The House of Robert Schuman, twice President of the French Council and President of the European Parliamentary Assembly from 1958 to 1960 has been made a part of European Heritage after a decision taken by the European Commission on 10th March last. It was notably in this house at Scy-Chazelles in Moselle that Robert Schuman wrote the first draft of the Declaration of 9th May 1950" advocating European integration in the wake of the Second World War. 16 other European sites obtained the same distinction.

On 25th March the Bank of Portugal revised its growth forecast upwards for 2015 and 2016 - in comparison with its December - +1.7% and 1.9% respectively. The gathering pace of economic activity planned over the period 2015-2017 notably reflects an increase in exports, one of the main drivers behind the Portuguese economy rising in 2015 by 4.3% in comparison with 3.4% in 2014.

The Commission announced on 23rd March that nearly 2500 dangerous products had been withdrawn from the EU's market in 2014. These products are notably toys (28% of the time), textiles and articles of clothing (23%), which were banned because very often they were dangerous due to their chemical content. Products that could injure or suffocate were also withdrawn. Most of these products came from China (64%), as in 2013. 2755 follow-up measures were taken as part of the early warning system in Europe that entails warning all EU countries if a Member State detects a product that does not comply with European safety standards. It also comprises undertaking a strict monitoring of the measures taken by the various Member States.

On 23rd March the ECB President Mario Draghi indicated to MEPs of the Economic Committee that inflation would remain very "weak or negative" over the next few months due to the extended effects of oil price decreases. Estimated at 0% in 2015 inflation is due to rise to 1.5% in 2016 and to 1.8% in 2017. These estimates also depend on the full implementation of the asset purchase programme (including the purchase of government debt) estimated at 60 billion euro per month. He also said that Greece should take up dialogue again and accept reform. In order for Greece to be able to benefit from the ECB's quantitative easing programme the waiver that the country had enjoyed and which had enabled it, in spite of its budgetary situation, to sell its bonds on the secondary market, might have to be reinstated. He recalled that negotiations were not "blackmail", that the ECB's policies did not aim to "suffocate" Greece and that the ECB was exposed to a total of 65% of the Greek GDP.

Europe's industry ministers met in Riga on 26th and 27th March to debate the single digital market and the opportunities offered to the EU to generate intelligent, sustainable, inclusive growth. This notably means homogenising European regulations in terms of e-trade, of doing away with territorial restrictions, of ensuring fair access to the digital environment and of guaranteeing interoperability between digital products and services. The trade ministers, who met on 24th and 25th March, said they supported both the trade negotiations between the EU, Japan, Vietnam and the USA (with the TTIP being a priority of the Latvian presidency) as well as WTO negotiations (post-Bali working programme, Doha Round negotiations).

On 23rd and 24th March Federica Mogherini, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs travelled to Cuba to meet Bruno Rodriguez, the Cuban Foreign Minister. This visit is of symbolic importance (it was the first official visit by a head of European diplomacy to Cuba) since it has come as the island's relations with the USA are easing. Since she also met government leaders, the Archbishop of Havana Jaime Ortega and representatives of civil society Ms Mogherini hoped to "normalise relations between Cuba and the EU whose rapprochement had been conditioned since 1996 by progress made in terms of freedom, civic rights and political reform.

European citizens working in a Member State whose nationality it does not share might be excluded from certain social services according to the Advocate General Melchior Wathelet. Three cases have been defined. In the event of a European citizen travelling to another Member State and living there without looking for employment, he/she might be excluded from social assistance services. Exclusion might also be deemed legitimate if a citizen is looking for employment in the host country. However if the citizen has lived there for more than three months and has already had a job social services cannot not be refused automatically, and a case-by-case assessment would be necessary. In the last case the nature of unemployment (voluntary or not) and the quality of the links of the citizen with the host country have to be taken into consideration.

The European Court of Auditors delivered a report on 24th March analysing the costs of the Youth Guarantee. The latter that was created in 2013 is designed to help the under 25's find a job, an internship or an apprenticeship. The Court of Auditors notes however that the planned financing is not enough to meet the plan's goals. The European Commission estimated the total cost of the programme (cost guaranteed by the EU and the Member States) at 16.7 billion € between 2014-2020, but in reality the total is due to rise to 21 billion euro per year. Additional costs are said to be due to the measures taken by the Member States to counter youth unemployment and which have not yet been included in the programme. However the Court of Auditors insists on the usefulness of the Youth Guarantee and has encouraged the Commission and the Member States to work on this project.

A European operation, with the participation of Europol and Eurojust has enabled around 400 agents from various police forces to dismantle an illegal immigration network. 77 suspects were arrested in Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Kosovo and Slovakia. Most individuals came from Central Europe or the Balkans, smuggling migrants from Serbia to Hungary where they were then managed by another branch of the criminal network. In most cases the migrants requested asylum in Hungary before being transported to countries in Western Europe. This operation is the first result of Operation FALKO, initiated by Hungary as part of the Operational Action Plan against Illegal Immigration, EMPACT. This platform enables EU Member States to work together against illegal immigration.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel travelled to Helsinki on 30th March to meet Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Prime Minister Alexander Stubb. The Chancellor previously spoke about the links connecting their countries saying that not only did they share common values but also that they agreed on many issues such as research and the euro zone's stability pact. Finland is also a major country in terms of Russia since it is one of Russia's major trade partners. The heads of government met at the University of Helsinki to talk on the theme of "security in Europe and the Ukrainian conflict."

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz was on an official visit to Ukraine on 25th March. He met Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to discuss the country's situation. The Ukrainian head of State informed Mr Kurz of the situation in the Donbass and thanked Austria for the humanitarian aid it has provided. The two men also discussed the possible dispatch of a peacekeeping mission to Ukraine to pacify Donbass long term. The Ukrainian President also remarked that his authorities were not just focusing on security issues but also on institutional and economic reform, and he also asked the Austrians to invest in Ukraine. The Ukrainian authorities are still waiting for the ratification of the EU-Ukraine association agreement by Austria.

During a conference on nuclear energy that took place in Sofia on 26th March the Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova said she supported a project to build a nuclear reactor on the Kozlodui site. The country has asked the American nuclear energy company Westinghouse to build it and to finance the project up to 49%. In exchange it is offering 49% of the Bulgarian shares in the reactor. This decision comes just as Prime Minister Boyko Borissov recently warned of a nuclear catastrophe in Bulgaria if Russia continued to drag its feet over the project to renovate other nuclear power plants.

On 26th March a summit took place in Paris convening the mayors of European capitals and major cities. French President François Hollande repeated that he wanted to achieve an agreement at the summit on the climate in December in Paris. He stressed Europe's major role in countering global warming and insisted on the fact that future solutions must not just come from the State but also from local communities, businesses, associations and NGOs. The 26 Mayors attending signed a joint declaration committing to the launch of projects to counter urban sprawl, the production of waste, and also to re-introduce nature and biodiversity into towns, improve recycling and energy efficiency.

Alex Tsipras asked for an emergency discussion with the Greek Parliament on 30th March requesting the support of the opposition parties in the negotiations that he and Yanis Varoufakis have been undertaking with the Eurogroup for the last few weeks. Although the Prime Minister hope to federate the members of Parliament around his programme he mainly directed his speech towards the mitigated result left behind by the previous conservative government led by Antonis Samaras, and notably the primary surplus of 0.3% of the GDP instead of the 3.5% that had been promised. Mr Samaras, chairman of the conservative party New Democracy (ND) answered the Prime Minister by denouncing the "lies that Mr Tsipras has made to the Greek people". The liberal migratory policy was also criticised by the leader of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn. Only the chair of To Potami, a centre left party, wanted to support the government in office stressing that the renegotiation of the debt was 'inevitable.'

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski spoke in Brussels on 22nd March during a conference organised by the German Marshall Fund. He highlighted the need for a new transatlantic EU/NATO plan regarding Russia which would not just be limited to defence but which would also extend economic cooperation. He finally called on NATO's members to commit to a budget of at least 2% of their GDP in the military domain declaring that "neglecting security today might imply the loss of independence tomorrow."

On 26th March British Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour leader Ed Miliband were given a first opportunity to present their views to an audience of 2.6 million during a televised battle on Channel 4/Sky News. In separate interviews a cutting Jeremy Paxman took no quarter and both leaders struggled over various issues - the NHS as far as David Cameron was concerned and government spending cuts in the case of Ed Miliband. Polls revealed that Mr Cameron had a slight advantage, but the race remains tight just over a month before the general election on 7th May.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko spoke with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on 28th March. They confirmed the organisation of a summit between the European Union and Ukraine on 27th April as planned under the association agreement. Mr Poroshenko repeated his request for a peacekeeping mission in the East of Ukraine and they also discussed new measures to increase financial assistance to Ukraine.

Fourteen European countries (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, UK and Turkey) signed the first international treaty to prevent and counter the trafficking of human organs in Spain on 25th March. This practice annually generates more a billion euro in illegal profits said the Council of Europe. The text makes it a crime to take a human organ from living or deceased donors without their free, informed and specific consent. It is now also deemed illegal to take an organ from a deceased person if this type of removal is not framed by domestic law and if it is being done "in view of earning a profit." This convention will enter into force once five countries have ratified it.

On 26th March the UN's High Commission for Refugees unveiled its asylum request figures for 2014. It notes that the wars in Syria and Iraq, armed conflict as well as infringements of human rights and the worsening situation in security and humanitarian conditions in other countries - have generated the sharpest rise in 22 years in terms of the number of requests lodged in industrialised countries totalling 866,000, i.e. an increase of 45% in comparison with 2013 and a 47% rise in Europe. The industrialised country that has received the greatest number of requests is Germany with over 173,000 asylum requests recorded, whilst Sweden comes fourth with 75,100 asylum requests. Italy registered 63,700 new asylum requests in 2014 i.e. the highest number ever recorded.

According to a Eurostat study published on 27th March, the USA and China are still the EU's privileged trade partners. Indeed the EU undertook 15% of its international goods trade with the USA (against 24% in 2002), 14% with China (against 7% in 2002), ahead of Russia (8%) and Switzerland (7%). Machines and transport materials, manufactured goods and mineral fuels were the most traded goods categories between the EU and the rest of the world. Most Member States trade principally with another Member State (Germany in the case of 16 Member States). The only exceptions are Ireland (which trades mainly with the USA), Greece (Turkey), Lithuania (Russia), Sweden (Norway) and the UK (USA).

The Committee of Ministers at the Council of Europe published its report on the monitoring of the execution of ECHR judgments. The 2014 statistics confirm the positive trend witnessed since 2011. These show a continuous decline in the total number of pending cases as well as an historic number of cases settled by the Committee following the adoption of vital execution measures by national authorities.

The business think-tank, Institut de l'Entreprise has published "Irlande: le retour du Tigre Celtique" regarding budgetary consolidation and economic recovery in Europe. At the end of 2010 Ireland was the second country after Greece to ask for financial assistance of the IMF and the European Commission. The country finally emerged from the tutelage of the troika at the end of 2013. Since then the economy has started growing again, unemployment is declining and the cost to the State of borrowing on the markets has dropped: its newly recovered credibility allows Ireland to borrow at lower rates than Italy and even the UK. With a budgetary adjustment programme that fosters spending cuts (wage mass, social transfers) and reform to the management of the State the structure of local communities and the banking sector, Ireland is an emblematic illustration of a successful combination between budgetary adjustment and structural reform.

The Grand Palais in Paris is running an exhibition from 25th March to 13th July devoted to Spanish painter Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) together with the Louvre Museum, the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna and the Prado. Velázquez is one of the main names in Spanish painting. An eminent representative of what we might call the Baroque period he was adulated by the most famous artists in history. In spite of this the monographic exhibition will be the first devoted to his work to take place in France.