On 23rd May the CERI and the Robert Schuman Foundation are organising a conference-debate on "L'Europe face aux crises" during which Thierry Chopin, Studies Director of the Robert Schuman Foundation and Michel Foucher University Professor at the ENS (Ulm) and member of the Foundation's Scientific Committee, will be presenting the "Schuman Report on Europe - State of the Union 2011". The debate will be moderated by Christian Lequesne, Director of the CERI.

Just one week before the general elections in Cyprus the rightwing opposition is leading in voting intentions. According to the polls the Democratic Assembly is due to win the general elections on 22nd May. It is due beat the Progressive Workers' Party and the Democratic Party. Many political observers are expecting that the opposition party will try and form a government coalition with the Movement for Social-Democracy (EDEK), a party chaired by Yiannakis Omirou. The Chamber of Representatives that is elected on 22nd May will meet for the first time on 2nd June next.

The Robert Schuman Foundation has published its annual report with Springer Verlag, "The Robert Schuman Report on Europe, State of the Union in 2011" (French version with Lignes de Repères). This year the report is devoted to "Europe and the Crisis, Responding to Threats" (economic crisis, budget, euro, reciprocity, defence, terrorism, industrial policy, populism ...) It includes an exclusive interview with the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy. 26 specialists offer original analyses, supported by unique data and maps - learn everything there is to know about Europe in 2011.

The French economy registered growth of 1% in the first quarter of 2011 in comparison with the previous quarter according to estimates published by the National Statistics Institute (INSEE)on 13th May. It is the highest growth rate since the second quarter of 2006. The Bank of France announced on 9th May that it was forecasting growth of 0.5% in the second quarter of 2011. On 12th May INSEE published figures for the consumer price index that revealed a rise of 0.3% in April in comparison with the previous month. In comparison with the end of April 2010 prices have risen by 2.1%.

On 11th May the President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy wrote an answer to a letter addressed to him by the President of the French Republic Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. He announced that he intended to put the three questions they had raised on the agenda during the European Council in June: the free movement of people within the EU, rules relative to asylum and development of a partnership with the countries on the southern shores of the Mediterranean and the control of our external borders. In his letter H Van Rompuy notably stressed that the "community acquis" of Schengen should be "totally protected" but that thought had to be given to the steps to be taken "in exceptional situations and which are defined strictly for the temporary suspension of the full application of the Schengen measures.

On 10th May the European Commission proposed a reform of the eligibility criteria of the Generalised Scheme of Tariff Preferences (GSP) for developing countries. It aims to reduce the number of States that have access to this by half: of the 176 initial countries that benefited from these preferential customs tariffs there were now 80. The aim of this is to strengthen the protection of fundamental rights, environmental standards and good governance of less advanced countries thanks to consolidated trade exchanges. The countries excluded are notably those which are no longer considered to "be developing" by the World Bank and those who have signed a free-trade agreement with the EU. China, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Ukraine are included in this list.

On 10th May the European Parliament granted the European Commission with the "discharge" to execute the EU's budget 2009 thereby approving the spending that has been made. The discharge was granted notably thanks to the Commission's commitment to improving the management of funds spent by the Member States. However the European Parliament deferred its decision for the discharge on the Council of Ministers' budget complaining that there was a lack of information notably on foreign policy and security. With this Parliament has broken with an historic record with the Council on non-intervention in their respective accounts. Likewise Parliament deferred the vote on the discharge for the European Medicine Agency and the European Police College thereby expressing its doubts over the way they are managed and the independence of their experts. Parliament finally validated its own accounts for 2009 and approved several measures to reduce spending and notably suggested "that there be one single place of work in one location."

On 12th May the 27 Interior Ministers looked into the situation in North Africa and the proposals put forward by the Commission in terms of immigration. These notably plan for the clarification of the governance of Schengen, the establishment of a European border guard system and a strengthening of the Frontex agency. Ministers re-iterated their desire to protect the Schengen acquis whilst approving the idea of reintroducing border controls as a last resort and under strict conditions to face migratory flows. The European Commissioner for Interior Affairs Cecilia Malmström said that it was not a question of restricting the principle of free movement but of "improving the clarity of procedures to avoid unilateral decisions by one or another Member State." A further meeting is planned on 9th and 10th June to finalise the subject before the European Council in June.

On 13th May the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton travelled to Bosnia-Herzegovina. She spoke with the various political leaders in an attempt to solve the country's political crisis and notably she met the president of the Republika Srpska (the entity of the Serbs of Bosnia), Milorad Dodik. After their meeting the latter declared that he had given up on holding the referendum on central justice indicating that Ms Ashton had guaranteed the EU's commitment to a reform of the central justice system of Bosnia that will take the Serbs' claims on board.

On 12th May during the plenary session of the Committee of Regions local and regional representatives warned of the dangers of the poor development of the EU's agricultural regions. They suggested three ways to reform the CAP including fairer and more targeted aid for the agricultural sector; better support to small and medium sized farms; the establishment of new tools that will lead to a stabilisation of the milk market when it is deregulated.

On 12th May the outgoing Federal Health Minister, new head of the German liberals (FDP) Philipp Rösler became Federal Economy and Technology Minister. He replaced Rainer Brüderle who took over as head of the FDP group in the Bundestag. Daniel Bahr, former parliamentary Secretary of State of the Healthcare Ministry, was appointed Federal Minister for Healthcare.

On 12th May the royal negotiatior Wouter Beke, chair of the CD&V presented his final report to the King Albert II after two months of work. He then asked the king to be relieved of his task. The king has witholding his decision during the consultation period by the party leaders. The two winners in the elections of 13th June 2010, the Socialist Party and the Nieuwe Vlaams Alliantie (N-VA), still seem far from the conclusions put forward in the report by Wouter Beke.

On 11th May Danish Finance Minister, Claus Hjort Frederiksen announced that Denmark was going to re-introduce customs controls on its intra-European borders with Germany and Sweden to counter illegal immigration and organised crime. After a telephone conversation on 13th May with Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso sent him a letter in which he asked the Danish authorities not to take unilateral measures on permanent border controls.

Finland is to provide vital support to the aid plan for Portugal after the approval on 13th May by the Parliamentary Committee responsible for European policy and in spite of opposition by the nationalist party the "True Finns". The day before the "True Finns", the third most important party in parliament with 39 seats out of 200 refused to join a government that was about to provide its financial support. Jyrki Katainen, the Conservative leader announced on the same day that he was going to appeal to the Social Democrats, the Greens, the Christian Democrats and the Swedish People's Party to form the government.

The French National Assembly adopted on first reading the draft constitutional law on stabilising public finances, the so-called "golden rules" on 10th May. The text that is designed to help a reduction of the public deficit from 7 to 3% of the GDP in 2013, was adopted 321 votes against 229. In virtue of the European Stability Programme France has committed to bringing its public deficit down to 3% of the GDP in 2013 against 7% in 2010.

On 10th May Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi travelled to London to meet his British counterpart David Cameron and head of British diplomacy William Hague. The two Prime Ministers exchanged views on their bilateral relations. Mr Cameron thanked Mr Gonzi for his help during the evacuation of British citizens from Libya. Finally William Hague said like Mr Gonzi that he wanted peace and order to be re-established in Libya.

On 10th May the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk officially presented the logo of the Polish Presidency of the Union that will start in July for six months. Prior to this the Prime Minister hosted Cypriot President Demetris Christofias and Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen for a meeting of heads of government of the three States that will chair the Union between 1st July 2011 and 31st December 2012. During the joint press conference all three said they had agreed on a working programme and said that they would concentrate on the new Union budget, the situation in North Africa and the Oriential Partnership. They also stressed that they wanted to guarantee the continued enlargement of the Union notably in the Balkans; Mr Tusk hopes in particular that Croatia will join the Union before the end of the year.

On 9th May the Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore travelled to London to meet his British counterpart William Hague. They spoke of stepping up bilateral cooperation between Ireland and the UK. W. Hague stressed his support for the future of the Irish Presidency of the European Union in 2013.

On 12th May Sweden took over the rotating presidency of the Arctic Council with the heads of American and Russian diplomacy (Hillary Clinton and Serguey Lavrov) in attendance; it promised "sustainable development" for this fragile region that is in danger due to global warming. The eight Foreign Ministers of countries that lie on the edge of the Arctic (US, Canada, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland) met in Nuuk (Greenland). The eight countries ratified the Arctic Research and Rescue Agreement which is the Arctic Council's first binding international agreement. It is deemed vital because of the increasing number of boats that are travelling or that will travel via the Arctic where the ice is melting.

According to figures published by Eurostat on 12th May industrial production decreased in the euro area by 0.2% and by 0.3% in the EU in March 2011 in comparison with February 2011. In February production increased respectively by 0.6% and 0.4%. In March 2011 in comparison with March 2010 industiral production rose by 5.3% in the euro area and by 4.6% in the EU.

According to a Eurobarometer study published on 13th May 53% of young Europeans (15-35 year olds) are prepared to work in other European countries or would like to do it. Amongst them 28% are planning this for a limited period in comparison with 25% over a long period. 56% of young men would like to leave and work in a neighbouring European State ahead of young women, 49% of whom say they would like to do the same. The report also notes that people who have studied abroad are more likely to want to work elsewhere once their studies have been completed.

The Austrian Institute for European Policy and Security has just published a study by Heinrich Schneider entitled "Die Europäische Union 2011: Nach der Krise oder noch mittendrin?" (The EU in 2011: post crisis or still in the middle of it?).

Until 28th August the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna is presenting thirty works in the "Hour Blue" series painted between 1986 and 1990 by Belgian artist Jan Fabre - the exhibition is entitled "Jan Fabre, the Years of the Hour Blue." Sculptures by the artist are also on view in the entrance hall and on the museum's roof. The works have been lent by private collectors and international museums such as the Stedelijk Museum of Amsterdam and the Kiasma Museum of Helsinki.