The "Schuman Report on Europe, State of the Union" by the Robert Schuman Foundation, a reference work on Europe has been published. The third edition is devoted to the means to overcome the crisis with an exclusive interview with Jean-Claude Trichet, former president of the European Central Bank. All 26 articles in the Schuman Report on Europe, State of the Union 2012" agree on one thing: "the reasons calling Europeans to unite have never been as numerous as today". Using 67 commented tables and graphs and 34 colour maps, which are mostly unique, the authors help their audience to understand all of the challenges facing the European Union. The book is available in both French and English.

The Italian government approved its Economy and Finance Document on 18th April during a Council of Ministers, which was presented as part of the European Semester. The government says that it is forecasting a public defiict of around 0.5% in 2013. The return of budgetary balance is no longer on the agenda for 2014. The public debt is due to decline from 120.3% of the GDP in 2012 to 110.8% in 2015. With regard to economic activity, the Italian government is forecasting a GDP contraction of 1.2% in 2012, followed by growth of 0.5% in 2013, 1% in 2014 and 1.2% in 2015.

On 16th April the Commission published a report in which greater gender equality appears as being one of the responses to the crisis. The reduction in wage differences between men and women and the increase in the number of women occupying positions of responsbility, amongst other things, foster economic growth. In spite of the progress observed in the report, major challenges remain for the Member States, who have to integrate more women into the labour market if they want to achieve a 75% employment rate for all adults - a goal that was set in the Europe 2020 strategy. Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission said that Europe "can only achieve its goals in terms of employment by using all of its human resources."

In view of the upcoming entry of Croatia into the EU planned for July 1st 2013, European Parliament President Martin Schulz welcomed a delegation of 12 Croatian observers on the occasion of a plenary session. Accession will be an "historic moment for the EU, Croatia and the Western Balkans," he declared. These observers will be able to take part in the meetings of groups and committees so that they can get used to the way the Parliament functions.

The 27 Foreign Ministers decided on 23rd April to suspend most of their sanctions against Myanmar in response to "the historic changes ongoing there"; this particularly refers to restrictions implemented against more than 800 companies - however an embargo is being maintained on arms. The measure will be valid for a year. Moreover the ministers decided to set further sanctions against the Syrian regime, banning luxury product exports and by limiting the export of material used against opponents.

The 27 Defence Ministers have agreed to pool and share their military means. The Director of the European Defence Agency, Claude-France Arnould, pointed to the progress achieved in this area and promoted future projects, notably in terms of the field hospital and maritime forces. She recalled that it was important to develop greater synergy so that the EU had more adequate means.

In a joint article published in the "Stuttgarter Zeitung" on 14th April the German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger highlight the three main challenges for the future of the EU. The first is to develop a clear, ambitious vision of Europe as a creative world power. The second challenge for the EU is to retain its position as a region for world prosperity. Finally the EU has to draw up real projects for the future with which citizens can identify and in which they can become involved.

The Spanish government, that is committed to reducing its deficit, adopted a plan to save money on 20th April, targeting the extremely sensitive sectors of healthcare and education, hoping to generate 10 billion euros in savings per year. A key measure in the reform of the healthcare sector that aims to save 7 billion: pensioners will pay for their medicines. Traditionally the Spanish do not pay to go to the doctor and only pay part of the price of their medicines, except for pensioners, who pay nothing. From now on the latter, who represent three quarters of national pharmaceutical spending (11 billion euros, 1.1% of the GDP), will have to pay 10% of the pharmacy bill, to a limit of 8 to 18 euros per month depending on their income. Those in work, who have paid 40% of the price of medicines to date, will have to pay up to 60%, depending on their financial situation.

In a joint letter addressed to the Danish presidency dated 18th April the French Interior Minister, Claude Guéant and German, Hans-Peter Friedrich asked for the possibility to re-introduce national border controls for one month in the event of the bankruptcy of a State. Once the time has passed it would be up to the European Commission to recommend to the Council of the European Union to continue or stop internal border controls. The final decision, as well as the task of coordinating the measures to take, would belong to the Council. The two interior ministers intend to explain their position to their European counterparts during the Council on 26th and 27th April in Luxembourg.

On 18th April the Hungarian government suggested to parliament that it makes amendments to the law governing the Central Bank (Magyar Nemzeti Bank) that aims to bring the statutes of the latter in line with European legislation. The ministry notably explained that the "the government's representative will no longer take part in the meetings held by the Central Bank's Monetary Council" and that the "latter will no longer be obliged to dispatch the agenda of these meetings to the government". These changes should enable negotiations to start again regarding the EU's and the IMF's financial aid. The amendments had been previously communicated to the Hungarian Central Bank and to the European Central Bank for comment. They were also communicated to the European Commission.

In view of the referendum on the Stability, Coordination and Governance Treaty in the euro zone (TSCG) that is due to be held on 31st May, the Irish government has launched an information campaign. On 19th April an internet site was launched providing information about the content and the goals of the TSCG. The whole text, that is available on this site, will also be sent, in both English and Gaelic, to every household at the beginning of May. Finally, just before the vote, citizens will receive a summary brochure. A poll published on 19th April by the "Irish Time IPSOS MRBI" revealed that 39% of those interviewed were still undecided how they would vote whilst 30% intended to vote "yes" and 23% "no".

On 17th April, on last reading, the Italian Senate adopted the draft law planning for the inclusion of the golden rule into the Constitution. The draft was adopted by 235 Senators, 11 voted against and there were 24 abstentions. This "golden rule" will guarantee Italy's respect of budgetary balance that should be reached in 2013 thanks to a new austerity plan introduced by Mario Monti's government; it will prohibit the use of debt to fund the deficit, whilst Italy is already weighed down under a massive debt representing around 120% of the GDP.

"Elections seem obvious", declared the Dutch Prime Minister on 21st April after the failure of talks between the government coalition and its parliamentary ally, the far right movement, led by Geert Wilders. The negotiations that started on 5th March and initially planned to last three weeks, were meant to enable an agreement on saving 16 billion euros to improve the state of Dutch public finances. The Dutch public deficit indeed rose to 28 billion euros in 2011 ie 4.7% of the GDP against 5.1% in 2010. It is therefore still over the European norm of 3%. After an extaordinary Council of Ministers, the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, presented the resignation of his govenment to the Queen on 23rd April.

On 20th April the Polish government approved a draft reform regarding the age of retirement that will progressively rise to 67 said Prime Minister Donald Tusk. "These are difficult decisions to take and we are aware how concerned people are in Poland" as far as these changes are concerned, declared Mr Tusk. According to the government programme the age of retirement, at present set at 60 for women and 65 for men, will progressively rise as of 2013 to reach 67 in 2020 for men and in 2040 for women.

The Slovenian Foreign Minister announced on 18th April that Ljubljana and Zagreb will submit their territorial dispute that has been ongoing since 1991 to the arbitration court in the Hague in February 2013. The permanent arbitration court laid out the timing of this in a press release on 13th April: the two countries will present their initial cases on 11th February 2013, then their counter proposals in November. A first hearing of representatives from Slovenia and Croatia will take place in the first half of 2014.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt announced on 18th April the appointment of a former soldier, Karin Enström, as Defence Minister, in replacement of Sten Tolgfors who was forced to resign after a scandal involving a secret contract with Saudi Arabia. Karin Enström is a former Swedish army officer in which she reached the rank of captain in an amphibian unit.

The Swiss government decided on 18th April to re-introduce limits on the delivery of work permits for a one year period, thereby limiting the entry of citizens from eight countries of Central and Eastern Europe (Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic). The limit of around 2000 resident permits will enter into force on 1st May 2012 and will be applied for a year", indicated the Swiss autorities. Before May 1st 2013 the Swiss government will have to review the situation and decide whether this restriction will have to be maintained until 31st May 2014.

On 19th April the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture published a report on France, as well as a response by the French government. This report observes positive developments, notably of a legislative nature (in view of police custody or psychiatric care), but it also indicated some problems, that were pointed out by the Committee a long time ago, such as the excessive use of force during arrests by the police and the conditions of detention in police and gendarmerie cells. In terms of conditions of imprisonment, there was no report of any bad treatment and reports are also positive with regard to psychiatric care. The Committee raises the issue of over-population, to which the French government answered, saying that action was being taken to solve the problem.

A new partnership between the EU and the UN Women was created on 16th April. Designed to promote gender equality and women's autonomy, the cooperation mainly aims to guarantee women's representation in economic, political and legal decision making processes across the world and to widen their professional and social prospects. The two organisations also committed to increasing aid and protection offered to women who are victims of sexual and sexist violence.

Moldova and the separatist Russian-speaking republic of Transnistria have reached agreement on the principles and procedures for formal negotiations, as well as on the timetable, announced the OSCE on 18th April. The agreement was concluded during negotiations in a "5+2" situation (Moldova, Transnistria, Russia, Ukraine and OSCE, as well as the EU and the USA) in Vienna under the aegis of the OSCE. "I encourage participants to continue on the basis of the results achieved so far to make further progress in view of a complete political agreement," declared the OSCE's ambassador for the conflict over Transnistria, Erwan Fouéré.

On 18th and 19th April the Defence Ministers of 28 NATO countries met at the Alliance's HQ to look into the best way to guarantee NATO having modern capabilities, which it will need for the future and to prepare the Chicago Summit on 20th and 21st May. During a NATO/Russia Council on 19th April their counterparts in Foreign Affairs drew up a report of the progress achieved thanks to continuous dialogue over 15 years. They planned to make further progress over any remaining differences. They finally discussed the situation in Afghanistan.

According to a Eurostat publication on 17th April the inflation rate remained stable in March in comparison with February, lying at 2.7%. Over one year inflation was below 1.% in Sweden and in Ireland and rose above 4.5% in Estonia and Romania.

According to figures released on 17th April by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), world military spending totalled 1.74 billion $ in 2011, which represents an increase of 0.3% in comparison with 2010. 2011 heralds the end of more than a decade of constant increases in this type of spending ranging from 1998 to 2010. The reduction in military spending is particularly evident in the EU and the USA because of public spending policies that have been initiated to reduce the debt. Amongst the major emerging powers Brazil and India have reduced their military spending whilst China and Russia have increased them. The Middle East is the only region where there is a clear trend upwards in terms of this type of spending.

Lignes de Repères publishing have released a book entitled "L'Europe d'après. En finir avec le pessimisme" written by Thierry Chopin, Studies Director at the Robert Schuman Foundation, Jean-François Jamet, Engineer of the "Mines" and teacher at Sciences-Po, as well as Christian Lequesne, Director of the CERI. With the crisis Europeans are increasingly doubtful about the EU's future. The authors, rejecting pessimism, say that Europe has to draw up a new joint discourse focusing on the values of freedom and progress. They review Europe's great many advantages, both economic and political. It is by asserting its values of freedom and by defending its vision of globalisation that Europe will find its strategic future.

The National Museum of Stockholm is putting on an exhibition devoted to the caricature in Sweden until 12th August. Via more than 90 pieces of work dating from the 16th century to modern times, it reviews the development of this type of artistic genre. At first reserved for private use, the caricature has changed status thanks to the development of the press over the 19th century thereby becoming "a force to be reckoned with."

François Hollande (PS) came first in the first round of the French presidential election on 22nd April. He won 28.63% of the vote ahead of the outgoing President, Nicolas Sarkozy (UMP), who won 27.18%. Marine le Pen (FN) came third with 17.9%, followed by Jean-Luc Mélenchon (FG) 11.1% and François Bayrou (MoDem), 9.13%. The other candidates won under 5% of the vote: Eva Joly 2,31%, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan 1,79%, Philippe Poutou 1,15% ; Nathalie Arthaud 0,56% et Jacques Cheminade 0,25%. Turnout rose to 79.74%. The second round will be between François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy on 6th May.