After the recent elections that took place in France and Greece, the Robert Schuman Foundation invites its readers to look into the study by Corinne Deloy who draws up a unique picture of a decade of political activity in Europe. This text has been published in the Foundation's "Notes" series, and is available on the Foundation's site in French only.

Janos Ader (FIDESZ) was elected President of Hungary on 2nd May by Parliament, 262 votes in support, 40 against. He entered office on 10th May for a 5 year mandate. Aged 52, he was an MEP to date.

According to the latest figures released by the national statistics office, the Latvian GDP grew by 6.8% in the first quarter of 2012 in comparison with 2011. Growth was seen in industry (+11%), and trade (+10%) and this has affected the country's economic situation positively.

On 10th May, in its monthly economic survey the Bank of France declared that it was forecasting stability in the French GDP in the second quarter of 2012. Indeed in April economic activity remained stable in industry and improved slightly in the services sector, whilst prices remained stable in both sectors. Business climate indexes were also stable in March and April. The monetary institution is then forecasting a slight reduction in activity in the services and the industrial sectors.

On 9th May the Hungarian government announced the introduction of new fiscal measures on companies in the areas of energy, telecommunications, insurance and banking. Prime Minister Viktor Orban believes that he can bring in around 655 million euros per year thanks to these measures. Hence in the area of energy the tax will be increased temporarily from 19 to 30%. The banking sector will also be subject to a new tax on financial transactions totalling 0.1%. Finally, in telecommunications a tax on telephone calls after the first ten minutes, as well as a specific tax on service providers are to be introduced.

On 11th May the European Commission published its spring economic forecasts 2012-2013. It emerges that the EU is slightly in recession. Strong political action has enabled the reduction of tension associated to uncertainty over economic and financial perspectives. Recovery should slowly start as of the second semester and gather pace in 2013. The Commission is expecting the GDP to stagnate in the EU and drop by 0.3% in the euro zone in 2012. In 2013 growth should lie at 1% in the euro zone and 1.3% in the EU whilst unemployment is due to stagnate at 10%. The situation of public finances improved in 2011 and budgetary deficits are due to continue their contraction to reach 3.3% in the EU in 2013 against 4.5% at present.

The unemployment rate in Greece continued to rise in February to lie at 21.7% in comparison with 21.3% in January announced the Greek Statistics Authority (Ase). One in two young people do not have a job and are still the worst affected. Unemployment amongst young people who are not in school aged 15 to 24, totalled 53.8% against 50.8% in January 2012 and 40.3% in February 2012. Women are also amongst the main victims, one quarter of them are without work against 18.6% only for men. In all Greece had 1,070,724 unemployed in February 2012. The number of unemployed rose by 1.3% over one month and by 42.3% over one year.

On 14th May the Polish Diet, (lower chamber), gave the greenlight for the ratification of the European Budgetary Discipline Pact 294 votes in favour, 155 against. For it to be ratified by the Polish Head of State, the pact that was signed by 25 EU countries in March, still has to be approved by the Senate.

The Portuguese Parliament finally approved the reform of the labour code on 11th May; this is designed to make the employment market more flexible and was recommended by Portugal's creditors in exchange for the financial aid granted in May 2011. The government notably committed to reforming the employment market by relaxing working hours and the criteria for dismissal, whilst doing away with holidays and four bank holidays (two religious and two civilian bank holidays), as of 2013. This reform is the focus of negotiation between the government and social partners, except for the CGTP, the main union that is close to the Communist movement, which rejected it.

The Slovenian Parliament adopted a revised version of the 2012 budget on 11th May, as well as a series austerity measures to stabilise finances and to reduce the country's public deficit. Of the 90 MPs in Parliament, 48 approved the revised budget, whilst 49 MPs voted in support of the austerity measures. With these new measures the government hopes to reduce its public deficit to between 3.5 and 4% of the GDP in 2012, whilst it lay at 6.4% in 2011. In 2013 it is counting on a deficit of 3% of the GDP. "It is the first stage of recovery, which should continue with measures to revive the economy," explained Prime Minister Janez Jansa during the presentation of the revised budget to Parliament.

On the occasion of Europe Day on 9th May, the Commission registered "Fraternité 2020-Mobility", the first European Citizens' Initiative. The aim of this first initiative is to "improve EU exchange programmes such as Erasmus or the European voluntary service, helping towards a united Europe, based on solidarity between citizens". Those who launched it now have 12 months to collate one million signatures from 7 different Member States.

On 10th May the European Commission proposed the modernisation of VAT rules applicable to the voucher sector that notably comprises prepaid telephone calls, gift vouchers and reduction vouchers. Indeed due to various national rules, companies often have to face double taxation and cannot take full advantage of the single market. "Nothing justifies that this market that is in full expansion should be impeded by uncertainty and the complexity of fiscal rules," declared Algirdas Semeta, the European Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union. The new rules will enable the clear definition of the various types of vouchers and the taxation that applies to these. It is due to enter into force on January 1st 2015.

On 10th May MEPs adopted an agreement on roaming in the EU regarding mobile phones, smartphones and tablets, 578 votes in favour, 10 against and 10 abstentions. As of July 1st 2012 this agreement will open the market to stimulate growth and reduce prices. The price of a call will be 29 centimes per minute then 19 centimes in 2014. As for SMS's their cost will drop from 11 centimes to 6 centimes in 2014. This is the first agreement to take measures in view of stimulating growth. Indeed consumers will be able to purchase national services and roaming separately without changing their telephone numbers.

As part of the European institutions' "Open Days", the European Parliament in Strasbourg is open to the public on 20th May. A raising of flags will be organised in the morning as well as a debate on active ageing in the presence of many personalities, political groups and associations. The Robert Schuman Foundation will be holding a stand there to distribute its publicaitons and to inform the public of its various activities.

On 14th May the 27 Foreign Ministers adopted a fifteenth series of sanctions against the Syrian regime - at the same time they looked into the means to support Kofi Annan's mission, believed to be the "only alternative" possible to put an end to the violence. They also discussed the crises in the Near and Middle East and prepared the European position with regard to Afghanistan at the NATO summit in Chicago. They studied measures to take against Ukraine, since the fate of Yulia Tymoshenko is still not deemed satisfactory. Finally ministers adopted a regulation that suspends sanctions against the Burmese regime for one year in order to encourage it to continue the democratic reform already underway.

During the regional elections in the Land of North Rhine Westphalia on 13th May the Social Democrats, the party of outgoing Minister President, Hannelore Kraft (SPD) came out ahead with 39.1% of the vote (99 seats), followed by the CDU with 26.3% (67 seats). The outgoing SPD-Green coalition is due to continue its government of this Land, since the ecologists won 11.3% of the vote (29 seats). The Liberals (FDP) won 8.6% of the vote (22 seats) followed by the Pirate Party with 7.8% (20 seats). The far left party, Die Linke, will no longer sit in the Landtag (2.5%). North Rhine Westphalia is the country's most populous Land and is extremely important from an economic point of view.

The 2012 Statistics Handbook for Spain has just been published. Put together by the National Statistics Institute since 1858, it offers precise data as well as comments on the economy, as well as social and demographic developments in Spain.

The choice of the F-35B American to equip British aircraft carriers, announced on 10th May in London is a heavy blow to the concept of interoperability - the heart of "the fantastic Franco-British entente" in the area of defence. The British government hesitated between two versions of the fighter plane made by Lockheed Martin to equip the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force: the F-35B, a jump jet and the F-35C, which are catapult launched. It finally gave up the idea of the F-35C. The installation of the catapult system and the "cats and traps" on the bridge of the Queen Elizabeth, the future British aircraft carrier - which still has to be built, on the horizon of 2020, would have led to a 3 year delay and additional costs totalling £2 billion (2.5 billion €) in comparison with the initial estimate. This u-turn is doubly embarassing, both from a political and diplomatic point of view.

The Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA) has published a study entitled "On the road to true Economic and Monetary Union? The challenges of fiscal federalism and democratic legitimacy." Author, Teija Tiilikainen analyses the consequences of the crisis on the economic and monetary union and the need for the EU to strengthen its powers in terms of fiscal and economic policy - a goal to be achieved only with the creation of a European federal policy.

Thierry Chopin, Jean-François Jamet and Christian Lequesne have co-signed an article published in the Echos on 7th May in which they ask France to "provide new ambition to Europe." "European political leaders must stop being firemen and become builders again," they explain.

The "Wissenschaft und Politik Stiftung" has published a study on the effects of the French presidential election for Germany and the EU. The authors, Ronja Kempin and Daniela Schwarzer, notably review the reasons for François Hollande's success whilst stressing the number of political and economic challenges that the new President will have to face. The study insists on the importance for Berlin and the EU of the general elections that will take place in France on 10th and 17th June next.

The 49th Berlin Theatre Festival is taking place until 20th May bringing together the ten most remarkable plays of the season. This event pays tribute to several institutions particularly the Volksbühne of Berlin and the Kammerspiele of Munich. In all 550 artists will be playing for the three week duration of the festival. A rich programme of exhibitions, debates, concerts will take place alongside the plays.

The Beyeler Foundation of Basel is hosting an exhibition devoted to American artist Jeff Koons until 2nd September. The work, on show for the first time in Switzerland, is divided into three groups, and is representative of the variety of Mr Koons work and of the way he has developed over time. Hence, "The New" brings together his "ready-made" work, whilst "Banality" is the focus of sculptures on wood and porcelain made according to traditional methods and "Celebration" that is a series of steel sculptures and big format paintings.

On 19th May, on the occasion of the 8th European Night Museum's, many museums in countries of the EU and beyond, will open their doors late into the night and will be organising events to mark this date. Most of them will be open free of charge. Last year more than 3,700 cultural institutions in 37 European countries took part in the European Night of Museums.

From 16th to 27th May the 65th Cannes Festival will be taking place, during which 22 films will be competing against one another, including the 20 presented in "Un certain regard" and those "Out of Competition". The 2012 selection includes work by directors such as Michael Haneke, Jacques Audiard, Ken Loach, Alain Resnais, Bernardo Bertolucci, Cristian Mungiu, and many others. The jury will be chaired by Nanni Moretti.