The latest April-June issue of "Confrontations Europe" has just come out. In it, the President of the Robert Schuman Foundation, Jean-Dominique Giuliani, publishes an article entitled "The Schuman declaration has enabled us to remain in history. What about tomorrow?" He explains that at a time when we are about to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the European Community, the Union needs to get back to its original dynamic: political will.

On 13th April Greece successfully issued six month and one year Treasury bonds representing an amount of 1.56 billion €, an operation that created very strong demand from investors, after days of uncertainty marked by pressure from the markets. Athens, which was returning to the markets after firming up the country's European aid plan, placed 780 million € in 26 week bonds at a rate of 4.55% and 780 million € in 52-week bonds at a rate of 4.85%, exceeding the objective it had set for itself of 1.2 billion €. Greece announced on 16th April that it intended to raise 1.5 billion € in Treasury bonds whereas the government is preparing to request a possible loan from European supplemented by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "On 20th April the Greek Republic will issue 13-week treasury bonds (....) with maturity at 23rd July 2010" announced the Greek organisation in charge of debt management.

Further to his meeting on 15th April with Sali Berisha, Albanian Prime Minister, Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, declared that "Albania has a very clear political vision and ambition". Mr Van Rompuy repeated his wish to see the whole of the Western Balkans region join the European Union and said that he had discussed the development of Albanian policies and the liberalisation of visas with the Albanian Prime Minister. Mr Van Rompuy acknowledged the important role played by Albania in peace-keeping and security in the region.

On 13th April the European Commission indicated that a joint customs operation (Matthew II), has resulted in the seizure of over 16 million cigarettes, 241 kilograms of tobacco products, 6,400 litres of alcohol, 20 metric tons of counterfeit perfumes, 53,418 other counterfeit items, such as bags, coats, scarves and wallets and 1,515 kilograms of cannabis. During the operational phase, which ran from 24th November to 3rd December 2009, over 25 million cigarettes were also confiscated during additional seizures made in some European Union ports. The operation was coordinated at OLAF head office by a permanent operational coordination unit (POCU), made up of liaison officers from the customs authorities in 9 EU Member States, a liaison officer from Serbia and a liaison officer from Europol.

On 12th April European members of the Agriculture commission discussed the future of the common agricultural policy after 2013, with European Commissioner, Dacian Ciolos. Any reform project has to be defined in cooperation with citizens, to ensure that the CAP benefits society as a whole, guaranteeing economic viability and the environmental sustainability of agricultural methods, as well as fair distribution of financial aid. Producing more quality food using less land, less water and less energy will be the challenge facing the new CAP, which will also have to guarantee the competitiveness of European agriculture and a fair balance between consumer prices and producer income. To this end the "current CAP financing level must be maintained after 2013". The Commission, which must present a proposal before the end of the year, has announced the launch of an Internet site to collect contributions from citizens.

On 18th April Elena Salgado, the Spanish Economy Minister, called for "better coordination of monetary policies" with Asia, following a Europe-Asia meeting on financial matters.

The German government has presented a report on the Western Balkans ("Bericht der Bundesregierung über die Ergebnisse ihrer Bemühungen um die Weiterentwicklung der politischen und ökonomischen Gesamtstrategie für die Balkanstaaten und ganz Südosteuropa"). According to the German government, for these countries the prospect of joining Europe represents a "decisive driving force" for commencing reforms and stabilising their countries.

The former Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene, asked last year by King Albert II to work with a view to such a proposal, announced on 18th April that he was now ready to reveal it on 19th April to the main Belgian political parties. He indicated in a communiqué that he had asked the current head of government, Yves Leterme, to call a meeting on 19th of the chairmen of parties represented within the federal coalition, both Flemish and French-speaking, in order to present them with a "substantive proposal".

The French and Italian Foreign Ministers, Bernard Kouchner and Franco Frattini, have announced that they are in favour of liberalisation of visas for access to the Schengen area for Bosnians and Albanians, in a joint statement published in the "Le Monde" newspaper on 14th April.

In its combat to re-establish market confidence in its public finances, Greece has just adopted a new tax law, voted on 14th April by the Greek Parliament. This law aims to impose greater taxation on large incomes, the Church's real estate fortune and extra-territorial businesses. It does away with tax exemptions enjoyed by certain categories of tax payers. "The new draft law is a revolution for Greece, it is a breakaway in favour of everyone, in favour of a clean economy and against dirty money", stated the Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou. This law should act as a strong signal to the markets of the Greek authorities' desire for recovery.

The opposition party led by Viktor Orban (FIDESZ) won a resounding victory in the 1st round of general elections in Hungary. The "Szazadveg" Institute has published a series of tables and graphs on this 1st round. The 2nd round will be held on 25th April.

The Italian Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, and the Albanian Prime Minister, Sali Berisha, signed a new triennial protocol on 12th April in which Italy undertakes to invest 51 million € in support to small and medium businesses, agriculture and social policies in Albania. Franco Frattini recalled the friendship between the two countries and underlined the large-scale integration of the Albanian community in Italy (20,000 students are registered with Italian universities). He mentioned the possibility of cooperation in the renewable energies sector and reaffirmed Italian support for the liberalisation of visas for Albanian and Bosnian nationals.

The Luxembourg Finance Minister presented governmental proposals on 14th April aiming to reduce public deficit in the Grand Duchy. The aim of Jean-Claude Juncker's government is to achieve a balanced budget by 2014. The State's debt is set to rise to 12 billion € by 2014, i.e. 27% of GDP. The Minister explained that it would be "irresponsible" to go beyond 30% debt in a very open, small economy such as the one in Luxembourg. The reduction in deficit will happen both by means of a reduction in expenditure and by means of an increase in income, a twofold development framed by the principles of joint efforts and social justice.

On 17th and 18th April Pope Benedict XVI made an apostolic journey to the very devotedly catholic European island of Malta, in the footsteps of Saint Paul. The trip was an opportunity for the Pope to praise the defence of Christian values, to talk about immigration and also to make important gestures such as his meeting with a group of victims of sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy.

On 14th April the interim President of Poland, Bronislaw Komorowski, agreed with the opposition party that the first round of the early presidential elections, following the death of President Lech Kaczynski, would be held on 20th June, postponing to 21st April the official announcement of this date. To choose a successor to Lech Kaczynski, the electoral calendar is extremely tight. 55 days from the election potential candidates must have each collected 100,000 signatures in their favour.

The three main political parties in Britain, (Labour, Conservative, Liberal-Democrats) have now presented their programmes for the general elections to be held on 6th May. The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, leader of the Labour party was the first to present his party's manifesto on 12th April. He was followed on 13th by David Cameron, leader of the Conservatives and by the Liberal-Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, on 14th April. The three candidates faced one other during a televised debate screened on ITV on 15th April. In view of the fact that results are set to be extremely tight between the Conservative and Labour candidates, the Liberal-Democrat candidate could well find himself acting as arbitrator. The difficult economic situation and a very morose political climate means that the three candidates' margin for manoeuvre is extremely limited. Each of them promises economic measures to get the country out of the current crisis, along with political reforms that aim to restore confidence in the political class.

On 14th April the European Commission examined the stability programme that was submitted to it by the Portuguese government on 29th March. The Commission recalled the fact that the road to budgetary equilibrium will be full of pitfalls, particularly with regard to adoption and implementation of the projected measures. It also qualified post-2010 growth forecasts as "somewhat optimistic" and considered that this may not contribute as much as planned to stabilizing of the budget.

On 12th April the World Bank and Croatia signed an agreement for a 26 million € loan to finance reforms intended to make Croatia's legal institutions more efficient, in step with Croatia's bid to join the European Union. The Croatian Justice Minister, Ivan Simonovic, stated that the judicial reforms would be amongst Croatia's "top priorities". The amount allocated will be used to modernise I.T. systems in several courts, to train management staff and to improve infrastructures, he added. The World Bank decided to allocate this loan to Croatia at a 2% interest rate, to be reimbursed over 18 years.

On 12th and 13th April, 47 States took part in Washington in the first nuclear security summit. They committed to secure, over a four year period "vulnerable nuclear materials" so as to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism. They believe that this will involve "responsible national action and sustained, efficient international cooperation". In a 12 point text they call for "international cooperation" which does not encroach on "the rights of States" to use nuclear energy peacefully. They reaffirm their support for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) based in Vienna, underlining "its essential role". Leaders encourage cooperation at all levels (bilateral, regional and multilateral) with a view to reinforcing nuclear security, including by means of technical assistance provided by some countries to others.

On 18th April Dervis Eroglu won the election in the northern zone of Cyprus, a victory liable to compromise the island's reunification process, which is currently on-going under the aegis of the UN. According to final official results, Dervis Eroglu, head of the National Unity Party (UBP), collected 50.38% of votes cast, compared to 42.85% for outgoing Mehmet Ali Talat.

On 13th April the former political leader of the Serbs in Bosnia, Radovan Karadzic, faced at his trial in the Hague the first prosecution witness, a Bosnian Muslim who told of the atrocities he suffered during the Bosnian war (1992-1995). Mr Karadzic, 64, who has chosen to defend himself, cross-examined the former prisoner of the Serbian detention camps, Ahmet Zulic, 62, before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Arrested on 18th June 1992, Ahmet Zulic, who has already been a witness in three trials at the ICTY, was detained for five months by Serbian forces.

According to figures published by Eurostat on 14th April industrial production increased by 0.9% in the euro zone and by 0.7% in the European Union in February 2010 compared to January 2010. In January production increased respectively by 1.6% and 1.7%. In February 2010, compared to February 2009, industrial production increased by 4.1% in the euro area and by 3.5% in the European Union.

According to a report published on 13th April by the independent institute "European Climate Foundation", the development of renewable energies in the European Union will require an average investment of 52 billion € per year through until 2050, and two countries, France and Spain, will be preponderant in this action. Solar energy and wind power are the two main sources of renewable energy set to replace oil, gas and coal between now and 2050. The report indicates that Spain should become the main EU producer of solar energy. Its network will carry most of solar energy production from North Africa via the Gibraltar straits. France will play a double role. It should produce a substantial share of wind power in the EU and, in view of its central position, it will be the hub for transit of electricity produced in Spain and the United Kingdom, to the north and east of Europe.

The Institut français des relations internationales (IFRI) has just published a book entitled "Radioscopies de l'Allemagne 2010", directed by Louis-Marie Clouet and Hans Stark. This book analyses current German political and economic challenges and addresses, amongst other things, German management of the recession, new directions for foreign and security policies, social justice, family policy and "German-German" relations, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The Musée des Lettres et Manuscrits, founded by Gérard Lhéritier, opened on 15th April in Paris with an exhibition devoted to a major literary figure, Marcel Proust (1871-1922). With some 160 documents, several of which have never been published, the new Musée des Lettres et Manuscrits will present an exceptional collection, given over to Proust. Letters and manuscripts will be on show, along with drawings, photographs and original editions, covering almost the entire adult life of the author, from 1894 to his death in 1922.