According to the Bundesbank's monthly report in May the German economy is due to continue to grow over the next few months thanks in part to private consumption. In the first quarter of 2015 the economy only grew by 0.3%, unlike the 0.7% in the previous quarter. Improvement in the economy overall and the depreciation of the euro should lead to new opportunities to export outside of the euro zone. The report believes that the emergency liquidities made available to the Greek financial institutions is protecting them from default and ensuring the solvency of Greece. The bailout should be decided by the Finance Ministers under the guidance of the national parliaments believes the Bundesbank.

According to a study published by the Markit consultancy on 21st May private activity growth slowed in May in the euro zone for the second month running - this is slight but is being compensated for by an encouraging rise in employment. The composite PMI index lay at 53.4 against 53.9 in April said Markit.

The unemployment is at a six year low in Ireland dropping below 12% to 9.9% in the first quarter of 2015, which represents 212,800 unemployed. Indeed 13,000 jobs were created in the last quarter of 2014 and 12,500 in the first quarter of 2015. The government wants to bring unemployment down to 8.8% in 2016. Ireland, which ended its European rescue plan 18 months ago, now has the highest growth rate in the EU.

The IMF has confirmed that the French is recovering in the short term with a growth forecast of 1.2% in 2015, but mid-term potential growth seems to be even weaker than before the crisis. "After practically four years of stagnation," the French economy has an 'output gap' of 2 to 2.5% of the GDP; growth of 2% will be required over several years in order to catch up and to enable the creation of jobs. The IMF recommends that France go further in its structural reforms by offering the "possibility for social partners to negotiate with greater flexibility at the company level regarding working hours and wages"; limitation on SMIC increases in line with inflation rates; modification of unemployment benefits to "encourage beneficiaries to go and look for a job"; and reduction of "impediments that dissuade small businesses from going beyond certain numbers of staff".

The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker met the UK's Prime Minister David Cameron on 25th May. The latter has promised that a referendum will be held by 2017 so that British citizens can decide whether the UK will stay in the European Union or not. Mr Cameron would like to renegotiate the links his country has with the EU, notably the issue regarding social benefits being granted to migrants. Jean-Claude Juncker said he was determined to "come to a fair agreement with the UK". Brussels was the starting point of a European tour by Mr Cameron who will be travelling to Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Poland as well as Germany this week.

In a resolution adopted on 19th May 2015 in plenary session MEPs asked the 28 EU Member States to respect the goal that aims for 0.7% of their national income to be devoted to foreign development aid. They then called on the Member States to establish multi-annual budgetary timetables to achieve this goal by 2020. They took advantage of this opportunity to re-iterate the need to introduce regulatory frameworks vital for the effective mobilisation of national resources in developing countries as a key source of financing, whilst recalling the major role played by the private sector in this sphere.

On 19th May 2015 Andrus Ansip, Vice-President of the European Commission presented the Commission's strategy for the establishment of the single digital market to the European Parliament. Commissioner Ansip was able to give details to MEPs about the Commission's priorities to enable improved consumers and business access to digital goods and services in Europe as well as an optimisation of the growth potential of the European digital market. The European Parliament now has to respond to the proposal via the drafting of an initiative report that will entail the work of several parliamentary committees i.e. the industry, internal market, culture committees as well as the legal affairs committee. The single digital market will be on the agenda of the European Council of 25th and 26th June.

On 20th May 2015 MEPs adopted the fourth directive to counter money laundering the aim of which is to step up the fight against the financing of terrorism as well as against tax fraud. Amongst the new binding rules features the obligation for real company owners to be recorded on a central EU Member State register. These registers will be open both to authorities and to people with a "legitimate interest", such as for example investigative journalists. Moreover they adopted a regulation on the "transfer of funds" thereby aiming to improve the traceability of the latter. The Member States now have two years within which to transpose these measures nationally. The regulation will become directly applicable 20 days after its publication in the EU's Official Journal.

On 21st May 2015 MEPs asked for the implementation of better security and defence measures in order to provide an improved response to emerging challenges, i.e. the fight to counter terrorism and organised crime, the strengthening of cyber-defence and an adapted response to migratory issues. They demanded that Member States use the tools that are part of the common security and defence policy more effectively by closing the gap between internal and external security measures and by pooling all available resources. To this end they stressed the importance of the European Council on 25th and 26th June. Moreover they insisted on the need to adapt the financing of the EU's civilian missions and its military operations to new requirements. Finally they demanded that the European Commission as well as the Member States foster the emergence of a real European defence market.

The EU's Education, Youth, Culture and Sports Ministers met in Brussels on 18th and 19th May. They assessed the results of European cooperation in the area of education and training under the programme "Education and Training 2020", then they adopted conclusions regarding the strengthening of socio-educational work that should help social integration and active citizenship. Ministers then exchanged views on the role played by education in the prevention of radicalisation and in the promotion of European values. Finally a debate took place regarding the future of the European audiovisual policy under the single digital market strategy. Finally they adopted the decision to appoint Plovdiv (Bulgaria) and Matera (Italy) as the European Capitals of Culture 2019.

The 28 Foreign and Defence Ministers formally established an unprecedented naval operation on 18th May to counter migrant traffic in the Mediterranean after a series of deadly shipwrecks announced the head of European diplomacy Federica Mogherini. "The decision to establish an EU naval operation to break the "business model" of the smugglers' and traffickers' networks in the Mediterranean has just been taken." This mission named "EUNAVOR Med" will deploy warships and surveillance planes belonging to the armies of Europe off the Libyan coast, which has become a major trafficking platform.

On 21st and 22nd May the 4th Eastern Partnership Summit took place in Riga which brought together the leaders of European and the representatives of the six Eastern European members of the Partnership i.e. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. After lauding the progress achieved over the last few years and the implementation of a strategy for greater visibility in the Eastern Partnership's activities, Europe's leaders recalled the need to strengthen political and military cooperation in Eastern Europe, notably regarding a solution for Ukraine. The States also agreed on the consolidation of the rule of law via greater independence of judicial power and the fight to counter corruption. Finally they committed to promoting the development of economic activity via support to businesses, energy security and the mobility of people.

On 24th May in Doha (Qatar), the 24th meeting between the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) led by the Qatari Foreign Minister, with the European Union including a delegation led by the High Representative Federica Mogherini. The GCC and the EU recalled the importance of strengthening their relations to introduce a sound base for regional and international stability. Foreign Ministers debated their concerns and their joint priorities regarding the situation in the region and notably in Yemen, Iran, Libya, Syria and Iraq and on the peace process in the Middle East. They said they were determined to overcome political, social, economic and security challenges together, and addressed issues regarding the Paris Climate Conference (COP21) that will take place in December.

Businesses are now sounding the alarm before the possible exit of the UK from the EU. "With a referendum possibly within the next 18 months this is not the time for industry to show timidity regarding the EU," maintained Airbus CEO Paul Kahn on 20th May. Mike Rake, the head of the Confederation of British Industries (CBI) the country's main employers' organisation called on businesses to make their voice heard to keep the country in the EU. "The EU is vital to our national prosperity," he said, "it helps us define a trade programme, to be part of a vast free-trade agreement (under negotiation with the USA) and of being able to compete with world giants like China and India." In a letter to The Times on 22nd May a group of eminent scientists deemed that "the public does not know that the EU is a blessing for British science and innovation." "The scientific community is working closely with the EU in a very positive manner (...) Our opinion is shared by thousands of researchers who have rapidly joined the "Scientists for EU" campaign on the social networks", wrote the letter's signatories, who include 2001 Nobel Prize Winner, biochemist Paul Nurse and the professor of astronomy Martin Rees. The latter qualifies the prospect of a "Brexit" as a disaster at a time when European research is just beginning to rival that of the USA.

In April 2015 the annual inflation rates in the euro zone and the EU lay at 0%, said Eurostat. In April 2014 these rates lay at 0.7% and 0.8% respectively. The lowest inflation rates over the period were seen in Greece (-1.8%), Cyprus (-1.7%) as well as in Bulgaria and Poland (-0.9%). Conversely and still during the same period, the highest annual inflation rates were recorded in Malta (+1.4%) as well as in Austria (+0.9%).

In March 2015 the EU recorded a current trade account surplus said a Eurostat study on 22nd May, i.e. a decrease in comparison with February 2015 (+18 billion euro), but a major increase in comparison with the previous year (+7.6 billion euro in March 2014). The services account recorded a surplus of 14.2 billion euro in March 2015. Over 12 months from April 2014 to March 2015, the current account recorded a surplus of 122.2 billion euro - very slightly up in comparison with the 12 months ending March 2014 (+121.3 billion euro).

With 95% of sites falling in line with the directive and 83% being of excellent quality, Europe's waters were in a satisfactory condition in 2014. This is what emerges from the annual report by the European Agency for the Environment (EAE) published on 20th May which compares the quality of waters sampled from over 21,000 European sites (28 Member States, Albania and Switzerland). Sites where the quality of the water was inadequate have until the end of the 2015 season to fall in line with the directive.

The Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart is running an exhibition until 27th September entitled "Artists' Rooms" which, for the first and the same time, is showing the work of 13 artists. Some of the work has never been on show before.

The closing ceremony of the 68th Festival of Cannes took place on 24th May. French film director Jacques Audiard won the Palme d'Or for his film Dheepan, which follows the life of a Sri Lankan immigrant in France. The Grand Prize was awarded to Hungarian director László Nemes for his film "Saul Fia" whilst the Jury's Prize went to Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos for "The Lobster". Rooney Mara and Emmanuelle Bercot won the Best Actress Prize for their role in "Carol" by Todd Haynes and "Mon Roi" by Maïwenn, whilst the Best Actor Prize was given to Vincent Lindon for his role in "La Loi du Marché" by Stéphane Brizé.