A conference on the theme "Religion and Politics in a Free Society" organised by the Robert Schuman Foundation, the Hans Seidel Foundation and the ForumBrussels International, will be taking place in Brussels on 19th March. Professor Thomas Schirrmacher, Chair of the International Council of the International Society for Human Rights and Khalid Hajii, Secretary General CEOM (Conseil Européen des Ouléma Marocains) will be speaking on the themes of "Fundamentalism - When religion becomes violence" and "Religious Puritanism and Violence in Post-Modern Migration Context", the speeches will be followed by a debate.

As part of a conference organised in Florence on 19th and 20th March entitled "Why should we communicate the knowledge of art?" Thierry Chopin, the Foundation's Research Director will be speaking on "art and European common sense."

The Council of Notariats of the European Union is organising a conference on the theme of "growth and regulation" on 24th March together with the Robert Schuman Foundation. Discussions will focus on two panels "Does regulation help growth?" and "How should we regulate effectively?" The conference will take place at the Representation of the Land of Baden-Württemberg in Brussels and several personalities will be taking part like Johannes Jung, head of the Representation of the Land of Baden-Württemberg to the EU, Jean Tarrade, Chair of the CNEU and Jean-Paul Gauzès, former MEP and member of the Robert Schuman Foundation's Board.

On 10th March the European Parliament approved a non-legislative resolution - 441 votes in support, 205 against - whereby policies have to be changed in order to achieve gender equality. A great deal of progress still remains to be achieved notably in the field of the wage gap, "glass-ceilings" on women's careers, the lack of economic independence and the protection of the right and access to abortion. The resolution assesses the situation in 2013 and highlights the key political challenges regarding women's rights. MEPs are encouraging the Member States to implement the directive on the establishment of the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the workplace, to promote educational policies that encourage women to undertake careers in ITCs and science as well as the sharing of family responsibilities and paid parental leave.

The fees demanded by banks of retailers to undertake client payments will be capped in line with European rules following a vote on 10th March - 621 votes in support, 26 against and 29 abstentions. The cap will apply to cross-border and national payments and should lead to a reduction in costs for users.

MEPs adopted four resolutions on 11th March assessing the progress in terms of reform made by Serbia, Montenegro, FYROM and Kosovo in 2014. Overall they point to continuing problems regarding the rule of law, corruption, discrimination and the implementation of structural reform. Regarding Serbia they said they were pleased with the Serb government's commitment to European integration but stressed that the process is still lacking in transparency and that work had to continue to align its foreign and security policies with that of the EU, notably regarding Russia. As a priority Kosovo has to strengthen the rule of law, the independence of the judicial system and must fight to counter corruption. Montenegro takes the lead in the region since it is the only country in the Balkans to have provisionally closed some EU negotiation chapters. MEPs said they were happy with Montenegro's total alignment with the EU's common security and defence policy but maintain that progress still has to be made to counter corruption, ensure the independence of the judicial system and to guarantee the freedom of expression and that of the media. Finally regarding FYROM MEPs have - for the ninth time - asked the Council to set a date as quickly as possible to launched negotiations with Skopje at the risk of undermining the credibility of the EU's enlargement policy.

The murder of Russian politician Boris Nemtsov should be the focus of an international, independent inquiry maintain MEPs in a resolution adopted on 12th March. This "was the most significant political assassination in Russia's most recent history," they added warning that the Kremlin's propaganda is leading Russia towards "a State marked by repression, the discourse of hate and fear."

On 10th March the European Parliament finally adopted the heavy-goods vehicle directive put forward by the Commission in April 2013. By placing the emphasis road safety and the respect of the environment the directive obliges HGVs to respect a maximum weight and size and bans mega-trucks. Lorries will also have to respect conditions governing their shape, they will have to be aerodynamic in order to reduce the risk of accidents and they will have to be less pollutant. This directive was the focus of long negotiations within the Council of Ministers, since the latter did not manage to find agreement on the effective date of implementation of these rules. An agreement was found for 2022 and the directive now has to be approved by the Transport Ministers' Council in June.

The EU's Economy and Finance Ministers met on 10th March in Brussels and granted France two more years to bring its government deficit below the 3% mark of the GDP. Indeed, although this is the third time that the Council has given the country extra time to readjust its deficit, ministers highlighted the progress that France has already made. They took position in view of the negotiations ongoing with the European Parliament regarding the European Strategic Funds for Investment.

The 28 European Justice and Home Affairs Ministers met on 12th and 13th March. Regarding the issue of regulating migratory flows they highlighted the progress achieved in implementing the work of the task force in the Mediterranean. They agreed to step up the monitoring of maritime and land borders by increasing resources and also the functional capabilities of Frontex so that it can both counter criminal trafficking networks effectively and cooperate better with third countries. Ministers also looked into the priority measures to introduce to counter terrorism: strengthening the implementation of the Schengen framework, counter radicalisation on the internet, counter the illegal trafficking of arms and stepping up international cooperation.

On 10th March the Council published the guidelines for the negotiations on the internet services trade agreement (TISA). On 29th January last Cecilia Malmström, Commissioner for Trade addressed a letter to Edgar Rinkevičs, the Latvian Foreign Minister whose country is ensuring the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU to allow the publication of the negotiation mandate that has been given to the Commission under the Services Trade Agreement. This agreement aims to liberalise the trade of services and it involves 23 WTO members, including the EU which represents 70% of the world's trade in services.

Transport Ministers who met in Brussels on 13th March assessed the proposals to liberalise passenger services and to strengthen the governance of railway infrastructures. The aim is to move towards greater competitiveness in the European rail sector. The Latvian presidency also addressed the third Asia-Europe Dialogue (ASEM, Asia-Europe Meeting) devoted to transport that will take place in Riga on 29th and 30th April, which will focus on the development of transport between Europe and Asia.

Foreign Affairs Ministers met on 16th March and decided to extend the EU's training mission in Somalia until 31st December 2016. Regarding the situation in Burundi they reiterated their commitment to the country's democratisation process. The Council also launched an EU consultative mission in Central African Republic in support of the reform of the Central African Armed Forces (FACA). An annexed plan for the Gulf of Guinea was adopted for the period 2015-2020, with the aim of rising to the region's security challenges. Foreign Affairs Ministers finally adopted the EU's regional strategy for Syria and Iraq as well as for the threat posed by ISIL/Daesh. This strategy aims notably to devote one billion euro in support of the forces fighting against Daesh, the prevention of regional contagion and the strengthening the borders, the provision of vital humanitarian aid and international protection to the region.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel attended the Annual Conference on the outlook for the German economy in 2015. The Chancellor announced that German growth in 2015 is planned to reach 1.5% beyond the European average. She declared that the "overall economic situation is satisfactory." The German and European economic outlooks are better in 2015 than they were in 2014 said the Chancellor, notably thanks to a decrease in oil prices and the Union's monetary policy. The conference also provided an opportunity to present the German government's economic policy for 2015. A tax reform is being planned together with the business environment. Ms Merkel also stressed the need to develop "the digital 4.0 economy" in Germany. Finally she repeated that she supported negotiations for the TTIP and that this was a vital factor in countering growth problems in Europe. She tried to reassure the treaty's opponents saying that norms in terms of consumer protection and the environment would not be neglected."

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko travelled to Germany on a two-day visit starting 15th March. He met Chancellor Angela Merkel and other German leaders. He took advantage of this trip to visit the Ukrainian community of Dresden and notably injured Ukrainian soldiers. On 15th March Mr Poroshenko granted an interview to the daily newspaper "Bild" in which he maintained that the Minsk peace agreements "were not working" in the separatist east of the country where one Ukrainian soldier was killed on 15th March and where daily infringements of the ceasefire have been recorded. "Every day there a shots fired by the Russian side, often more than 60 a day - in all the ceasefire has been broken 1,100 times." "The truth is that the agreement is not working - Minsk means hope for us but not reality," the president added. This visit came as the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea is about to celebrate the first anniversary of its integration into Russia.

Gérard-François Dumont, professor at Paris-Sorbonne and Pierre Verluise, Director of Diploweb.com have co-authored a book on European geopolitics. "Géopolitique de l'Europe : de l'Atlantique à l'Oural" (Geopolitics of Europe: from the Atlantic to the Urals) was published on 11th March by the University Press of France. The book aims to analyse the geopolitical issues at stake for the EU by studying its geography, history and its institutional structures. The crisis surrounding Europe also led the authors to look into the "other Europes", from the candidate countries to Russia. The study also includes a prospective investigation into the future of Europe's geopolitical situation.

Thierry Cornillet, a lawyer at the bar, former MEP has published together with Christophe Pons the 2015 version of "Guide des aides de l'Union européenne" (Guide to European Union Funding" with Les Grilles d'Or. This guide, first published in 2006 and updated yearly, responds to two questions. Its first goal is to help determine whether one can benefit from European funding and to pick one's way through the various programmes, projects, funds and instruments. Its second purpose is to show that the EU is close to the concerns of its citizens. Every year it redistributes 95% of its budget to project designers.

The "Institut de l'Entreprise" has published "Italie: le chemin escarpé des réformes." Author Charles Trottmann describes the state of the euro zone's third most important economy before and after the crisis as well as the work undertaken by the government to balance the budget and restore the country's competitiveness. "Europe's sick man" Italy had already been weakened as it entered the financial crisis which affected it in two ways mainly: a sharp fall in industrial production in 2009 and the sovereign debt crisis in 2011. In the book's preface Michel Pébereau, the Honorary Chairman of BNP Paribas, stresses that everything shows that "the country can change". Undoubtedly this is the closest case-study to France and the Italian experience is full of lessons to be learned.

The Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art of Turin is running the exhibition "Modigliani and the Bohemian of Paris" until 19th July. The exhibition illustrates the unique cultural atmosphere created by the "Paris School" around the central figure of Amedeo Modigliani. 90 of Modigliani's masterpieces and other major artists such as Brancusi, Soutine, Utrillo, Chagall, Survage and Picasso illustrate this artistic experience. The work is on loan from major public and private European collections - particularly those of the National Museum for Modern Art - the Pompidou Centre in Paris together with whom the exhibition has been put together.

After a year of renovation work the Louvre will be exhibiting the Winged Victory of Samothrace - a masterpiece of Greek sculpture from 5th March to 15th June 2015. Dated at the start of the 2nd century BC the sculpture is an offering made in the Sanctuary of the Great Gods on the island of Samothrace following a naval battle. The restoration of the statue between 2013 and 2014 has helped improve the sculpture's assembly and has enabled the cleaning of the various types of marble that make it up. The museum also wanted to bring life back to one of the most successful exhibits at the Louvre by restoring the stairs, wall and vaults that serve as a framework to the sculpture.

The Tate Museum Liverpool is running an exhibition from 6th March to 31st May 2015 showing the key moments in the life of British artist Leonora Carrington. Born to a wealthy industrialist in 1917 Leonora Carrington was one of the major figures in the Surrealist movement alongside Salvador Dali and Max Ernst. The exhibition reveals the excentric, fantastic characters in her work as well as her personal life. From her rejection of her upper-class education in 1935 to her Mexican period - her relationship with Max Ernst in the Surrealist circles of Paris and New York, her life is as fascinating as her taste for innovation and the fantastic and also art. This exhibition coincides with 2015 Year of Mexico in the UK.