The Foundation's Chairman Jean-Dominique Giuliani published an editorial on his site on 24th March just before the European Council with regard to solidarity and discipline in the euro area. With foresight he indicated the path to follow and anticipated the decision taken by the heads of State and government.

On 27th March in "Die Welt" German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble indicated that he was planning, with France, to extend a German project across Europe with regard to a bank tax to stabilise the EU's economies in the event of another financial crisis. The German government wants to introduce a tax on banks that should bring in at least one billion euros per year to fuel a rescue fund in the event of a financial crisis. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde will attend the German Council of Ministers on 31st March - Wolfgang Schaüble will attend the French Council of Ministers in April.

In parallel to the European Council on 25th March the heads of State and government of the sixteen members of the Eurogroup met after dinner; after long negotiations German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy achieved the agreement of their partners. The plan adopted includes a mechanism of bilateral loans with "a substantial financial involvement on the part of the IMF with most of the funding coming from Europe." This mechanism will only be implemented if Greece no longer succeeds in funding itself on the markets; it can only be launched with the unanimous approval of the sixteen and will be subject to strict conditions." The Eurogroup members called on the European Council to "enhance economic governance of the EU" and the rules to prevent excessive deficits asking the European Council and the Commission to present the necessary measures to the Council "before the end of the year".

On 22nd March the 27 Foreign Ministers asked the Iranian authorities to put an end to censorship and restrictions imposed on satellite broadcasts, internet access and mobile communications. They also asked the High Representative Catherine Ashton to present a common position on the part of the Union at the international conference on Haiti to give an overall view of the collective worked accomplished. An EU house will be set up in Haiti to coordinate this work. After appointing Vygaudas Usackas as the Union's representative for Afghanistan ministers debated the country's situation stressing the importance of a reconciliation process led by the Afghans themselves and the holding of "credible" general elections. Ms Ashton criticised developments in the situation in the Near East recalling that the Union's aim is to reach a settlement between the two States for them to live peacefully alongside one another within the next two years.

Young people, economic recovery and research were the main budgetary priorities pinpointed by MEPs on 25th March. Amongst the suggested measures were the promotion of the study of languages, a "first job Erasmus" programme and pilot projects in support of SME's in rural areas. Thanks to new measures included in the Lisbon Treaty, Parliament will decide jointly with the European Council on the entire budget including agriculture. MEPs stressed the need to review the Union's pluriannual budget as soon as possible and again asked to be included more in the establishment and control of the budget as part of the European External Action Service. The European Commission will adopt the draft budget - the first formal stage in the budgetary procedure on 27th April.

According to forecasts in March 2010 the European Commission communicated on 22nd March that the consumer confidence index had not changed significantly in comparison with the previous month. It now lies at -13.8 (-13.5 in February) for the EU and -17.2 (-17.4 in February) for the euro area.

According to a survey published on 24th March by Ifo in Germany the business climate index in rose to 98.1 in March, its highest level since June 2008 thereby confirming the German economic recovery. This index lay at 95.2 in February. The industrial sector is due to remain morose however. Kaï Carstensen of Ifo believes "that we cannot say we are out of danger when we see the labour market or the reticence to lend on the part of the banks (...) But the major crisis is over and recovery has clearly started."

The governor of the Central Bank of Denmark, Nils Berstein, pleaded in Copenhagen on 22nd March for the accession of the Scandinavian kingdom to the euro area which will help to bringing interest rates down and to increasing growth from 0.5% to 1%.

On 23rd March the President of the Spanish government José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero attended the funeral of the French gendarme killed by a member of the Basque terrorist organisation ETA, before having a working lunch with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The French President assured that France would provide its total cooperation "with Spain in its fight against ETA", whilst Mr Zapatero said "those who have to be worried are the members of ETA because they will be pursued non-stop by two major police forces in order to put an end to the existence of ETA." During lunch the two men also addressed the aid plan for Greece and the EU2020 strategy which will include "a policy for agriculture, for the farmers and for rural development."

On 23rd March French Prime Minister François Fillon announced the postponement "sine die" of the carbon tax which was due to enter force on 1st July; he highlightd the need for a European measure so as not to damage the competitiveness of French companies. This is why the French government will ask the European Commission to step up the pace in producing a report in view of harmonising ecological fiscal measures in the EU.

On 29th March Greece launched an obligatory seven year benchmark aiming to raise several billion euros announced the Greek Public Debt Management Organisation - a loan that will be a test for a country that is suffering a deep crisis and which has shaken the entire euro area. The government mandated the French banks, Société Générale, Crédit Agricole, Dutch ING, American Bank of America-Merrill Lynch and the Greek banks Alpha Bank and Emporiki, a Greek branch of Crédit Agricole. This annoucement came just four days after the approval by the euro area countries - after great discussion -of an aid plan for Greece funded by European loans and the IMF, a unique mechanism since the launch of the single currency.

On 24th March the IMF published its fifth report on Hungary as planned by the agreement dating back to 2008 between the country and the international institution. The IMF indicates in the report that "the firm implementation of careful economic policies for the last year and a half have helped strengthen investor confidence and have led to a significant improvement in funding conditions abroad thereby helping economic recovery." The IMF did however announce the release of an additional 2.4 billion euros made available to the country if it had to face unforeseen circumstances and if it decided as a result to change its decision, announced in November 2009, not to call further on the institution for loans.

In February 2010 in comparison with the same month the previous year exports rose by 2.3% and imports by 10.4% according to forecasts published on 22nd March by the National Statistics Institute (Istat). Italy recorded a trade deficit with countries outside the EU to a total of 1,622 million euros whilst in February 2009 this deficit only lay at 733 million euros. On a monthly basis exports have risen by 2.6% and imports by 4.7%.

The President of the Diet, the Polish lower chamber of Parliament, Bronislaw Komorowski became Civic Platform's official candidate(PO) for the presidential election on 27th March. During the primaries Mr Komorowski beat present Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski winning 68.5% of PO members' votes in comparison with 31.5% for Mr Sikorski according to results announced by the party led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

On 25th the Portuguese parliament approved a resolution in support of the budgetary recovery goals established by the government - it was approved thanks to the abstention of the centre-right opposition - the measures put forward to achieve the goals were not approved. The text adopted thanks to the vote of the socialist minority alone maintains parliament's "support of budgetary consolidation", acknowledging "the need for a reduction in the deficit down to 2.8% of the GDP by 2013 in comparison with 9.3% in 2009. However all reference to any type of support on the part of the assembly for the "strategy" and for the "goals and measures" included in the stability and growth programme that the government intends to implement until 2013 were removed.

The Romanian government is maintaining its goal to adopt the euro in 2015 according to the convergence programme 2009-2012 it said on 22nd March last. The government said that "the commitment to the adoption of the euro on 1st January 2015 is maintained and represents a key element in promoting budgetary and structural reform vital to increase the flexibility of the Romanian economy." This fourth edition of the convergence programme shows Romaniann determination not to rise above the 3% GDP limit of the budgetary deficit and not to reach 7.3% again as in 2009. To enter the euro area Romania will have to respect five criteria notably that of controlling inflation and to adhere strictly to discipline in its public spending. In the wake of the economic crisis the European Commission is allowing Romania time until 2012 to bring its public deficit down to the limit of 3% of the GDP.

The UK announced on 23rd March that it was creating its first ever national space agency to represent a booming industry that may create 100,000 new jobs in the next twenty years. This agency named "UK Space Agency" will take responsibility for all British activities associated with space which until now were the reserve of several ministries and various research organisations.

Slovenia and Croatia are about to settle the border dispute which has brought them into conflict over the last twenty years. Indeed the Slovenian constitutional court confirmed the validity of the mediation agreement made between the two countries which defines the method to follow to set out the final border which separates them. Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor decided to consult the court given the criticism raised about constitutionality on the part of the centre-right opposition. This dispute comprises at present the main impediment to Croatia joining the EU.

After a review of the economic performance of Bosnia-Herzegovina demanded by their stand-by arrangement, the Board of the IMF announced the release of 138.4 million euros. Since the introduction of the agreement on 8th Juy 2009 the IMF has given an estimated 345.9 million euros to Bosnia.

The Serb and Croatian Presidents, Boris Tadic and Ivo Josipovic promised on 24th March to improve relations between their two countries which are still suffering due to the 1991-1995 war - stressing that they both hoped to join the EU. "We have set a new path towards European partnership. We support the same European values and (we hope) to settle the problems between the two countries," declared Mr Josipovic.

Deemed "obsolete" by its 10 Member States and 18 associate members the Western European Union "will be wound down as an organisation within about a year," said the Chair of the WEU interparliamentary assembly, Briton Robert Walter on 24th March. Left behind by the progress made by the EU in terms of external action and defence the WEU has gradually been deprived of its means to act and on 13th March David Miliband, head of British diplomacy informed the organisation that his government wanted to reounce the organisation's founding treaty. However since the other members preferred "a collective and orderly" dissolution this was delayed and is due to be notified officially on 30th or 31st March opening the way for a year in which the effective dissolution will be undertaken.

World trade is due to rise in 2010 by 9.5% after having contracted by 12% in 2009 announced the WTO Director General Pascal Lamy on 26th March. In addition to this China became the world's leading exporter in 2009 beating Germany for the first time with total exports rising to 1.202 billion dollars. In 2009 Germany exported 1.121 billion euros and USA, was the biggest importer, reaching third place with 1.057 billion dollars according to the most recent statistics on international trade 2009/2010.

On 24th March Eurobarometer published a survey undertaken on the request of the European Commission with regard to the social effects of the crisis. More than half of Europeans believe that poverty increased in 2009, in Europe, in their country and their region. However although in Latvia, France and Portugal more than 90% of the population feels that the situation has worsened nationally this percentage drops below the 60% mark in the Czech Republic, Poland and the UK. Bulgarians, Hungarians and Romanians are the most pessimistic with regard to the extent of poverty in their country: less than one in five of them think that poverty concerns under 10% of their fellow countrymen. 20% of European citizens find it difficult to pay their bills or their daily expenses and 30% have problems covering their medical costs. Finally 77% of those interviewed are confident in their ability to retain the jobs and only 45% think that they would be able to find another job quickly if they were made redundant.

According to Eurostat data published on 24th March in January 2010 the new industrial orders index decreased by 2% in the euro area and declined by 0.2% in the Union in comparison with December 2009. In December this index increased respectively by 0.8% and 0.9%. The most important decreases were recorded in Greece (-11%) and in France (-10.8%) the highest increases were seen in Ireland (+31.3%). Year on year new orders increased by 7% in the euro area and by 6.3% in the EU. The highest rises were recorded in Slovakia (+21.3%), Romania (+16.3%) and in Germany (+15.3%), the biggest decreases were seen in Ireland (-13.2%) and Estonia (-10.3%).

Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, researcher at the Robert Schuman Foundation has published an article entitled "A new president and 6 months for a gas revolution" (Новий президент і півроку на газову революцію) in the Ukrainian daily Dzerkalo Tyjnya. Reviewing the gas policies undertaken by Ukraine over the last few years he observes that in fact there has never been any reform which has led the gas sector into a catastrophic financial and economic situation; it has also fed tension between Russia and the EU. He sets out a list of reform priorities that the new President Viktor Yanukovich might set in place over the next six months: increase domestic gas prices, increase the production of gas, enhance transparency and reform state regulation.

The Louvre Museum will be hosting the first exhibition devoted to Meroï, capital of a powerful empire on the banks of the Nile until 6th September. Two hundred pieces of work illustrating the majesty of this ancient civilisation in which African, Egyptian and Greco-Roman influence merge together will be on show. Lying in Sudan two hundred kilometers north of the present Khartoum, the town of Meroï, capital of the kingdom is known for its pyramids designed for the kings and queens who dominated the region between 270 BC and 350 AD. This exhibition mainly comprises loans from the Khartoum museum (including the famous golden bronze statue of the archer king), from the British Museum, the World Museum and the Garstang Museum of Liverpool.