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During the French Spring in Riga there will be a conference on 25th and 26th May entitled "Regards croisés franco-lettons sur l'Europe, les représentations des identités européennes et le défi sur l'élargissement"; the event will be attended by the Ambassador of France in Latvia, the Latvian Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Foundation's Chairman Jean-Dominique Giuliani.

Competitiveness law, institutional reform, enlargement ... Jacques Barrot Vice President of the European Commission responsible for Transport talks of his beliefs and expectations on these subjects which are decisive for the future of Europe in an interview on FenetreEurope.com. The Foundation has published his latest work "L'Europe n'est pas ce que vous croyez," in the series it manages with the publishing house Albin Michel.

Nearly 3.5 million Irish will be called to vote on 24th May next to renew the 165 members of the Dail Eireann, the lower Chamber of Parliament. The most recent poll by Milliard Brown/IMS, published on 15th May last credits Fianna Fail led by Prime Minister Bertie Ahern with 35% of the voting intentions. Fine Gael is due to win 26% of the vote and its ally Labour Party, 13%. Sinn Fein is due to come fourth with 10% followed by the Greens with 5% and the Progressive Democrat Party with 3%. The present government coalition (Fianna Fail, Progressive Democrat Party) is due to be beaten by one point by Fine Gael and the Labour Party, 39% versus 38%. However the economic results achieved by the Prime Minister are good (6% GDP growth rate in 2006, unemployment rate of 4%) and the electorate will not necessarily want to change.

Just five weeks after having elected the President of the Republic 44.5 million French citizens will be called to vote on 10th and 17th June to renew the National Assembly, the lower house in Parliament. One month before the vote all polls forecast that the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) will easily win the general elections. A survey published on 15th May last by IFOP credits the UMP with 37% of the voting intentions, versus 28% for the Socialists. The Democrat Movement is due to win 14% of the vote, the National Front, 7%, the Communist Party, 4%, the Greens, 4% and the far left 3%.

The EU and Russia ended their summit on a note of general disagreement on 17th and 18th May and far from a quelling in tension there were sharp exchanges on democracy and human rights. Russian President Vladimir Putin dryly replied to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, acting EU president, when she said she was concerned that opponents including the former chess champion Garry Kasparov had been prevented from going to a demonstration. Mr Putin also complained about the situation of the Russian speaking minorities in the Baltic States accusing Estonia and Latvia of not respecting the rights of major Russian minorities: "We believe these violations are unacceptable and unworthy of Europe." In spite of efforts on the part of the German presidency Russia did not lift its embargo on Polish meat. And because of this embargo Warsaw has vetoed the start of negotiations on a new partnership. "There is no reason to ban Polish meat," insisted European Commission President José Manuel Barroso.

As he received the Charlemagne Prize in Aachen on 17th May Javier Solana, High Representative for Foreign and Common Security Policy condemned a European Union "that was introspective, in the midst of a sterile institutional crisis," and called for maximum efforts to be made to resolve the problems this year so that Europe might "regain its ability to act." He declared that he "unreservedly supported" the work undertaken by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in her bid to come to an agreement at the European Council on 21st and 22nd June to renegotiate rapidly the European Constitution so that "this parenthesis might be closed and that Europe might find a strong foundation on which to face its future."

On 15th May European Development Ministers discussed a variety of issues associated with the funding of development as well as the effectiveness of development aid. The EU has taken a step towards the countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) by proposing them unlimited access to its market, notably with regard to bananas.

On 16th May the Commission adopted a communication on the state of play of the Galileo programme calling for public funding to complete the 30 satellites of its future navigation system. The most advantageous scenario according to Jacques Barrot, Commission Vice President for Transport will be presented to European Transport Ministers on 7th and 8th June. It would involve the deployment of all satellites "by the end of 2012" with the first real use effective a year previous to that. Public costs would be around 10 billion euros between 2007 and 2030 3.4 billion of which would be from the present community budget (2007-2013) and would include a 20 year private usage contract.

Cyprus and Malta obtained the go ahead from the Commission on 16th May to adopt the euro on 1st January 2008; they will become the 14th and 15th country in the euro zone. Cyprus and Malta "clearly respect the criteria" established by the Maastricht treaty and have achieved a "high degree of economic convergence and are ready to adopt the euro in January 2008," declared Joaquin Almunia, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs. The final decision will be taken by the 27 Finance Ministers in July after consultation with the European Parliament and the assessment of the European Council on 21st and 22nd June next.

On 16th May the European Commission decided to recommend that the Council abrogates the excessive deficit procedure (EDP) for Germany, Greece and Malta since in 2006 their budget deficit fell below the 3% of GDP ceiling on the back of a significantly improved structural budget balance reflecting permanent measures.

On 15th May the European Commission adopted two proposals which aim to bring together public-private R&D partnerships in order to fund the so-called Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs)- with strategic industrial objectives such as for example invisible computers and innovative medicines. JTIs will enable industry, Member States and the Commission to pool their resources to promote targeted research programmes.

On 15th May the German Chancellor, acting President of the Union Angela Merkel, the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso met with 20 religious officials of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths in Europe on the theme of "A Europe built on Human Dignity." The issues addressed included: "how should European values be promoted outside of European borders?"; what role can religions play in a Europe based on human dignity?"; "how can dialogue between cultures and religions be strengthened?"

After four years of negotiations the European Parliament and the Council struck a deal on 15th May on the regulation on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations, known as Rome II. The so-called "Rome II" Regulation aims to facilitate litigation between citizens from different European countries on matters such as traffic accidents, accidents caused by defective products and environmental damage by harmonising national legal provisions.

The Civil Liberties Committee at the European Parliament approved on 14th May a regulation setting up a database for exchange of data between Member States on short-stay visas and visa applications from third country citizens who wish to enter the EU's Schengen area. The Visa Information System (VIS) should improve the implementation of a 'common visa policy' in Europe. It aims: to prevent an applicant who is refused a visa by one Schengen country applying to others ("visa shopping"); to facilitate the fight against fraud and checks at external borders; to assist in the identification of those not meeting the conditions for entry, stay or residence in Schengen Member States; to ease the application of Dublin II regulation on asylum; and to help prevent threats to the internal security of Member States.

The President of the Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, travelled to Berlin just a few hours after having taken office on 16th May; he appealed for rapid action with regard to renewing European construction. He maintained that it was "urgent to act" to lead Europe out "of the state of paralysis" in which it finds itself. Although he advises for a simplified treaty limited only to improving the running of the Union that would be adopted by parliament and not by referendum, German Chancellor Angela Merkel does not want to reduce the new text simply to the institutional mechanism and hopes to provide it with more "substance". With the upcoming European Council on 21st and 22nd June the Germany presidency would like to come to an agreement on a roadmap and guidelines for a future treaty. The French president recalled that the "Franco-German friendship is sacred and nothing can bring this into question.

The government led by Prime Minister François Fillon was formed on 18th May. It comprises fifteen ministers - eight men and seven women - including a Minister of State, Alain Juppé responsible for Ecology and Sustainable Development, four Secretaries of State and a High Commissioner. As part of the "opening up" launched by Nicolas Sarkozy, two ministries have been given to non-UMP ministers: Foreign Affairs has gone to Bernard Kouchner (PS) and Defence to Hervé Morin (UDF). Two of the four secretaries of State also come from the left : Jean-Pierre Jouyet for European Affairs and Eric Besson for Perspectives and Assessment of Public Policy. Finally Martin Hirsch, appointed High Commissioner for Active Solidarity against Poverty is a close colleague of Bernard Kouchner whose cabinet he once managed. The Council of Ministers was held for the first time on 18th May.

Scotland has a new independentist Prime Minister: Alex Salmond. The National Party (SNP) leader won MPs' approval on 16th May to lead a minority government. Thanks to the support of two Green MPs he won 49 votes in comparison with 46 which went to his rival Jack McConnell, a former Labour Prime Minister. The Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives whose candidates won 16 votes each in the first round abstained. During the electoral campaign the SNP promised to organise a referendum on the future of Scotland in 2010. But with only 47 of the 129 seats and a co-operation agreement with the two Green MPs this promise will be a hard one to keep.

On 15th May just three days before the EU-Russia Summit Eurostat published the statistics relative to EU-Russia external trade in 2006. As a result the EU27 deficit in trade with Russia increased from 41.0 bn in 2000 to 68.2 bn in 2006. This increased deficit was primarily due to an increase in the deficit for energy, only partially offset by an increase in the surplus for machinery and vehicles. Between 2000 and 2006, EU27 exports of goods to Russia more than tripled in value, from 22.7 billion euro to 72.4 bn, while EU27 imports from Russia more than doubled, from 63.8 bn to 140.6 bn. The share of Russia in the EU27's total external trade in goods has nearly doubled between 2000 and 2006. In 2006, Russia accounted for just over 6% of EU27 exports and 10% of EU27 imports, and was the EU27's third most important trading partner, after the USA and China.

According to flash estimates published by Eurostat on 15th May the GDP grew by 0.6% in both the euro area and the EU27 during the first quarter of 2007, compared to the previous quarter. In all for EU27 growth lay at 0.6% over the quarter and 3.2% over a year versus 0.9% and 3.5% over the previous quarter. European growth is clearly higher than that of the USA, which is suffering a severe down turn (+0.3% in the first quarter and 2.1% over a year).

According to statistics published by Eurostat on 14th May seasonally adjusted industrial production increased by 0.4% in the euro area in March 2007 compared with February 2007. Production rose by 0.5% in February and fell by 0.6% in January. In the EU27 output gained 0.5% in March, after an increase of 0.4% in February and a decrease of 0.5% in January.