A round table organised on 24th March in Brussels brings Andrew Duff, the Honorary President of the Union of European Federalists, Richard Youngs, Senior Associate of Carnegie Europe and Julien Zalc, consultant for TNS Opinion - who has published several studies for the Robert Schuman Foundation. Just as the European Union is experiencing a crisis of democratic legitimacy the speakers will notably address issues involving the EU's democracy deficit, citizens' opinion of Europe and the euro zone and the way to reform the European Union in order to reduce divergence between governments.

On 19th April 4.5 million Finns are renewing the 200 members of their parliament (Eduskunta/Riksdag) elected very four years within 12 constituencies by a proportional voting according to the d'Hondt method (single one round list in the Aland Islands). There is no electoral threshold to reach in order to enter parliament since this would make it difficult for the Swedish minority in Finland to elect representatives. The Centre Party (KESK) is coasting along in the lead with 24.9% of the voting intentions in the latest poll undertaken by Taloustutkimus for the TV channel Yle Uutiset. It is followed by the Social Democratic Party which is due to win 16.8% and the Conservative Assembly (KOK) of outgoing Prime Minister Alexander Stubb, 16.2%. The True Finns (PS) are due to win 15.4%; the Left Alliance (VAS) and the Greens (VIHR) 8.8% each and the Swedish People's Party (SFP) 4%.

According to the most recent interim economic assessment made by the OECD, presented on 18th March, world growth is gathering pace, carried along by low oil prices and monetary easing. The short term pace of expansion is still modest however to the backdrop of abnormally low inflation and interest rates which highlight the risk of financial instability. The euro zone is due to witness an increase in activity of 1.4% in 2015 and 2% in 2016. The OECD forecasts growth of 1.7% in 2015 for Germany 2.2 % in 2016, in France growth is estimated at 1.1 % in 2015 and 1.7 % in 2016 and in Italy 0.6 % in 2015 and 1.3 % in 2016.

The 28 heads of State and government approved the Commission's plan for Energy Union on 19th and 20th March. They also discussed the means to strengthen economic growth and employment and to manage insecurity on the borders of Europe. They discussed the TTIP agreement. All EU governments support the conclusion of an ambitious, global, mutually beneficial agreement before the end of 2015. Regarding Russia/Ukraine the ultimate goal is still to find a sustainable political solution to the crisis, whilst respecting Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity. Europe's leaders called on all sides to implement rapidly and fully the Minsk agreements. Regarding Libya Europe's leaders called for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire and for a government of national unity. They condemned the terrible terrorist attack undertaken in Tunisia. Finally they approved the appointment of Mr Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen as the next Secretary General of the Council.

On 18th March presented a package of measures on tax transparency under the programme to counter corporate tax evasion and harmful tax competition in the EU which deprives the Member States of several billion euro per year. It also undermines fair burden-sharing among tax-payers and fair competition between businesses. The central component is the automatic quarterly exchange of information between Member States regarding their tax decisions. The Commission presented a communication that aims to revise the code of conduct in the area of corporate tax and to quantify the extend of fraud and tax evasion. The two legislative proposals in this package will be submitted to the European Parliament and the Council after which an agreement should be found so that the laws can enter into force on 1st January 2016.

The 28 European agriculture and fisheries ministers met on 16th March and notably addressed the issue of organic agriculture and its regulation: although they agreed that a harmonised approach by the EU might solve the problem of the presence of unauthorised substances in organic products, a unanimous agreement on the introduction of binding legal measures was not found. Regarding imports however most ministers supported the progressive transfer over to a compliance regime although some derogations as well as a transition period would be necessary. Regarding the CAP ministers said they wanted to simplify direct payments, with "greening" and control measures taking priority. They also debated the abolition of the dairy quota system in April with some Ministers fearing that milk price volatility would affect producers negatively.

On 16th March a new Special Representative, Italian Fernando Gentilini, at present director for Western Europe, the Western Balkans and Turkey for the Union's diplomatic service was appointed to take over responsibility for the Near East. This post, which was abolished by Catherine Ashton in view of centralising the EU's approach, had been vacant since the beginning of 2014. The post comprises working for the revival of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. Federica Mogherini announced that the EU was trying to "revive the Quartet", a union of the UN, Russia, the USA and the EU, in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, just as the Israeli elections are taking place.

The European Central Bank inaugurated its new HQ on 18th March on the site of the old wholesale market in Frankfurt/Main. Although the 2000 employees already moved to the new site in November of last year Mario Draghi, ECB President, had not yet inaugurated the building. The unusual architecture of the new building designed by Frank Stepper (twin 185m high towers) is evocative of transparency, light and provides a vast area of communication within its walls. It sends out a message of a politically and economically united Europe and of a prosperous future for its citizens.

On 16th March German Chancellor Angela Merkel took part in the opening ceremony of the CeBIT, the digital market and new technologies fair in Hannover. Ms Merkel announced the 10 priorities of the digital agenda. Amongst these priorities: developing broadband networks, developing public WiFi, supporting start-ups, completing the European digital market and developing on-line public services.

The President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, Kim Kielsen and Helle Thorning-Schmidt signed an association agreement between the EU and Greenland on 19th March. This joint declaration updates the one made on 27th June 2006 to take on board institutional changes that have occurred between Denmark and Greenland, notably in terms of fishing, tourism, culture, natural resources, energy, the environment, research and workers' mobility. Greenland's share in all of the rare earth resources today is estimated at 3.44% but this might triple over the next few years thanks to the introduction of projects to mine gold, silver, lead, zinc and olivine.

On 18th March French Prime Minister Manuel Valls travelled to Brussels where he met the college of Commissioners. The President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and Manuel Valls exchanged their points of view on France's budgetary situation, the fight to counter terrorism, the preparation of the climate conference in Paris in December 2015 and also present geopolitical developments. Mr Valls promised Mr Juncker that France would achieve its goals to reduce its government deficit and said that reform would continue - however he warned that he would not accept sacrificing economic recovery. Jean-Claude Juncker declared that there "was a major virtuous convergence of views" between France and the Commission on economic strategy.

On 18th March Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced to Parliament that he did not want to go back on the promises he made during the electoral campaign. His government has defied the European Commission by proposing a bill to counter the humanitarian crisis. The Greek government therefore approved the first bill in its mandate (with the support of the opposition New Democracy and PASOK) devoted to a package of social measures which are due to cost around 200 million €. On 20th March a wide majority in the Greek Parliament approved a bill entitled "Regulations to revive the economy" - thereby facilitating the settlement of taxpayers' debts to the State and the social security which total some tens of billions of euros.

On 18th March the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited Rome. He spoke with the President of the Italian Council Matteo Renzi and Foreign Affairs Minister Paolo Gentiloni. Then he was guest at the Quirinal Palace with President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. At the heart of discussions was the Libyan question and the need to find a political solution to the crisis. Ban Ki-moon thanked his hosts for Italy's support to the UNs political and humanitarian work in Libya and for the country's contribution to world efforts to counter terrorism, notably in Syria and Iraq.

During a National Polish Security Council session on 18th March Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski called on NATO to review its strategy in the East so that a pertinent response can be made to the Russian threat. Indeed Vladimir Putin unilaterally decided to intervene in neighbouring countries, whose policy line it deems is contrary to Russian interests. Since Poland finds itself under direct threat due to its geographical position, Bronislaw Komorowski believes that the West must strengthen its "unity and potential to defend itself." NATO's enlargements are, in his opinion, the greatest threat to Russia and so he insisted on the need for the Alliance to strengthen its Eastern front.

On 17th March the President of the Republic fo France François Hollande hosted Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva. It was the first journey by the Portuguese President to France in ten years. The visit was devoted to economic exchange between the two countries. It also enabled the discussion of security issues, the fight to counter terrorism, Libya, the climate conference in December 2015 in Paris, and the single energy market in which electricity and gas interconnections between the Iberian peninsula and Europe have recently been discussed.

Romanian President Klaus Yohannis was on an official visit to Kyiv on 17th March to meet his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko. Both presidents decided to step up cooperation between the two countries in several areas like trade, energy, transport and infrastructure. The Ukrainian President thanked Romania for its support and for having been the first European country to ratify the Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine. The heads of State also discussed border issues and notably Moldova. They would like to coordinate their work to help prevent conflict in Transnistria and "help sovereign, independent Moldova win back its territorial integrity and re-integrate the region of Transnistria." Finally the head of the Romanian State said he supported the introduction of a visa-free regime in Europe for Ukrainian citizens under the Eastern Partnership that will take place in Riga on 22nd and 23rd May.

On 18th March the British Finance Minister George Osborne unveiled the UK 2015 budget the last one before the general elections. With growth at 2.5% this year - higher than expected, the minister declared that the "UK was walking again with its head held high" after five years of austerity; he stated that the government had achieved the goals it had set itself in 2010. The budget notably includes tax reductions on fuel and alcohol and allowances for private savers and new house buyers, as well as the introduction of a tax on multinationals' "diverted profits". Moreover on 17th March the government announced that the minimum wage would be increased by 3% in October (to £6.70/hour ie 9.40€) the biggest rise since 2008.

Turkey has officially launched the trans-Anatolian gas pipeline Tanap. This project, estimated at 10 billion euro, will enable the transfer of gas from Azerbaijan to the EU as of 2018. Brussels offered its support to the project since it will satisfy 20% of the Union's gas requirements and help reduce dependency on Russian gas, a major stake in times of geopolitical crisis.

The Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament, adopted a resolution on 17th March granting greater autonomy to the regions in the east of the country. This document enables the organisation of local elections in the regions controlled by the pro-Russian separatists. The regions concerned by the measure match the demarkation line laid out in the Minsk Agreement. With this Kyiv intends to make concessions to the separatists in order to take the peace process forward. Russia and the pro-Russian separatists immediately rejected the draft bill. Russian Foreign Minister Serguey Lavrov explained that the bill "is in essence a re-draft of the Minsk Agreements, or to put it simply, it violates them". He added "Kyiv is trying to replace officially elected representatives by other people," referring to the leaders of the self-proclaimed republics of Lugansk and Donetsk. The latter said that Ukraine is rejecting peace and that "Kyiv wants to destroy the Donbass with violence and an economic blockade."

Some 63% of the Icelandic population is against the country's withdrawal of its bid to join the EU according to a survey published on 20th March in the daily Frettabladid. On 12th March the Icelandic government announced that it was withdrawing as an EU candidate deeming that "Iceland's interests are better served outside of the EU." But the announcement is deemed illegal by the opposition since neither parliament nor the population were consulted. According to a poll 44% of those asked are "totally against" the government's decision and 19% "rather against it". 15% are "totally in favour" and 9% "rather in favour."

On 19th March the European Commission concluded negotiations with Switzerland on an historic agreement on tax transparency thereby marking a major step forwards in the fight to counter tax evasion. This agreement will notably encourage the EU's Member States and Switzerland to exchange tax information automatically to counter tax fraud in the member countries as undeclared incomes are transferred to Switzerland. The States will notably receive the names, addresses, tax identification numbers and dates of birth of their residents who hold accounts in Switzerland.

On 18th March the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland, launched an Action Plan 2015-2017 for Ukraine along with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin. This programme, which follows on from the Action Plan 2011-2014, aims to promote Human Rights, democracy and the rule of law in Ukraine as well as help the country respect the commitments it made when it joined the European Council in 1995. On 17th and 18th March Thorbjørn Jagland met with several leading Ukrainian political leaders in Kyiv notably President Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk, the leader of Parliament Volodimir Groysman and Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin.

On 16th March the World Forum on Transparency and the Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes published nine new peer review reports including a supplementary Phase 1 paper that focuses on Switzerland. They show that the international community is continuing to progress towards the implementation of an international standard in terms of the exchange of information. Notably the OECD welcomes Switzerland's recent initiatives in support of tax transparency deemed adequate to remove this country from the list of jurisdictions at that are blocked in the peer review process. Since the adoption of the Phase 1 report in 2011 Switzerland has introduced a new law on international administrative assistance, which is applicable to all information exchange mechanisms. It also updated its conventions network, by signing new bilateral agreements, as well as the Convention on mutual administrative assistance for tax purposes. At present it has information exchange mechanisms with 127 jurisdictions. Switzerland has now finally fulfilled the necessary conditions to move into Phase 2 which will be launched in the second half of 2015.

According to a new Eurostat study published on 17th March the euro zone's inflation rate increased in February in comparison with January 2015 to reach -0.3% against -0.6% in January. The EU's inflation rate increased over the same period to lie at -0.2% in February against -0,5% in January. In February 2014 however inflation lay at 0.7% and in January of the same year, 0.8%. Extremely negative rates were seen in Greece (-1.9%), in Bulgaria (-1.7%) and in Lithuania (-1.5%). Positive annual rates were recorded in Sweden (0.7%), Malta (0.6%), Austria (0.5%), Romania (0.4%) as well as in Italy (0.1%).

The Musée d'Orsay in Paris is running a retrospective of all the periods of Pierre Bonnard's work until 19th July 2015. Matisse's contemporary the painter belongs to a generation of artists who succeeded Impressionism. Passionately enthralled by Japanese print work and especially using Gauguin as his inspiration, Bonnard's work is mainly decorative, with lively, luminous colours. His sensitive, instinctive brush strokes make Pierre Bonnard a modern artist and a representative of the Arcadian trend.