. Lobbyists also augment a legislator’s research staff by providing information on industry statistics, product data and research projects. Lobbyists are professionals whose role is to educate elected leaders on issues that affect their industries. Lobbyists should be respected for their knowledge and not characterized as criminals.

Their purpose is to expose and challenge the so-called privileged access and influence enjoyed by corporations and their lobby groups in EU policy making. They particularly attack lobbying or lobbyists if they come from industry . They do not attack NGO lobbying campaigns, or NGO activists that take positions in governments.  They lobby against corporate lobbyists at the height of EU policy debates.

Every year the World Economic Forum taps into the knowledge, observations and experiences of its Global Agenda Council Members, asking them to identify the issues that they believe will have the biggest impact on the world over the coming 12 to 18 months. The resulting insights, gathered with the help of the Survey on the Global Agenda, ultimately generate the Top 10 Trends - a forecast of the social, economic and political flash points that reside on our collective horizon.

According to Jacques Attali (Jacques Attali is a French economist, writer and senior civil servant. Former adviser to President François Mitterrand and first president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Bank), the coming year is shaping up to be a bad year. There is no evidence that the global economic slowdown will not continue under the blows of deflation, competition and innovations.

Therefore, Attali writes

I. FOSTERING INVESTMENT IN EUROPE

 1. Fostering investment and addressing market failure in Europe is a key policy challenge. The new focus on investment, coupled with Member States' commitment to intensifying structural reforms and to pursuing growth-friendly fiscal consolidation, will provide the foundation for growth and jobs in Europe. The European Council:

In 2015,  the Commission has selected the initiatives where there is the most pressing need for action.

The headline plans for 2015 include:   

Greece is on the eve of a critical fortnight, during which its parliament has to elect a President   If Parliament fails to elect a President between now and 29 December, there will be a general election called. With Syriza,( the Coalition of the Radical left) , ahead four per cent in the polls, it is likely that it will form the biggest party. Syriza will end austerity and will demand that the European central bank (ECB) cancels half of Greek debt and buys all future debt at zero interest for 60 years.