The success of the "True Finns", the only party that gained ground in the Finnish general elections on 17th April last heralds a further step forwards by the populist parties in Europe. Occurring after a populist advance which has hit all EU countries except for Germany, Spain and Portugal for the time being, this rise in extremes constitutes a warning for the Member States and also for European integration itself. Has the economic crisis been the real reason behind this rise which some are quick to qualify as being national-populist? Or has it been immigration for which Europe has now become the main target?

The Robert Schuman Foundation has just published the English version of the "Schuman Report on Europe, the State of the Union 2011" with Springer Verlag. This is the second year of its publication in English. This edition is devoted to "Europe and the crisis and under threat". It includes an exclusive interview with the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy. On 19th April the "Schuman Report on Europe, the State of the Union 2011" was presented to the European Parliament in Brussels with many MEPs in attendance together with the Vice-President of the European Commission, Antonio Tajani.

517,571 Cypriots are being called to ballot on 22nd May next to appoint the 56 members of the Chamber of Representatives (Parliament). Six political parties are represented there: the Progressive Workers' Party (AKEL) led by present President Demetris Christofias, 18 seats; the Democratic Rally (DISY), the main opposition party, 18 seats; the Democratic Party (DIKO), 11 MPs; the Movement for Social Democracy (EDEK), five seats; New Horizons (NO) 3 seats; and the Ecologist and Environmentalist Movement (KOP), 1 seat. Three seats are attributed to the Maronite, Armenian and Catholic communities. According to the latest polls DISY is due to win on 22nd May with 25.1% of the vote ahead of AKEL 23.2%, DIKO, 11.2%, EDEK, 6.8%, the European Party 3.8% and KOP 2%.

The Chairman of the Foundation, Jean-Dominique Giuliani will be taking part in the second visio-conference on 29th April as part of a series of six "Dialogues on the Future" organised with the support of the Robert Schuman Foundation and which will be broadcast in Bransat and Bamako. This conference will be broadcast live on our site and will be entitled "Europe and the Crisis in the World at Large."

According to a press release published on 21st April by the Central Statistics Bureau -CBS- unemployment (adjusted according to seasonal variations) totalled 5.1% of the working population in March ie 395,000 people. Over one month unemployment declined by 5000 people whilst the decrease over one year was 51,000 people. On 20th April the CBS said that Dutch consumer confidence suffered slightly in April. In comparison with the previous month confidence contracted by two points to reach -10%.

According to data published on 20th April by the Greek Finance Minister the State budget deficit had achieved the goal that had been set in the 2011 budget in the first quarter of 2011. The deficit totals 4.7 billion euros whilst it lay at 4.37 billion in the same period in 2010. On the same day the Bank of Greece announced that the deficit of the current account balance had decreased in February to reach 1.959 billion euros whilst it lay at 3.159 billion a year previously. Over the period January-February the current account deficit had contracted by 2 billion euros over one year ie 29.7% to total 4.7 billion euros.

Portugal's public deficit in 2010 was reviewed upwards to 9.1% of the GDP in comparison with 8.6% as previously estimated announced the national statistics institute, INE, on 23rd April.

According to an estimate published on 21st April by the Federal Finance Ministry the German GDP increased in the first quarter of 2011 by 0.75% in comparison with the previous quarter. Moreover Ifo said in a press release published on the same day that the IFO index, a business climate barometer in Germany, had worsened for the second month running in April, dropping from 111.1 points in March to 110.4 points in April.

The Spanish Industry ministry announced on 20th April an increase in the trade deficit of 1.3% totalling more than 8 million euros. Over the first two months of 2011 exports increased by 26.9% in comparison with the same period in 2010 and imports increased by 20.8%.

The Italian trade balance deficit with third countries rose from 1.542 million euros in March 2010 to 2.871 million in March 2011 according to an estimate published on 21st April by Istat. As for the new orders index in the industrial sector adjusted according to seasonal variations this rose by 1.5% in February in comparison with the previous month said Istat on the same day. Over one year the index grew by 12.8%.

On 18th April the European Commission published a report on the neutrality of the network as part of the digital strategy. Although it is not putting forward legislation it recalls that it would like to see the respect of telecommunication principles (in force on 25th May next). At the same time the Commission also published another report on the assessement of the data storage directive. The report concludes that the storage of telecommunications data plays a major role in the fight to counter crime and terrorism but stresses that there are problems in the application of the directive. The Commission has therefore announced that it is thinking of reviewing this directive.

On 19th April European Commission published the 17th update of the list of banned airlines in the EU. Four Indonesian freight carriers and a Ukrainian company were withdrawn from the list whilst all air carriers registered in Mozambique and two planes from Air Madagascar were added. All of the decisions were taken with the unanimous support of the air safety committee which brings together experts from the Member States. This list includes 269 totally banned air carriers from using the EU and ten which are subject to certain restrictions.

According to the progress report on education and training by the European Commission published on 19th April the goals for the improvement of education systems in Member States have not been achieved. Indeed amongst the five reference criteria that had to be achieved by 2010 only the number of graduates in maths, science and technology has increased. Goals such as the fight to counter school drop-out rtes and improvements in reading ability and an increase in the share of adults following further educational courses or training have not been accomplished.

On 20th April the European Commission asked for a 4.9% increase in spending in the EU's 2012 budget, ie an extension of 6.2 billion euros in comparison with 2011, deemed unacceptable by many Member States notably in a time of austerity across all of Europe. The Budget Commissioner, Janusz Lewandowski admitted that at present he is expecting "difficult negotiations" with the EU's Member States. His draft budget includes 132.7 billion euros in spending in comparison with 126.5 billion in 2011 ie a rise of 4.9% and 147.4 billion euros in commitments against 142.1 billion in 2011.

On 19th April the "Constitutional Affairs" Committee of the European Parliament approved an initiative report by Andrew Duff (ALDE, UK), with regard to a proposed modification of the bill passed on 20th September 1976 concerning the election of MEPs by direct universal suffrage. The report suggests the creation of 25 new MEPs elected from transnational lists in order to increase citizen interest in the European elections. Voters would have two voting slips to put in the ballot box; one to elect an MEP from a national list of his country and another to choose a candidate from a pan-European list. The parliamentary commission also suggests bringing the European election date forward from June to May. The European Parliament will be voting on this report in June.

On 20th April the European Foreign Ministers and the High Representative Catherine Ashton met their counterparts of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC: Saudi Arabia, Bahrein, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qata). The final declaration of this "Mixed EU-GCC Council" notes that the enhancement of relations between the EU-GCC will be a valuable contribution to regional security and stability. Consultations on a free-exchange agreement between the two organisations will be pursued. The mixed Council discussed the situation in Libya, Yemen, Iran and the peace process in the Near East and piracy amongst other subjects. With regard to Libya the mixed Council expressed its support ot the National Transition Council. Moreover on 23rd April the High Representative Catherine Ashton condemned the brutal use of force against demonstrators in Syria.

On 19th April the head of the National Transition Council in Libya, Mustafa Abdul Jalil travelled to Rome to discuss the means to put an end to the conflict in Libya. During his visit he met Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as well as Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. After the meeting Mr Frattini announced that Italy would continue to support the Libyan rebels notably by helping them to find a means to sell their oil abroad. Moreover this subject is due to be on the agenda of the contact group meeting on Libya at the beginning of May in Rome, he added. On this occasion Mr Jalil said that Mouammar Kadhafi would not quit office "except by force".

Hungarian President Pal Schmitt travelled to Prague on 21st April to meet his Czech counterpart Vaclav Klaus. The two men discussed bilateral relations between their two States as well as their cooperation as part of the Visegrad group and the possibilities of improving the work undertaken in this. They also addressed the Hungarian presidency of the EU and its first results.

On 18th April Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny met his British counterpart David Cameron. The meeting focused on relations between the two countries and both men discussed security and economic issues which Ireland and the UK are facing. They declared that they wanted to continue their work together in a closer manner.

According the data published by Eurostat on 19th April the EU registered a current account deficit of 18.2 billion euros in the fourth quarter of 2010 in comparison with 15.5 billion in the third quarter. This deficit comes from current trade with China (40.9 billion euros), Russia (9.1 billion) and Japan (7 billion). At the same time the services account surplus increased (20.8 billion euros) likewise that of the revenues account (9.5 billion).

The German Institute for International Policy and Security (SWP) has published a study by Nicolai von Ondarza on the effects of the institutional reforms introduced by the Lisbon Treaty with regard to policy management in the EU entitled "Koordinatoren an der Spitze. Politische Führung in den reformierten Strukturen der Europäischen Union".

On 19th April the World Bank published a report on the economic situation of the ten Eastern European countries which entered the EU in 2004 and 2007. It stresses that economic activty has returned slowly to its level prior to the global financial and economic crisis but that recovery is due to gather pace in 2011 and 2012.

The Austrian Institute for European Policy and Security (AIES) has just published a paper by Dagmar Hilpert and Roderick Parkes entitled "Split Citizenship: Immigrant Integration in an Age of Circular Migration."

The Centre for European Political Studies (CEPS) has published a paper by Karel Lannoo entitled "The EU's response to the financial crisis - A mid-term review". On this theme the Robert Schuman Foundation has published ten original information sheets that review all of the responses given by the EU to the global economic crisis. It has also put a special page on its site that brings together a great number of articles on this subject.

On 20th April the European Chamber of Commerce in China published a report on the public procurement market in China calling for greater transparency and fairness, notably in calls for tender. Indeed according to the report the lack of application of Chinese regulation principles has prevented some European companies from entering the Chinese market.

The Jacquemart-André Museum in Paris is putting on an exhibition until 11th July "Dans l'intimité des frères Caillebotte, Peintre et Photographe." At the junction between Impressionist painting and photography this exhibition is evocative of the artistic work and private life of the Caillebotte brothers and for the very first time lends expression to over 35 canvasses and 150 modern prints.

The National Centre for Art and Exhbitions of Germany in Bonn is devoting an exhibition to German artist Max Liebermann (1847-1935) from 21st April to 11th September entitled "Max Liebermann - a Pioneer of Modern Art". Finding inspiration in the work by Dutch masters Rembrandt and Frans Hals as well as French Impressionists Mr Lierbermann created a very varied style of work. This retrospective reviews over 100 paintings and drawings of his working life.

The German opera singer Waltraud Meier was awarded with what might be considered to be the highest distinction in the world of opera, the Lotte-Lehmann Ring, named after the great German-American lyrical singer who died in 1976 said the Viennese Opera (Staatsoper). The distinction was awarded to the artist on stage by the Viennese Opera's General Director Dominique Meyer. Waltraud Meier, 55 is only the fourth opera singer to have been given the right to wear this ring.

The Amsterdam canals that have been a part of UNESCO's World Heritage List since 2010 now have their own museum, the "Grachtenhuis" which has just opened to the public. The Amsterdam canals will be celebrating their 400th anniversary in 2013.