Although the Social Democratic Party (CSSD) came out ahead in the Czech general elections on 28th and 29th May winning 22.08% of the vote and 56 seats, the rightwing forces seem to be the real winners of the election. The Civic Democratic Party (ODS) won 20.22% of the vote (53 seats), Tradition, Responsibility, Prosperity 09 (TOP09), led by Karel Schwarzenberg, 16.7% (41 seats) and Public Affairs (VV)led by Radek John, 10.88% (24 seats). The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM) won 11.27% (26 seats). Two parties were excluded from the Chamber of Deputies: KDU-CSL, 4.39% and the Green Party (CZ), 2.44%. The Citizens' Rights Party (SPO) also has no seats winning only 4.33% of the vote. The leftwing (CSSD and the KSCM) won 82 seats together against 118 for the right (ODS, TOP09 and VV). Turnout rose to 62.60%.

Denmark is to reduce the length of unemployment benefit payment from 4 to 2 years - which was until now one of the longest periods in the world said the government on 25th May. The Danish plan aims to bring the deficit below the 3% of the GDP by 2013 in comparison with 5.5% planned in 2010 with total savings of 24 billion crowns (3.2 billion euro) by 2013. In addition to the reform of unemployment benefits it also plans for a freezing of development aid for three years, a capping of family benefits, the abolition of tax rebates and a decrease of 5% on ministers' salaries. However social allocations (pensions, unemployment, student grants) will not be frozen. On 28th May the statistics office announced that the unemployment level in Denmark declined slightly to 4.1% in April in comparison with 4.2% in March, the first decrease since the summer of 2008 and the start of the economic crisis.

On 27th May the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy met the President of the Republic of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan. They both want to enhance relations between the EU and Armenia and plead in favour of the negotiation of an association agreement to include a zone of free trade. Mr Van Rompuy also wants to make progress with regard to issues of visa liberalisation.

On 26th May the European Commission adopted a negotiation mandate in view of reaching a framework agreement between the EU and the USA on the processing of personal data. The aim is to ensure "a high level of protection" of personal information such as data relative to air passengers and financial information which is transferred as part of transatlantic cooperation in terms of anti-terrorism and anti-criminality measures. The European Commissioner for Justice, Vivian Reding will be responsible for leading discussions after the Council's agreement.

Ministers and High Representatives of the EU countries and the Association of South East Asian Nations who met on 26th May want to enhance their political and economic cooperation. In a joint declaration adopted after the meeting they recalled the importance of economic relations between the two entities. The EU is the second most important trade partner with South East Asia and the leading direct investor. The meeting also made its possible to address political issues such as the role played by the EU in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the situation in the Middle East and in Iran. Finally in their declaration Ministers asked North Korea to respect the UN's resolutions.

European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek met Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on 27th May during his five day visit to China. He said that Europe needed a strong China to build multilateral governance and to face the challenges of climate change, energy and the financial crisis. He invited the Chinese government to ratify the International Pact relative to civilian and political rights, which was signed 10 years ago.

Minister President of Hessen, Roland Koch (CDU) announced his resignation on 25th May in Wiesbaden. On 31st August he will no longer govern the Land. He is also giving up his other political positions. Roland Koch had been in power in Hessen since 1999.

According to an annual survey published on 26th May by the consultancy Mercer Vienna holds the first place in the ranking of towns according to the quality of life experienced there, ahead of Zurich and Geneva. Vancouver (Canada) and Auckland (New Zealand) came equal fourth, thereby completing the ranking of the top 5 which includes 221 big cities on all continents and is based on expatriates' opinions. European cities dominate the first 25 places in the ranking: seven of the ten leading towns/cities are in Austria, Switzerland and Germany. Baghdad (Iraq) comes last.

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said after a meeting with Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme on 26th May that he had confidence in the future presidency of the EU that would be taken over by the Belgian government as from July 1st next.

Negotiations on the reunification of Cyprus started again in Nicosia on 26th May bringing together the Cypriot President Demetris Christofias and the new leader of the northern part of the island, Dervis Eroglu for the first time. The UN emissary Alexander Downer read a message to the two leaders from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon asking them to come to agreement this year.

On 27th May Spanish MPs approved 169 votes in favour, 168 against and 1 abstention the government's austerity plan which includes a decrease in civil servants' salaries from June on and a freezing in retirement pensions in 2011 in order to accelerate the reduction of the country's major public deficits. The government which promised that it would never interfere with social advantages was forced to announce these measures under pressure from the market and its European partners. In this way it hopes to save 15 billion euro in 2010 and 2011 to speed up reductions in public deficits which reached 11.2% of the GDP in 2009 and which Madrid would like to bring down to 3% by 2013.

On 24th May Finnish MP Juha Rehula took office as Social Affairs and Healthcare Minister. Finnish President Tarja Halonen appointed her after the resignation of Liisa Hyssälä, elected to manage Social Security.

The UEFA's executive committee took the decision that France will host the Euro 2016. France's candidature just won over the project put forward by Turkey during the vote which took place at the Geneva HQ of the European Football Federation on 28th May. Italy, also a candidate, was eliminated in the first round of voting. The 2016 tournament will be the first to see 24 teams competing against one another.

MPs approved, almost unanimously, a controversial text on 26th May: from now on native Hungarians living in Central Europe will be able to obtain Hungarian nationality. To do this they will have to be able to speak the language and to prove who their Hungarian ancestors were.

The President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano was host to his American counterpart Barack Obama on 25th May. They exchanged views on strategic issues such as Iran, Afghanistan, the Balkans, the peace process in the Middle East, the fight against terrorism and the world's economic recovery. Both men believe it is necessary to enhance transatlantic relations by means of developing a strategic concept for NATO. The American President said he wanted "a strong, integrated Europe that is able to foster common interests in the world arena." He thanked Italy for its contribution to promoting international peace and stability, notably in Afghanistan (where the Italian military contingent will soon rise to 4,000 men, who are mainly involved in the training of the local police force).

The first trial of Somali pirates started in Rotterdam in the Netherlands on 25th May. The five accused aged 25 to 45 were arrested on 2nd January 2009 by the Danish Marine in the Gulf of Aden whilst they were making an armed attack aboard a rapid boat against a Turkish cargo ship that was bearing a Dutch Caribbean flag. They were then delivered to the Dutch authorities in Bahrain. 215 attacks were undertaken by Somali pirates against merchant ships in 2009 ie more than half of the world total according to figures released by the International Maritime Bureau.

On 26th May the Polish and Americans revealed the positioning of the first American ground to air Patriot missile battery in Poland just 60km from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. The Polish Defence Minister said that it was a decision that intended to enhance the country's security and strategic cooperation with the USA. Although the US Embassy in Poland has said that these missiles were not armed for the time being it remains that this measure was severely criticised by Moscow which considers that it affects the region's stability.

The Czech general elections which took place on 28th and 29th May completely changed the political landscape leading to the resignation of four party heads and the debut of two new parties in a future centre-right coalition led by Petr Necas. With 56 seats the Social Democrats (22.08%) - although they came first - are now relegated to the opposition. The ODS, which came second with 20,22%, can form a majority of 118 seats out of the 200 in the lower chamber with TOP09 (16.7%) and Public Affairs (10.88%). The Communists (KSCM) won 11.27%. "I shall resign," announced Jiri Paroubek, head of the CSSD. Three other party leaders who did not rise above the eligibility threshold of 5% announced that they would also be resigning: Cyril Svoboda (KDU-CSL) whose party will not be sitting in the Chamber of Deputies for the first time since the fall of Communism in 1989 (4.39%); Milos Zeman, Citizens' Rights Party (4.33%) and Ondrej Liska, the Greens leader (2.44%).

On 25th May Queen Elizabeth II delivered her traditional Throne Speech in which she presented the government programme which confirms the compromises that the Conservatives and Lib-Dems had to make in order to govern together. This programme comprises two priorities: recovery of economic growth and a reduction in the budgetary deficit.

Slovakian MPs adopted a law on dual nationality on 26th May which will deprive native Hungarians of Slovakian nationality if they decide to adopt that of Hungary as authorised by the law adopted on the same day in Budapest. The law adopted by 90 MPs out of a total of 114 present in Parliament also deprives native Hungarians who have Hungarian citizenship of the being able to occupy some positions in Slovakia. The law was adopted in response to the one adopted in Budapest which allows the 3.5 million native Hungarians living in the neighbouring countries, mainly Romania and Slovakia to adopt Hungarian citizenship.

The unemployment rate in Sweden rose sharply in April thereby compromising the hope of rapid recovery of the employment market before the general elections in September and provoking a decline in the Swedish crown against the euro and the dollar. According to figures published on 25th May by the Statistics Bureau (SCB), the unemployment rate rose from 9.1% of the population in March to 9.8% in April. Analysts were forecasting a slight reduction down to 9%. In all Sweden had 4,465 million unemployed last month in comparison with 4,449 million in March.

Four Western Balkan countries met in Sarajevo on 29th May for a conference before the EU-Balkans meeting on 2nd June during which they intend to indicate that enlargement of the Union must not suffer because of the economic and financial crisis in Europe. In a joint declaration the Serb, Croat and Montenegrin Presidents, Boris Tadic, Ivo Josipovic and Filip Vujanovic together with the president in office of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Haris Silajdzic invited Europeans to "acknowledge the importance of speeding up" the enlargement of the European Union.

On 28th May the representatives of the States that support the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) unanimously adopted a guideline document that plans for the acceleration of progress in nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and the creation of a zone free of nuclear arms in the Middle East. The text includes a 22 point action plan. The representatives, who met within the UN Conference on disarmament, believe that the review of the treaty should include the creation of a subsidiary body to manage nuclear disarmament that also includes a working programme negotiated between the various parties. The Conference believe that its members should discuss the means to enable the legal, unequivocal guarantee of security for the countries that do not have the nuclear arm. According to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton this agreement "shows that the multilateral non-proliferationand disarmament regime is alive and supported by all."

GIGN and Raid (France) EKO Cobra (Austria), GSG9 (Germany), GIS (Italy), Red Panter (Slovenia): 32 European elite brigades took part on 27th May in a spectacular, unique exercise to free the hostages of two planes at the airport of Châteauroux. This exercise was organised under the guidance of the EU as part of the Atlas network. Created in 2003 Atlas brings together 35 counter-terrorist and intervention units from the 27 EU Member States (together with Switzerland and Norway). Some countries like France, Italy and Ireland have two intervention units. Four airplanes, three transport helicopters, five assault vehicles were made available for this exercise.

According to Eurostat figures published on 25th May the new industrial orders index in the euro area increased by 5.2% in March 2010 in comparison with February 2010. In February the index increased by 1.9%. In the EU new orders rose by 5.9% in March 2010, after a rise of 1.1% in February. Excluding naval construction as well as railway and aviation equipment, the variations of which tend to be more volatile, new industrial orders rose by 4.5%. Year on year new industrial orders increased by 19.8% in the euro area and by 20.70% in the EU.

On the occasion of the world tobacco free day on 31st May Eurobarometer published a study on the subject. According to the survey a wide majority of Union citizens support stricter anti-tobacco measures. Three Europeans in four say they are in favour of the presence of illustrated warnings with regard to health on tobacco product packaging and the prohibition of smoking in restaurants. The study reveals however that one third of Europeans still smoke in spite of the fact the tobacco kills one smoker in two. Tobacco is the leading cause of avoidable death in the EU, 650,000 premature deaths per year.

According to the annual report by the European Commission on the Single European Electronic Communications Market published on 25th May consumers, businesses and the EU economy as a whole are denied the full economic benefits of a truly single and competitive EU-wide telecoms market because of inconsistent application of EU telecoms rules. Most Member States' markets have become more competitive, but remain national in dimension. Moreover, the level of competitiveness varies strongly between Member States. Although Europe's telecoms sector weathered the financial storm in 2009 (0% growth compared to a 4.2% EU-wide economic decline), consistent enforcement of existing rules and investment in innovative services hold the key to future growth.

An exhibition entitled "George Maciunas: father of Soho" will start on 1st June in Vilnius - a town that is trying to become the 21st century capital of the artistic movement Fluxus. The exhibition will be open until September 1st. George Maciunas, a Lithuanian-American architect and visionary founder of Fluxus had the original idea to set up cooperative buildings in New York in which people could work and create freely. Rare documents, structural plans and letters exchanged with civil servants lay out the difficult procedure undertaken by Maciunas to legalise the Soho area that transformed the town centre entirely.