On 29th April 2015 a conference will take place in Vienna called "Outlook for the European Union and its Foreign Policy". Organised by the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna this conference will include a speech by Gunterh Krichbaum, President of the European Affairs Committee at the Bundestag. It will be moderated by former Austrian Defence Minister Werner Fasslabend.

The growth of private activity declined in April in the euro zone. The PMI composite index lay at 53.5 points against 54 last month indicated Markit. on 23rd April. "The April estimate flags a slowing in overall growth in the euro zone in comparison with an 11 month peak in March," stressed Markit. The slowing recorded in April is due to a decline in Germany and France's growth with French growth almost stagnating due to a swifter contraction in the manufacturing industry.

The heads of State and government met on 23rd April for an extraordinary European summit and they decided to step up Europe's presence at sea by multiplying the financial means available to Triton and Poseidon by three. They also decided to counter traffickers by destroying their boats and by stepping up police cooperation with migrants' departure countries. Greater support to third countries (Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Mali, Niger) has also been planned so that they can guarantee their land and maritime borders. Development programmes will also be financed (North Africa and the Horn of Africa). Finally a new return programme coordinated by Frontex will be introduced to enable the rapid return of migrants who do not succeed in gaining asylum.

On 22nd April the European Commission published a communication of objections against Gazprom for abuse of dominant position on the gas supply markets in central and eastern Europe. Some practices undertaken by the Russian company are said to be contrary to European competition rules: price deals, territorial restrictions in its supply agreements with wholesalers, abusive limitation of cross-border gas flows, gas deliveries subject to investments in a gas pipeline promoted by Gazprom. Eight Member States are said to be affected by this: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lituania, Poland and Slovakia. This communication comes prior to a final decision to be taken by the Commission and Gazprom now has 12 weeks to prepare its defence.

On 21st April 2015 the 28 European Affairs Ministers agreed on a 1 billion € increase in early payments under the initiative for youth employment so that Member States can speed up the introduction of measures to counter youth unemployment. Moreover they approved the revision of the multiannual financial framework 2014-2020 to protect funds devoted to the promotion of growth and employment. They indicated that a stabilisation and association agreement with Bosnia-Herzegovina will enter into force on June 1st. Finally they confirmed the appointment of Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen as Secretary General of the Council for the next five years as of July 1st.

On 22nd April 2015 the European Commission and the African Union met in Brussels. Discussions focused on issues like development, immigration, peace, security and democracy. Questions such as climate changes, immigration challenges, the contribution of women to growth and employment, support to inclusive growth factors, food security and sustainable agriculture were also addressed. Cooperation to counter violent extremism in Somalia, Sahel and Nigeria were discussed, likewise the promotion of peaceful democratic change via elections and the respect of the Constitutions.

The European Central Bank (ECB) again raised the ceiling on its emergency financing to Greek banks on 22nd April, by a billion and a half euro, which has now risen to 75.5 billion euro. The ECB, which revises the amount allocated on a weekly basis, has been assisting Greek banks in this manner since the beginning of February. Given the sums unused to date there is now 2.9 billion euro available for the next week against four billion last week - which seems to show a growing use of the emergency fund. On 22nd April Benoît Coeuré, an ECB Board member gave an interview in the Greek newspaper Ekathimerini.

On 22nd April the first projects and transactions earmarked to benefit from an EU budget guarantee under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) were approved by the Boards of the European Investment Bank (EIB). The EFSI which is due to mobilise 315 billion euro in investments will take on the risks inherent to the projects being supported in view of encouraging both private and public investments in Europe. Four projects have been selected. They involve research in the healthcare sector in Spain, the extension of the airport in Croatia, the building of 14 healthcare centres in Ireland and the support of industrial innovation in Italy. The President of the European Investment Bank announced that "these projects will provide positive spin-offs for innovation, healthcare, transport and industry."

German economy and energy minister Sigmar Gabriel announced on 22nd April that German growth forecasts had been revised upwards since the GDP is due to rise to 1.8% in 2015 and 2016. He explained that this sustained growth is due to the vitality of the labour market, ie a context of rising wages and a strong rate of employment which are continuing to rise. This is leading to greater household consumption. The international context is also playing in favour of Germany since world growth is up, especially in the euro zone where growth forecasts are higher than previously announced. This is fostering German exports notably in a context of the depreciation of the euro.

On Friday 24th April the President of the Republic of Finland ratified the association agreements concluded with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. These agreements will strengthen the political and economic cooperation by these countries with the EU, the aim also being to integrate these countries progressively into the single market by establishing free-trade zones. Finland signed these agreements in June 2014 with the other Member States of the European Union.

More than 7 Greeks in ten want an agreement to be found with Greece's creditors, the EU and the IMF, deeming that there was a risk of exiting the euro zone due to the slowness of the negotiations revealed a survey published on 26th April. To the question "what would be the best solution for the country", 71.9% answer "an agreement with the creditors" against 23.2% who want "to break away" from Europe and 4.9% who do not know said the survey published in the Greek Sunday newspaper To Vima. Traditionally the Greeks are very much in favour of the euro in spite of their opposition to political austerity, which again was confirmed by this survey: 72.9% say they support the euro, against 20.3% who would like a return to the drachma, the old national currency. 68.8% of those interviewed believe that the country "may exit the euro" against 24.1% who believe there is no danger according to the survey undertaken by Kapa Research on 21st and 22nd April amongst 1007 people across the country.

The EU has formally approved the PAKS II project to build two new nuclear reactors led by Hungary in partnership with Russia. This project that totals 12.5 billion euro will complete the nuclear power plant of Paks, the construction of which will start as of 2018 by the Russian group Rosatom, entering operation in 2023. A agreement was in fact signed in January 2014 between Hungary and Russia but this was sharply criticised by the nuclear agency Euratom. Then in March 2015, the latter asked for the supply of Russian fuel supplies to be limited to 10 years and not 20 as originally planned

Poland wants to buy 50 European Caracal Airbus helicopters for an estimated total of 3.3 billion €. Negotiations are due to start in May and the contracts finalised when trials have been undertaken by the Polish army. It is also negotiating with the US for the purchase of an American Patriot anti-missile defence system - for a total 7 billion $. Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski argues that tension with Russia and the deployment of missiles to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, just on the northern Polish border justify these purchases. At present Poland does not have the military capacity to face arms like this and is planning to spend nearly 35 billion $ over the next eight years to strengthen its military arsenal (notably sub-marines and military personnel).

On Monday 20th April a third round of intergovernmental negotiations took place between the Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and Polish leader Eva Kopacz together with their Defence, Home Affairs, Transport and Environment Ministers. The themes addressed focused on stepping up transport infrastructures between the two countries, environmental cooperation, energy security and the upcoming presidency of the Visegrad Group which includes Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. These consultations led to a joint declaration on bilateral relations in many areas and two agreements, one on water management and the other on the introduction of an interconnected natural gas system.

On 24th April the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks in 1915 took place. A ceremony in Erevan was organised whilst the acknowledgement of this genocide is still being contested by Turkey. On 23rd April the Armenian church canonised the 1.5 million victims and Germany - represented by its president Joachim Gauck - acknowledged the genocide for the first time stressing the "co-responsibility and even potential German complicity" in this crime. The ceremonies of 24th April took place in the presence of French President François Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin, since their countries are amongst the 20 in the world which have acknowledged the genocide. Other eminent personalities also took part in the ceremony.

On 24th April, on the side-lines of the commemorations of the Armenian genocide, the French President spoke with his Russian counterpart. Mr Hollande called on Mr Putin to move forward in terms of implementing the Minsk peace agreements whilst Mr Putin deplored that relations between Russia, France and the EU, were unfortunately "not at their best." Mr Hollande insisted on the fact that entente between Russia and France was necessary to settle a certain number of difficult situations as they discussed the Middle East, Syria and Iraq. Moreover the two presidents did not find any common ground regarding the issue of the delivery of the Mistral ships. Part of the interview was undertaken behind closed doors.

On 22nd April French President François Hollande hosted his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko at the Elysée Palace. During this meeting François Hollande said that he "admired Mr Poroshenko's will to stand firmly" but also his good sense of compromise during the crisis in Ukraine. The two men addressed the issue of the delivery of the Mistral to Russia. The French President insisted that the delivery of these ships was "impossible in the present context." Mr. Hollande will make a State visit to Ukraine on the invitation of Mr Poroshenko who took advantage of this trip to meet the leader of the National Assembly, Claude Bartolone, to address the issue of the ratification of the EU/Ukraine association agreement.

The Council of Europe published its activity report 2014 on 21st April. This publication reviews the work undertaken over 2014 by the different bodies and sectors of activity of the Council of Europe. It presents a selection of highlights and achievements made by the organisation. Amongst this year's achievements there is the creation of an internet platform to foster the protection of journalism and the security of journalists, the strengthening of the fight to counter terrorism with the definition of new threats (foreign combatant terrorists). Experts have started drafting a further protocol to the Convention for the Prevention of Terrorism which would criminalise the recruitment, training, preparation and travel undertaken for terrorist goals.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, EU High Representative Federica Mogherini and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi met on board the ship, the San Gusto, on 27th April off the Sicilian coast to discuss immigration in the Mediterranean and to set up a joint European action plan. At the same time the UNHCR (UN High Commission for Refugees) has committed to supporting the EU in this challenge. It welcomed the measures taken last week to triple funding given to maritime operations and declared that collective European action was the only possible response to this transnational problem.

In 2014 nearly half of the EU's regions registered a decrease in their unemployment rates of at least 0.5 percentage points in comparison with 2013 says Eurostat. However regional EU unemployment rates are still typified by significant disparity. Hence in Prague in the Czech Republic and Oberbayern in Germany unemployment rates were the lowest (2.5%). Conversely the Spanish regions of Andalusia (34.8%) and the Canaries (32.4%) had the highest unemployment figures. These disparities are notably visible amongst young people, lying at 21.9% on average in the EU. In this regard the German regions of Oberbayern (3.7%) and Stuttgart (4.7%) have the lowest rates whilst the regions of Ipeiros (69.8% in Greece and Ceuta (67,5%) Spain have the highest rates.

On 20th April the Commission published a report in which it suggests that SMEs would benefit significantly from the transatlantic partnership - the TTIP - with the USA. A survey was undertaken on SMEs and the problems they face in their trade with the USA. The report notes that SME exports to the USA represent 28% of all of Europe's exports to the other side of the Atlantic. These SMEs are established in different sectors: food, agriculture, clothing, textiles, leather and chemical products. The TTIP would help these exports by removing customs and regulatory issues faced by SMEs at present.

The Neues Schloss Ingolstadt will be running an exhibition as of 30th April on Napoleon 1st (1769-1821). Entitled "Napoleon and Bavaria", this exhibition is part of the 200 years of the Battle of Waterloo. A symbol passed down through history, Napoleon's famous tricorne hat, the centre piece of this exhibition, will be on show alongside a collection of 350 pieces of clothing, jewellery and other objects from the Napoleonic imperial era. Bavaria, a region with which Napoleon 1st had strong ties, is devoting this exhibition to the French Emperor until 31st October 2015.