On 12th June next the Slovaks will renew the 350 members of the National Council of the Republic, the only Chamber of Parliament. Six parties are represented there at present: Direction-Social Democracy (SMER-SD), led by outgoing Prime Minister Robert Fico, 50 seats; the Christian Democratic Union -Democratic Party (SDKU-DS), led by Iveta Radicova, 31 MPs; the National Party (SNS), member of the outgoing government coalition, 20 seats; the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK), 20 MPs; the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (LU-HZDS), led by former Prime Minister (1993-1998), Vladimir Meciar and member of the outgoing government coalition, 15 seats; and the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), led by Pavol Hrusovsky, 14 MPs.

Early parliamentary elections will take place in Belgium on 13th June next ie one year before the end of the present term in office. This election follows the dissolution of the Belgian parliament on 6th May last, after the collapse on 22nd April of the government coalition led by Yves Leterme (Flemish Christian Democratic Party CD&V) which apart from the CD&V included the Socialist Party (PS), the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD), the Reform Movement (MR) and the Humanist Democratic Centre (CDH). The Belgian parliament is bicameral. The Chamber of Representatives comprises 150 MPs elected for four years by integral proportional representation according to the highest average within 11 electoral districts. The Senate comprises 71 members. The dissolution of the Chamber of Representatives automatically leads to that of the Senate, the Belgians will vote therefore on 13th June to renew the two Chambers of Parliament. It is obligatory to vote in Belgium.

According to figures published on 13th May by the Irish Central Statistics Office, the consumer price index fell by 2.1% between April 2009 and April 2010. Prices mainly fell in two economic sectors: clothing (-10.9%) and food (-7.1%).

The Portuguese socialist government announced on 13th May that it intended to bring the public deficit fom 9.4% of the GDP in 2009 down to 4.6% in 2011, by raising taxes and reducing spending whilst it previously aimed to reach a deficit of 5.1% next year. On the menu of this new austerity programme feature the raising of the VAT base by one point, a rise in household income tax and on the profits made by major companies - a reduction of 5% on politicians' and local representatives' salaries. Portugal recorded growth in its GDP by 1.7% in the first quarter of 2010 in comparison with the last three months in 2009 after a decline of 0.3% announced the National Statistics Institute on 12th May.

According to George Papaconstantinou, the Greek Finance Minister, whilst the public deficit was reduced by 41.8% over the first four months of 2010 in comparison with the same period a year ago he announced that he had asked the IMF and the Eurogroup countries for a first instalment of 20 billion euros. Athens recieved 5.5 billion from the IMF on 12th May and is expecting payment from Europe at the beginning of the week. According to forecasts published on 12th May by the Greek Statistics Authority (GSA) the country suffered a decrease of 0.8% in its GDP in the first quarter of 2010 in comparison with the last three months of 2009. Year on year the GDP declined by 2.3%. In 2010 the Greek government is expecting a decline of 4% in its GDP; the Greek Central Bank is counting on a contraction of 4.2%.

According to a forecast released on 12th May by the Statistics and Economic Studies Institute (INSEE) France's GDP increased by 0.1% in the first quarter of 2010 in comparison with 0.5% in the previous quarter. According to INSEE this slowing is due to a decrease in domestic demand and the negative contribution of stocks in companies which have not been compensated for in an improvement in the trade balance. In addition to this in April inflation increased by 0.3% in comparison with the previous month (after an increase of 0.5% in March and 1.7% year on year). The biggest price rises have affected energy and fresh produce.

The President of the Spanish government José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced on 12th May that there would be additional measures (after an austerity plan of 50 billion euros in January) that his government was going to adopt to speed up the reduction of the public deficit which exploded rising to 11.2% of the GDP in 2009: reduction of 5% in civil servants' salaries as from June 2010 and the freezing of these in 2011, the freezing of the re-evaluation of pensions, the abolition of aid for new borns which he launched in 2007, reduction in development aid and a decrease in public investments. The additional measures will represent a total of 15 billion euros over two years. On the same day the Spanish National Statistics Institute announced that the Spanish economy came out of recession in the first quarter with slight growth, 0.1% of the GDP in comparison with the last quarter of 2009. This had however contracted by 1.3% in comparison with the first quarter of 2009.

The Federal Statistics Office announced on 12th May that Germany's GDP recorded a rise of 0.2% in the first quarter of 2010 in comparison with the fourth quarter of 2009. Growth figures in the fourth quarter were also reviewed upwards.

According to estimates published on 12th May by the National Statistics Institute the Bulgarian economy was still in recession in the first quarter revealing a decline of 4% in its GDP over one year.

On 12th May the European Commission looked into the updated version of the stability programme for Cyprus. The stability programme update on Cyprus reveals serious effects of the present crisis on the country's public finances: its deficit is estimated at 6.1% of the GDP for 2009 and the public debt ratio is due to rise above the reference value of 60% of the GDP in 2010.

On 12th May the European Commission put forward measures to enhance the Stability and Growth Act and to coordinate better Member States' economic policies. It notably asked for greater control over national budgets on the part of the Commission and euro area Finance Ministers who would give their go-ahead or not before budgets were presented to the national parliaments. The Commission also wants to make warnings "earlier and quicker" and discuss the possibility of automatic sanctions for recidivist countries. It also wants greater care to be paid to States' debt and their competitiveness, not only with regard to deficits; they would also like to see countries which in times of growth do not do enough to balance their finances be forced to save money. Finally the document suggests the creation of a long term mechanism to manage crises.

In the first quarter of 2010 the Italian GDP rose by 0.5% in comparison with the previous quarter and by 0.6% year on year according to estimates published by the National Statistics Institute on 12th May.

The International Monetary Fund said it was pleased with the measures adopted by the euro area countries to enhance their economic and financial stability. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF Director General speaking for the organisation said he believed that the agreement negotiated for Greece is a model that could be used in other types of cooperation between the IMF and the EU in the future. He said that the IMF would play its role if other countries in the zone needed financial aid. "The response of the euro area countries showed that they were committed at the highest political level."

On 13th May German Chancellor Angela Merkel awarded the Charlemagne Prize to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk for his help in unifying Europe and in particular for his commitment to the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty on the part of his country. Two days before that the Charlemagne Youth Prize was given to "A train for Europe" (Germany) by the European Network CNC. Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament declared that this project "embodies perfectly the essence of the European idea: acting together, putting an end to borders, discovering diversity and potential." This project enabled 1,500 trainees from 24 professional training centres to build a locomotive and wagons based on Airbus.

The European Commission adopted reports with regard to Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland and Luxembourg on 12th May - they aim to determine - given the most recent economic outlook together with all other pertinent factors - whether public deficits remain close to the reference value of 3% of the GDP and whether the excess is exceptional and temporary. According to the Commisson's conclusions Luxembourg is the only country of the five that rallies all the necessary conditions. Olli Rehn, Commission for Economic and Monetary Affairs said "the rigorous application of the Stability and Growth Pact is the best means to convince the financial markets that the reduction of deficits and debt will be undertaken judiciously and in good time.

The EU-Turkey Association Council met on 10th May to assess the state of bilateral relations. The Union welcomed progress achieved by Turkey as part of the EU accession process; 12 chapters of the 35 have now been opened but the Union encouraged Turkey to continue its work in terms of democracy, rule of law, human rights and minorities and to implement the necessary reforms with regard to the civil service, the legal system and the fight against corruption. Finally the Union recalled the importance of a full, non-discriminatory application of the additional protocol to the Association Agreement including opening up to Cyprus, which Turkey still avoids implementing.

The European Union and South Korea signed an agreement on 10th May aiming to enhance their partnership with regard to human rights issues, non-proliferation of arms of mass destruction, the fight against terrorism, climate change and energy security. The Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, who signed the agreement with the European Foreign Ministers and their Korean counterpart Yu Myung-Hwan declared that this signature "was a major stage in our relations" with this "key partner" "in an increasingly important region." The European Parliament still has to validate this agreement for its implementation that is expected in the second half of 2010.

The 27 European Foreign Ministers discussed the condemnation and the detention of suspects arrested as part of the NAVFOR Atalanta operation against piracy in the Gulf of Aden on 12th May - they maintained their support for the handling of this issue by local authorities. They also addressed issues of non-proliferation, nuclear matters in Iran and the preparation of the next EU-Russia Summit. They approved the mandates of the negotiations for association agreements with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia on 10th May. They also discussed issues that will be at the heart of the European Council in June: the adoption of the Europe 2020 strategy, the preparation of the next G20 summit, the millenium development goals and climate change.

The 27 European Education, Youth and Culture ministers adopted conclusions on 10th and 11th May on the social dimension of education, the inclusion of young people and new, vital competences for jobs of the future. They invited the Commission to present a report on the funding and the enhancement of the digital library Europeana; they appointed Riga in Latvia and Umea in Sweden as European Cultural Capitals in 2014 and discussed progress in the implementation of a European Heritage Label. The 27 Sports Ministers who met for the first time, pinpointed five priorities for European action: encouraging the educational and social function of sport; supporting sports structures, above all voluntary ones; promoting values such as the fight against discrimination and xenophobia; defending moral and physical integrity of sports people including the fight against doping; enhancing dialogue and cooperation with the sporting world.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel received Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat on 12th May in Berlin. She said she was pleased with the negotiations started by Moldova in view of an association agreement with the EU and she said that she guaranteed Germany's support with regard to the resolution of the conflict in Transnistria.

In the face of the crisis the Greeks are increasingly in favour of a coalition government that would rally at least two of the main parties, the Socialist Party (PASOK) and New Democracy (ND), or all of the parties present in Parliament.

The Conservative Party led by David Cameron which won the general elections on 6th May has joined forces with the Liberal-Democrats (centre) to form a coalition government, the first since 1945 in Great-Britain. On 12th May the two parties signed an initial coalition agreement focusing on the most important issues such as the economy or on those where divergence was the most obvious. "We already have a good coalition agreement (...) we have been able to look into some difficult areas and agree on those first, such as Europe, immigration and taxation - we have covered the hardest part," declared David Cameron.

According to estimates published on 12th May by Eurostat, the EU's Statistics Office, industrial production increased by 1.3% in the euro area and by 1.2% in the EU in March 2010 in comparison with February 2010. In February production increased respectively by 0.7% and 0.5%. Year on year industrial production rose by 6.9% in the euro area and by 6.0% in the EU.

According to estimates published by Eurostat on 12th May the GDP in the euro area and that of the EU increased by 0.2% in the first quarter of 2010 in comparison with the previous quarter. Over the fourth quarter of 2009 the growth rates lay respectively at 0% and 0.1%. On an annual basis the GDP in the euro area recorded a rise of 0.5% and that of the EU 0.3% over the first quarter of 2010, in comparison with declines of -2.2% and -2.3% respectively in the previous quarter.

The Friedrich Ebert Foundation has just published an analysis on the State of the European Monetary Union, entitled "Euroland put to the Test: can European Monetary Union still be saved?" Amongst other matters the authors look into the need to reform the Monetary Union and look into the cases of Greece, Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Italy.

Moderate, unequal recovery is taking shape in Europe announced the IMF on 11th May - it has just published a report on Regional Economic Outlook devoted to Europe. Economic growth in the region will gather pace during the year but the traditional drivers of the economy will be weaker than before. The IMF is forecasting an increase in unemployment and a slowing in consumption and investments. According to the IMF there is still a danger of contagion in Europe because of speculation against the public debt of several countries. "Indicators of the viability of the public debt have reached a red alert level in most countries where determined work to re-stabilise will be necessary mid-term." The report also addresses the issue of emerging European countries, which after a period of stable growth, have witnessed a slow in capital flows.

On 12th May the European Commission published the 2010 report on Research and Development in ICTs that reviews all public and private spending in R&D in ICTs until 2007 in the EU. According to the report the ICT sector which represents only 4.8% of the EU's GDP is the sector in which private companies invest the most (25% of R&D investments in 2007). However in spite of these major figures the EU is still lagging behind in comparison with its world competitors both in terms of private and public investments. This gap is a problem that the "European Digital Agenda" one of the seven leading initiatives in the Europe 2020 Strategy will have to address.

The Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) has published a study on the promotion of democracy via the EU's development policy - "Furthering Democracy through the European Union's Development Policy: Legal Limitations and Possibilities"), by Morten Broberg.

On 12th May the European Central Bank published its Convergence Report 2010 in which the economic and legal convergence of nine EU members is assessed: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Sweden. The Report looks into whether a high degree of sustainable economic convergence has been achieved in these countries. Overall according to the Report's conclusions many countries have faced major new challenges which were linked to previous imbalance and weakness that led to large scale adjustment processes over the last few years. Notably under the effects of the world economic and financial crisis, the GDP fell or decline sharply in volume in most of the countries under review.

On 15th May the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development raised the growth forecast 2010 slightly in the region extending from Central Europe to Central Asia - but it continues to say that recovery will be slow, weak and unequal. The EBRD said that it brought forecasts of a rise in GDP up to 3.7% in this region this year in comparison with 3.3% in its previous forecasts made in January.

Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978) known as the "metaphysical painter" is also the master of nature in all of its aspects as demonstrated in the exhibition that will be open in Rome until 11th July - it is devoted to the Italian artist who grew up in Greece, studied in Germany and lived in Paris. Baptised "Nature according to De Chirico" this exhbition "intends to highlight the relationship of De Chirico's art with the physical and philosophical aspects of nature - a relationship which supposes every kind of creative adventure undertaken by the master."

The Beyeler Foundation pays tribute to the American painter Jean-Michel Basquiat who died in 1988 aged 27 - they are exhibiting a 100 works by the "Haitian graffiti artist of Manhattan" until 5th September.