On 7th May 2015 UK Prime Minister David Cameron unexpectedly won the general elections guaranteeing him a new mandate as head of the country. The Conservatives won an absolute majority with 331 seats. Labour lagged behind winning just 232 seats. Another major result in this election is that the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) snatched 56 of the 59 seats available to them. The LibDems won 8 seats only, coming equal with the Northern Irish party, the DUP. Sinn Fein won 4 seats, Plaid Cymru (Wales) 3 seats just like the SDLP, the Ulster Union Party won 2 seats, the Greens and UKIP 1 seat each. The Conservative victory now means that there will be a referendum on EU membership in 2017.

Jean-Dominique Giuliani, Chairman of the Robert Schuman Foundation published an editorial on his site on 10th May drawing the first lessons of the UK General Election that took place on 7th May.

In 2015 and 2016 the euro zone and the EU are due to experience significant economic growth due to favourable economic conditions suggest forecasts published on 5th May by the European Commission. The EU should witness its real GDP grow by 1.8% in 2015 and 2.1% in 2016; the euro zone should grow by 1.5% in 2015 and 1.9% in 2016. Regarding annual inflation the latter is due to rise by 0.1% in 2015 and by 1.5% in 2016. Unemployment is due to decline to 9.6% in the EU and 11% in the euro zone in 2015, and then to 9.2% in the EU and 10.5% in the euro zone in 2016. Finally regarding government deficit ratios the latter are due to decline to total 2.5% in 2015 and 2% in 2016 in the EU and 2% in 2015 and 1.7% in 2016 in the euro zone. The government debt ratio is due to lie at 88% of the GDP in the EU and 94% in the euro zone in 2016.

Economic activity continued to grow at a constant pace in April in the euro zone said the consultancy Markit on 6th May. The euro zone's composite PMI lay at 53.9 against 54 in March and 53.5 in a previous estimate. Activity continued to increase in the two sectors covered by the survey, industry and services, and also in four major euro zone economies even though France is still lagging behind its partners.

Representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB) and of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were in Nicosia from 28th April to 8th May to assess progress achieved in terms of economic reform. The Cypriot reform programme plans for the support of recovery of growth and the creation of jobs via the restoration of stability in the financial sector and by strengthening government finances. The team of experts congratulated the Cypriot authorities on their reform programme, notably the improvements that have been made to government finances and the adoption of the law on "insolvency and foreclosure".

The European Commission launched a vast sectoral survey on 6th May involving disloyal practices in the e-trade sector within the EU, in a bid to pinpoint obstacles to cross-border trade set in place by some businesses. The survey was announced in March by the Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager and concerns goods as well as digital content, which places American internet giants like Amazon and Google uppermost in the line of fire. "European citizens are encountering too many obstacles when they try to access goods and services sold from abroad on-line," commented Ms Vestager. The announcement of this survey completes the action launched under the strategy for a single digital market adopted on the same day by the European Commission, which aims to remove obstacles, notably of a regulatory nature that are impeding cross-border e-trade.

On 6th May the European Commission presented its strategy for the European single digital market. The latter comprises 16 actions and is based on three pillars: access to digital goods and services across all of Europe for consumers and businesses, the creation of a development friendly environment for innovative digital networks and the maximisation of the growth potential of the digital economy. This notably means facilitating cross-border trade, ensuring consumer protection and the introduction of the free movement of data in the EU and even the reduction of package delivery costs on orders made over the internet. An operational single digital market might represent an additional 415 billion euro per year to the European economy and the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

On 8th May 2015 the European Commission as well as the EU's High Representative, Federica Mogherini delivered two reports to the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk in a bid to provide new impetus to European defence and security cooperation. This new boost is part of the Juncker Commission's strategy and takes on board the challenges that the EU is facing (growing security threats, a changing strategic context, inadequate investment in security and defence capabilities). The two reports offer a summary of the action undertaken by the Union regarding the common defence and security policy since 2013, which also illustrates the major role played by the EU as a facilitator of cooperation in this area in support of Member States in developing their capabilities.

On 10th May 2015 German Chancellor Angela Merkel travelled to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Ukrainian situation was the focus of discussions between the two leaders who stressed the importance of implementing the measures set out in the Minsk Agreements. Moreover discussions focused on the state of economic and trade relations between Russia and Germany, which have been slowing, notably since the start of the Ukrainian crisis. Finally Vladimir Putin announced that a Russian delegation would travel to Brussels from 17th to 19th May to exchange views on the Kremlin's position regarding the EU's association agreement with Ukraine.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian commemorated the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Lorient on 10th May alongside his German, Polish and Spanish counterparts. Lorient was one of the last pockets of resistance of the Wehrmacht in Europe, and was liberated two days after the German capitulation on 10th May 1945. The French Defence Minister, who comes from the town and who was also its mayor from 1981 to 1998, declared during the ceremony, "the return of war to our continent on the doorsteps of the EU is an unacceptable prospect, it reminds us that peace should never be taken for granted." He also stressed the role played by the European defence policy: "Today the battle is that of European Defence."

On 6th May and as planned Greece reimbursed 200 million euro in interest to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The next major deadline for Greece is the reimbursement of 750 million euro to the IMF on 12th May. Given the budgetary difficulties encountered by Greece and its lack of liquidities the ECB has raised the ceiling on the ELA (Emergency Liquidity Assistance) as well as giving the greenlight for the purchase of Treasury bills by Greece so that the country can honour the upcoming deadlines.

Hungary is to reduce its super-tax on media advertising revenues from the present 50% down to 5.3% said the government on 7th May, after criticism on the part of the European Commission regarding this measure deemed as discriminatory. A draft bill on this will be submitted to Parliament next week. This tax affected companies making more than 20 billion forints (65 million euro) in annual advertising revenues.

A Eurobarometer study published on 8th May shows that the new EU Member States would support their country's adoption of the euro. This survey, undertaken in seven States that do not belong to the euro zone (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Sweden), noted that the majority of citizens of four of these county were in support of the adoption of the euro (Romania 68%, Hungary 60%, Bulgaria 55% and Croatia 53%). However the Czech, Swedish and Polish citizens would prefer not to adopt the single currency by 70%, 66% and 53% respectively.

On 8th May the European Commission published its report on 2014 on the application of the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights. The latter has been legally binding for the last five years and the report notes the way that the Charter has been implemented to protect people's fundamental rights and to strengthen the legal avenues open to Member States' citizens. The 2014 report is particularly representative of the respect of fundamental rights in that it includes digital fundamental rights, notably via the protection of personal data.

The 11th European Museum Night will be taking place on Saturday 16th May in 33 European countries. In France some 1,300 museums will be opening their doors free of charge and nearly 3,400 museums will be taking part in this event across all of Europe. It is taking place on the Saturday closest to 18th May, International Museum Day, and is also linked to Europe Day celebrated on the occasion of the Schuman Declaration on 9th May 1950. In the UK the European Museum Night often coincides with the Museums at Night weekend which contributes to Europe and the European Council's drive to make the month of May one that is devoted to museums and culture.

The 68th Festival of Cinematographic Art in Cannes will be taking place from 13th to 24th May. The event can be followed in real time thanks to the multi-media coverage of the "Quotidien" on line and on TV Festival. The Chairman of the Board is Pierre Lescure who has taken over from Gilles Jacob, now President of Honour and who was the festival's director for 37 years.

On 31st May on the occasion of the 70th birthday of Rainer Werner Fassbinder the Deutsches Filmmuseum of Frankfurt-am-Main is running an exhibition "Fassbinder-NOW" until 23rd August 2015 in nine rooms at the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin. Not only does the exhibition offer an illustration of the film-maker's work but it also shows the coherence of this work in the cinema and his influence over the art of production.