The fifth edition of the reference work on Europe "The Schuman Report on Europe, State of the Union 2011" has just been published. Devoted this year to Europe facing crises and threats" it includes an exclusive interview with the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy. This work is published by Springer Verlag. It is available in all good book shops and on the Foundation's site. Order it to understand and learn more about Europe!

On 21st March the World Bank published a report "Europe 2020 Poland" in which it analyses how Poland might progress to achieve the goals set in the Europe 2020 strategy; the report also makes recommendations. The World Bank says that the Polish economy is slowing after the exhaustion of foreign funds and an increase in production costs. "Poland resisted the world crisis well, but uncertainty continues with regard to its ability to return to growth rates higher than 5% per year," said the Bank. In 2010 the country recorded growth of 3.8% and is due to experience growth of between 3.5% and 4% this year.

The Portuguese Parliament rejected the stability and growth programme that was due to enable "the reduction of the public deficit to 2% of the GDP by 2013 and to avoid having to ask for external aid" on 23rd March. The indexing agency Fitch announced on 24th March that it had reduced its rating of Portugal's sovereign debt by 2 points believing that the country's risk profile had increased in the wake of the Portuguese government's rejection of the austerity programme.

On 23rd March the Statistics Service of Cyprus announced the provisional GDP forecast for 2010 in current prices that totals 17,465.1 million euros compared to 16,945.7 in 2009 (15,173.6 million in comparison with 15,017.4 million in constant prices of 2005). Real growth is estimated at 1% in 2010 against -1.7% in 2009.

German exports increased by 20.7% in the fourth quarter of 2010 in comparison with the fourth quarter of 2009 to reach a total of 256.3 billion euros indicated Destatis, the federal statistics office on 22nd March. Over the same period imports increased by 26.7%. Moreover the Ifo Business Climate Index in Germany declined slightly in March after rising for nine consecutive months. It reached 111.1 points in March in comparison with 111.3 in February explained Ifo on 25th March.

According to a survey by the Central Statistics Bureau published on 22nd March the working population decreased by 2.6% in 2010 in comparison with 2009. Around 18.7% of the working population was unemployed in 2010 (16.9% in 2009).

Over the first two months of 2011 the Greek State's budgetary deficit was 55 million euros less than the target set in the budgetary plan 2011 for the same period according to data published on 22nd March by the Finance Minister. The deficit lay at 1,024 million euros in January and February whilst the government had reckoned on 1,076 million euros. Finally the budgetary deficit had progressed by +8.5% over one year.

On 23rd March the Finnish Finance Minister indicated in a press release that he was forecasting growth of 3.6% in Finland in 2011 and 2.7% in 2012. Moreover the public deficit was due to be brought to 0.9% of the GDP this year. According to figures published on 22nd March by the national statistics institute, Statistics Finland, the unemployment rate lay at 8.4% in February 2011; it had declined by 0.8% in comparison with February 2010.

According to a press release published on 24th March by the national statistics institute, Statistik Austria, the number of people in work increased in the fourth quarter of 2010 in comparison with the same period in 2009 (+44,900). The number of unemployed, according to the international definition (176,100) as well as the unemployment rate (4.1%) in the fourth quarter of 2010 decreased in comparison with the same period in the previous year (200,300; 4.7%).

According to an estimate published on 24th March by the Central Statistics Bureau the economy grew by 2.5% in the fourth quarter of 2010. In comparison with the previous quarter the economy grew by 0.6% after seasonal adjustments. Moreover the rise in the GDP is due to be 1.5% in 2012 according to forecasts published on 22nd March by the Central Planning Bureau. The CPB said that this "modest" growth will not make it possible to catch up on the loss caused by the 2009 recession. Although the budgetary deficit might rise to 2.2% of the GDP in 2012 the average household's purchasing power is due to decline by 0.75% both in 2011 and 2012.

Labour, Employment and Healthcre Minister, Xavier Bertrand announced on 24th March a reduction of 0.1% in the number of job seekers in category A (people without any work at all) in February 2011. Moreover INSEE announced a 0.4% rise in the GDP volume in the fourth quarter of 2010 and 1.5% on average for all of 2010. This rise follows the greatest decrease (-2.5%) recorded since the end of the 2nd World War in 2009 .

According to initial data published on 25th March by Estonia Statistics, Estonia recorded a budgetary surplus of 0.6% of the GDP in 2010 which is equal to 18.3 million euros. The country's public debt lay at 951.1 million euros or 6.6% of the GDP in comparison with 7.15% in 2009.

On 24th March the Irish statistics bureau, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) announced a contraction of 1% of the Irish GDP in 2010 after a 1.6% contraction in the fourth quarter. The GNP also decreased by 2.1% and according to figures; only industry and export had experienced growth. This is the third consecutive year that the Irish economy has declined.

On 24th March the Planning Bureau published a paper on Belgium's financial sustainability, which is far from being certain and definitely not guaranteed if there is to be a sixth reform of the State. In order to fulfil its obligations in terms of reimbursing the debt and pensions, the Federal State will have to reduce spending to a total of 36% by 2015 and by 50% if there is an in-depth reform of the State. Qualifying such cuts as unrealistic the Planning Bureau recommended that for every transferred competence from a federal level to the federated entities the matching financial means should be transferred to a total of 60% to 80% whilst the rest would be maintained on a federal level.

The ratings agency Moody's reduced the debt rating of 30 Spanish banks saying that there was a combination of greater financial pressure on Spain and on its weakest banks. No significant improvement is to be expected of these banks in the near future said Moody's. Neither Santander nor BBVA nor Caixa, one of the biggest Spanish savings banks feature amongst these thirty establishments.

On 24th March the EU announced the disbursement to Romania of a further payment of its aid following a positive assessment by the Commission of the implementation by the Romanian authorities of the conditions agreed in the third Supplemental Memorandum of Understanding (SMoU). "The EU has paid 1.2 billion euros which is the fourth part of the 5 billion euro loan agreed in May 2009 as part of a multilateral financial assistance agreement," indicated a press release. The IMF announced on 25th March that it had released the last part of one billion euros of its aid to Romania and that it had approved the provision of an additional credit line of 3.6 billion euros to the country as a precautionary measure. The IMF Board approved this new 2 year credit line which will come into force on 31st March and will take over from the 12.95 billion euro, one year loan granted in May 2009, indicated the IMF in a press release.

The President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy announced on 24th March that the 27 Heads of State and government had adopted the "pact for the euro+" which associates euro area members and includes a series of measures that aim to guarantee the competitiveness and stability of finances. The pact provides that Member States integrate a legal debt limit into their national legislations, linking salary increases to increases in productivity and the age of retirement to developments in demography. He pointed to the fact that the pact remained open to States exterior to the euro area and said he was pleased that it had been adopted by Poland, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania. Finally he recalled the launch of the European Semester and announced that European leaders had defined "guidelines with regard to national economic policies. Member States must now integrate them into their budgetary review projects.

On 24th March the European Commission launched a public consultation to improve the EU's action with regard to planning the maritime area and the integrated management of coastal areas. The Commission wants to promote the pooling of maritime activities undertaken in various sectors as part of common planning that will enable early warning of potential coflict, the optimisation of synergy and guarantee an effective, sustainable use of maritime ressources.

On 24th March the European Commission launched a consultation in the shape of a Green paper on the regulation of on-line gambling services in the Internal Market. It seeks to canvass views from all interested parties in order to get a better understanding of the specific issues arising from on-line gambling services directed at consumers located in the EU. Contributions can be submitted by 31st July.

On 23rd March the European Commission adopted a proposal extending the rules on public access to documents to all EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies. With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1st December 2009, the public right of access was formally extended to documents of all the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies. This proposal should therefore enable the alignment of the present rules with measures provided for in the treaty. Moreover the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has published a reference document on public access to documents containing personal data. It provides guidelines to European institutions in order to guarantee the equal respect of the right to the protection of private life and the fundamental right to access to documents.

On 23rd March on the eve of the European Council the European Parliament gave the greenlight to the European Council's draft decision, 494 votes in favour, 100 against and 9 abstentions, with regard to a limited modification of the EU treaty designed to set in place a permanent stability mechanism for the euro area. In the resolution text the European Parliament criticises however the draft decision which might "lead to the creation of a mechanism exterior to the Union without any role being attributed to the Union's institutions as such." In a resolution annex Parliament therefore suggested an amendment to the draft revision of the treaty. Parliament acknowledges however that there are "positive signs" on the part of the presidents of the European Council and Eurogroup notably with regard to information provided to the Parliament on the establishment of the stability mechanism.

On 24th March MEPs approved a series of amendments to the draft directive on consumer rights. The amendments adopted aim to enhance consumer rights notably with regard to e-trade. In particular MEPs advise on a 14 day right to retract from sales that are undertaken on-line or exterior to shops.

On 24th March the European Parliament approved its position on the draft directive on the "single permit" 311 votes in favour, 216 against, 81 abstentions. This draft directive aims to enable migrants to obtain a work or residence permit by way of a single adminstrative act although the decision to deliver a permit will still be a national decision. According to the position adopted on 24th March non-European workers are due to enjoy the same rights in terms of working conditions as EU citizens; but the directive will not apply to seconded or seasonal workers or long stay residents or refugees.

On 21st March the 27 Foreign Ministers debated the situation in Libya. They repeated their support to UN resolution 1973 and stressed that the EU was prepared to support humanitarian operations via the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), notably via maritime means in coordination with the UN and NATO. They also adopted new sanctions against Libyan financial entities and members of the country's government as well as conclusions with regard to recent developments in Yemen and Bahrein. Finally they debate coordination opportunities in the EU's response to the crisis in Japan and adopted a directive enhancing rules in terms of the prevention and protection of victims of human trafficking.

On 21st March the 27 Finance Ministers came to an agreement on aspects of the European Stability Mechanism which will replace the present European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) as of mid-2013, the aim of which is to guarantee the financial stability of the euro area. The ESM will be based in Luxembourg and have a Board of Governors comprising the euro area Finance Ministers and a managing committee the chair of which will be appointed by the Board of Governors. Moreover the new mechanism will have a lending capability of 500 billion euros. Of this sum 80 billion will come from the capital paid by the euro area countries and 620 billion from capital demanded and from guarantees.

In Germany women's gross salary was 23% lower on average than that of their male counterparts in 2010 indicated the federal statistics office, Destatis on 24th March. In 2009 the wage difference was the same.

On 27th March more than 10 million Germans were called to ballot in the important election in the Länder of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland Palatinate. In Baden-Württemberg, governed by the Christian Democrats (CDU), for the last 58 years, the Greens came second (24.2% of the vote) behind the CDU (39%) but ahead of the Social Democrats (23.1%). The Liberals (FDP) did not reach 5.3%. The Greens and SPD were also ahead of the CDU of Chanceller Angela Merkel and the FDP: 71 votes against 67. This defeat has reduced the CDU's room to manoeuvre in the government coalition in the Bundesrat, the Upper Chamber of Parliament. In Rhineland-Palatinate the Greens won 15.4% of the vote, thereby tripling their 2006 score. In this Land the Social Democrat Party (SPD) clearly regressed (35.7% of the vote) but will be able to continue governing with the Greens.

Five countries in Central Europe (Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia) signed an agreement to launch a joint natural reserve stretching from the south of Austria to Serbia as they discussed matters on the periphery of the informal Environment Ministers meeting on 26th March. This reserve totalling some 800,000 hectares, qualified as the "biggest wetland reserve in Europe" by the WWF will include the banks of the Danube, the Drau (Drava or Drave) and the Mur (Mura).

According to estimates published by Eurostat on 23rd March the new industrial orders index increased by 0.1% in January 2011 in comparison with December 2010 in the euro area. For the entire Union new orders recorded a 0.2% rise in January 2011.

According to a Eurobarometer survey published on 24th March around 2/3 of car drivers potentially agree to reducing the speed of their vehicles to reduce air pollution. Moreover 53% of those interviewed said they supported the substitution of present taxes on vehicles by a new tarification system based on real use. Finally 71% of European car users said they were ready to use public transport more often if it was possible to buy a ticket that was valid for use on all types of transport.

The Bruegel Institute has published a paper by Jacques Delpla and Jakob von Weizsäcker entitled "Eurobonds: the blue bond concept and its implications". The authors review Daniel Gros' proposal made in May 2010 to seperate countries' sovereign debt in the euro area into two parts: tbe upper "blue" segment up to 60% of the GDP would be guaranteed jointly whilst the "red" part beyond 60% would be national responsibility.

The Department of EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies at the Collège of Europe has published a paper by Mireia Paulo Noguera entitled "The EU-China Strategic Partnership in Climate Change: The Biodiversity Programme?". The author suggests that an understanding on the part of the EU of developments in Chinese civil society with regard to environmental issues might help to improve the EU-China partnership with regard to fighting climate change.

The Handbook on European Non-Discrimination Law published jointly by the the European Agency for Fundamental Rights and the European Court of Human Rights has just come out. It explains the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and the EU's Court of Justice and lays out the context and history of European law with regard to non-discrimination (including the UN treaties relative to Human Rights), discrimination categories, means of defence, the field of application of European non-discrimination law (notably which people are protected) and the features that are protected such as gender, handicap, age, race and nationality.

Until 15th May the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is putting on an exhibition entitled "Chaos and Classicism: Art in France, Italy, Germany and Spain 1918-1936" in which canvasses, sculptures, decorative art and fashion drawings made between 1918 and 1936 show a desire for a return to classicism during an avant-garde period.

For the first time in Germany an exhibition is being devoted to the work of English painter John Constable (1776-1837). It is called "John Constable. Natural Painter" and will be on show until 3rd July at the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart. Oil sketches and drawings by the artist from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London are on show.

The "ARTPARIS, Just Art" fair will take place from 31st March to 3rd April at the Grand Palais in Paris. It brings together more than 120 international contemporary, modern and design galleries. 17 countries are represented in this fair.

The Carmen Thyssen Malaga Museum that was inaugurated on 24th March is offering an overview of Spanish painting of the 19th century with pictures by Sorolla, Fortuny, Zuloaga, Romero de Torres, de Regoyos and De Haes.