In my talk I will start describing the mean field based  microscopic
methods used to describe the fission phenomenon in atomic nuclei
with the Gogny force. Once the framework has been established, I will
discuss new developments in the subject like the study of the relevant
effects of the often neglected Coulomb exchange an pairing fields in the
shape of the second and third fission barriers. Other issues like the
use of the octupole degree of freedom to describe very asymmetric fission
(cluster emission) or the consideration of approximations recently developed
to make amenable the  calculations of fission properties in  odd-mass nuclei
will also be addressed.