In this year of renewal of European Institutions, the "Schuman Report on the State of the Union 2019" is more than ever necessary to understand the state of the Union and its chances of winning greater independence and weight on the international stage, thanks to the dependencies it will create amongst its Member States. The Report includes contributions from top experts and contains 33 original maps that summarise the main European challenges and a unique set of commented statistics. Now available to order.

At the European Council held on 20th and 21st June, Heads of State and Government discussed the next multiannual financial framework and the 2019-2024 strategic programme. They declared that they wanted to ensure transition to a climate neutral Union, but did not specify the date. They underlined the importance of bringing a coordinated response to hybrid and cyber threats and to disinformation. They discussed subjects such as the Eastern Partnership, the strategic partnership with Africa, EU-Morocco relations and the situation in Ukraine. They warned Turkey against drilling off Cyprus. With regard to Brexit they declared that they are ready to discuss the Declaration on future relations but also gave an up-date on preparations in case of a no deal withdrawal. They also failed to agree on the name of the new President of the European Commission and will meet again on 30th June.

On 18th June the Commission published its assessment of Member States' draft plans for implementing the Paris climate agreement and the objectives set at European level in terms of energy. It considers that measures put forward are still insufficient with regard to renewable energies and energy efficiency and gives Member States until 31st December to provide more ambitious final plans. Since the new regulation on governance of the energy union and climate action, which came into force in 2018, Member States are required to draw up 10-year national plans for energy and the climate (2021-2030).

Political groups at the European Parliament have chosen their presidents for the new parliament. Manfred Weber from Germany has been re-elected president of the EPP (European People's Party). The Socialists & Democrats (S&D) elected Iratxe Garcia from Spain to be their president. The liberals of Renew Europe, formerly ALDE, elected Dacian Ciolos from Romania. The Greens/EFA re-elected two co-presidents, Ska Keller from Germany and Philippe Lamberts from Belgium. The ECR group (European Conservatives and Reformists) has elected two co-presidents, Ryszard Legutko from Poland and Raffaele Fitto from Italy. Identity and Democracy, formerly ENF has chosen Marco Zanni from Italy to be their president. Only the presidency of the GUE/NGL Group (Confederal Group of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left) remains to be filled. News on the formation of the new Parliament can be found on our dedicated website.

Meeting on 18th June, Agriculture and Fisheries ministers announced that they were ready to begin negotiations with Parliament on the reform of the European maritime and fisheries fund for the period 2021-2027. They decided on a position of partial negotiation, which at this stage excludes questions linked to the budget. They were informed of progress made on consultations on the possibilities of fishing for commercial fish stocks in the North Sea and the Baltic. They also referred to progress made on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy post-2020. Finally, they adopted conclusions on biosecurity and cross-border animal diseases.

After a meeting on justice and security issues held in Bucharest on 19th June, in a joint statement the European Union and the United States restated their commitment to fight together against terrorism. They discussed air security, chemical and biological threats and announced an assessment of application of the PNR, the air passengers name record. The meeting also addressed the need to combat cyber threats and develop a secure 5G network as well as the combat against disinformation, the management of migration and progress made with a reciprocal visa system.

On 18th June the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) held that the tax that Germany wanted to implement for the use of roads and motorways by private vehicles was contrary to Union law. Owners and drivers of vehicles registered in Germany would have paid for the vignette but would have benefitted from exoneration of at least an equal amount on another vehicle tax. The CJEU judged that the economic burden of the tax would have been felt only by owners and drivers of vehicles registered in other States and that this would constitute indirect discrimination due to nationality and a violation of the principles of freedom of movements of goods and services. Germany must comply with this order, on penalty of financial sanctions.

The ECB's annual forum was held in Sintra, Portugal, from 17th to 19th June, attended by governors from central banks, academics, policymakers and financial market participants. The conference theme was "20 years of European Economic and Monetary Union" addressing macroeconomic convergence, monetary policy and the means by which to meet the forthcoming challenges in terms of economic growth within the euro zone. Mario Draghi took the opportunity to announce that the ECB could lower base rates still further and purchase assets to ensure that inflation reaches 2%. This declaration was followed by a fall in the rate of the euro against the dollar, a reduction in States' borrowing rates and improvement on European stock markets.

The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) presented a report on 13th June entitled "Working together to bring the EU closer to its citizens" in which it sets out its point of view on the future of Europe.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe received his Russia counterpart Dmitri Medvedev in Le Havre on 24th June. The two heads of government discussed the crises in Ukraine and Syria, as well as trade and cooperation between their two countries. This is the first high level Franco-Russian meeting since Russian President Vladimir Poutine's visit to Versailles in 2017.

Dutch prosecutors announced on 19th June that three Russians and one Ukrainian would be charged with murder for their presumed responsibility in firing the missile that destroyed flight MH-17 on 17th July 2014, causing the death of 298 passengers and crew members. The Malaysia Airlines Boeing was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The case should open on 9th March 2020, probably in the absence of the four accused. On 20th June, the European Council again called on Russia to "cooperate fully with the enquiry".

On 23rd June, almost 250 000 people gathered in Prague to demand the resignation of Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, suspected of European subsidy fraud. The NGO "1 Million moments for democracy" organised the gathering, which was the biggest in Prague since the demonstrations against communism in 1989. According to several draft European Commission audit reports, A. Babis is still profiting from his Agrofert company which has received over €17 million in subsidies since 2017, and he is therefore in a position of conflict of interests. For the past few weeks demonstrators have been demanding the resignation of A. Babis and that of Justice Minister Marie Benesova, who is suspected of protecting him.

After the fifth vote on 20th June to elect the leader of the British Conservative Party, who will also become Prime Minister, the 313 Conservative MPs named the two finalists: former Foreign Minister Boris Johnson (160 votes) and the current holder of that position, Jeremy Hunt (77 votes). These candidates will be put to the vote by the party's 160 000 members in the week of 22nd July.

On 23rd June Ekrem Imamoglu, candidate for the People's Republican Party, won the Istanbul city elections with 54% of the vote, against Binali Yildirim, the candidate for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP). An initial win by E. Imamoglu on 31st March, was invalidated. The AKP loses the richest and most populous city in Turkey.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on 17th June and then German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on the 18th. The leaders expressed their support for sanctions against Russia as long as no progress has been made in respect for the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and their will to continue with peace negotiations within the context of the Normandy format because, as V. Zelensky said, "for a war to end, the two parties, Russia and Ukraine must want to do it ... Ukraine cannot be the only one to want peace."

In a report published on 18th June, the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe, Duja Mijatovic, called on European countries to suspend their cooperation with Libyan coastguards until guarantees are provided with regard to the respect of human rights. In the report she refers to serious violations of human rights in the treatment of people brought back to Libya by the coastguards, placed in arbitrary detention and victims of violence. No official data is available but the number of migrants present in Libya is estimated to be several hundreds of thousands.

In its latest international survey published on 21st June, entitled "Teachers and School Leaders as Lifelong Learners", the OECD indicates that countries must make the teaching career more financially and intellectually attractive. EU countries are mostly beneath the average of OECD countries in terms of training and the use of IT and communication technologies.

According to figures published by Eurostat on 18th June, euro zone exports of goods to the rest of the world came to €192.9 billion in April 2019, i.e. a 5.2% increase compared to April 2018. Imports increased by 6.6%, up to €177.2 billion in April 2019. The euro zone therefore recorded a €15.7 billion surplus in its international trade in goods in April 2019 with the rest of the world. Exports of goods outside the EU amounted to €171.1 billion in April 2019, i.e. a 10.2% increase compared to April 2018. Imports increased by 5.6% to €169.7 billion in April 2019. The EU therefore recorded a surplus of €1.4 billion in its international trade in goods with the rest of the world (compared to a deficit of €0.9 billion in April 2018).

Until 30th August, the Brukenthal National Museum in Sibiu presents "The Art of Giving", an exhibition of the works of artists such as Picasso, Matisse, Dali and Klimt, organised during the Sibiu International Theatre Festival.