The Slovakians are being called to vote on 21st March for the first round in the presidential election. If none of the candidates wins by taking the absolute majority (with a turn out rate of over one half of those registered), a second round will take place on 4th April. 7 people are running for the presidential office: Ivan Gasparovic, outgoing President (SMER-SD); Iveta Radicova, (SDKU); Milan Melnik, (LU-HZDS); Frantisek Miklosko, (KDS); Dagmar Bollova, (KSS); Zuzana Martinakova, (SF); Milan Sidor, (KSS). According to the most recent poll by MVK, Ivan Gasparovic will not quite win the first round. The outgoing president is due to win 48.6% of the vote in comparison with 33.3% for Iveta Radicova. They are clearly ahead of the other five candidates: Zuzana Martinakova is due to win 7.1%; Frantisek Miklosko, 5.5%, Dagmar Bollova, 2.7% ; Milan Melnik, 2.1% and Milan Sidor, 0.7%. Only 37.7% of those interviewed say they are sure to vote on 21st March. Turn out is therefore the major issue at stake.

1.79 million voters are being called to ballot on 22nd March in the first round of the Macedonian presidential election. Seven candidates are running. If none of the candidates wins the absolute majority then a second round will be organised on 5th April. Outgoing Head of State Branko Crvenkovski (Social Democratic Union – SDSM) has chosen not to stand again. According to a poll by the Institute of Democracy at the beginning of March, Gjorgji Ivanov (VMRO-DPMNE) is due to win the first round with 25.5% of the vote. He is due to come out ahead of Ljubomir Frcksoki who in turn is due to win 12.1% and Imer Selmani, 11.7%, Ljube Boskovski 8.8%, Agron Buxhaku 4.8%, Nano Ruzin 3.6% and Mirushe Hoxha 1.5%. 17.7% of those interviewed said they still had not decided how they were going to vote.

On the occasion of the fifth world forum on water from 16th to 22nd March in Istanbul, the Foundation published a study by Antoine Frérot on "L'Union européenne face au défi de la rareté de l'eau" (The European Union and the scarcity of water).

According to figures published by the National Belgian Bank on 11th March the Belgian economy contracted by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. The development of added value slowed in all areas of activity; slowing was relatively moderate in services (1.7% in comparison with 2.5% the previous year), and much greater in construction where it reached 1.3% after increasing by 3.5% in 2007. In industry added value diminished by 0.6% whilst it rose by 2.5 points a year earlier. Over the entire year 2008 growth in terms of GDP volume reached 1.1%.

In a video-podcast German Chancellor Angela Merkel recalled that in this period of economic turmoil companies had to continue investing in research and development to prepare for the future and that innovation had to remain a central theme of their future strategy to be better armed when emerging from the crisis.

The Slovenian economy was hit head on by the world economic crisis in the fourth quarter of 2008, suffering a decline of 4.1% in comparison with the third quarter during which its GDP rose by 0.8%. Contrary to most other European countries Slovenia is still not officially in recession.

Over one year it was observed in January that industrial production in Slovakia declined by 27%, its worst figure in a decade within the international economic crisis reports the national statistics bureau of Bratislava (SUSR). For a thousand local companies January was especially marked by a 20 day halt in production due to the emergency energy status caused by the suspension of Russian gas deliveries during the recent commercial crisis between Moscow and Kiev.

According to a report on 9th March the IMF believes that the recession will "gather pace" in Switzerland in 2009 with a GDP decline of over 2%. This initial IMF forecast is more pessimistic than that given by the Swiss authorities who are counting on a 0.8% GDP decline after 1.6% growth in 2008. Given the fragility of the international markets the IMF fears renewed turbulence in the Swiss financial sector which represents nearly 30% of the world's wealth.

The Governor of the Irish Central Bank, John Hurley announced on 10th March that the Irish GDP was undoubtedly going to decline by more than 6% in 2009. Unemployment may rise beyond 11% on average this year. On 29th January the Central Bank had decreased its forecasts announcing that it was counting on a contraction of 4% in the country's GDP in 2009. In October it still only reckoned on a 0.9% decline. Unemployment, which did not rise beyond a yearly average of 4.6% between 2003 and 2007, started by rising to 6.4% in 2008 and rose to 9.6% and 10.4% in January and February 2009.

Under pressure from France and Germany and before the G20 Finance Ministers' meeting on 14th March three EU Member States, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg together with the Helvetic Confederation, Andorra and Liechtenstein said they wanted to be taken off the list of tax havens and fall in line with the OECD in terms of administrative cooperation to promote transparency and exchange with regard to fiscal information.

During a conference on 10th March in Dar-es-Salam (Tanzania), the Director General of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn declared that for the first time in 60 years world growth may be negative in 2009. The IMF is expecting world growth to slow and to lie below zero this year.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) granted 3 billion euros in loans to the car industry in Europe. The EIB said that it would have to lend 2.8 additional billion by May. The car industry, one of the leading European employers, should therefore be able to develop technologies that are more respectful of the environment.

On 14th March German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited British Prime Minister Gordon Brown with whom she spoke about the G20 Summit that will take place in London on 2nd April. In a joint press conference the two heads of government said they were confident in the success of the G20. G20 Finance Ministers who met on 14th March have smoothed over their differences and have said that their resolutions all went in the same direction. They committed to fight energetically against the recession, to set up a financial system and to put forward new regulations. Real progress will however be announced during the summit on 2nd April only.

Czech Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek said on 15th March that the Czech Republic's GDP figure was in danger of falling by 2% at the end of the financial year 2009, a more pessimistic figure than previously forecast. In January the country was counting on a GDP rise of 1.4% in 2009, a figure that had already been reviewed downwards in October (+3.7%). The central bank forecast a GDP decline of 0.3% in 2009.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek together his Deputy Prime Minister responsible for European Affairs, Alexandre Vondra and Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg received NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. They acknowledged that the 60th anniversary of NATO and the 10th anniversary of the Czech Republic joining the latter were proof that NATO still fulfilled its mission comprising the guarantee of its Member States' security. NATO Member States will discuss tasks to be undertaken worldwide and the Alliance's future orientation at the highest level on 3rd and 4th April in Strasbourg and Kehl.

The 27 European Defence Ministers who met on 12th and 13th March looked into issues regarding the development of the EU's military capabilities, EU cooperation with its strategic partners in the area of security, with NATO, the UN and the African Union. One of the priorities of the Czech Presidency is to enhance transport helicopter availability. Discussions focussed on the creation of a European air transport fleet (EATF)which is a major initiative in the area of strategic air transport. They also looked into an educational programme inspired by the ERASMUS exchange scheme, which is another priority of the Czech Presidency in the framework of the European Security and Defence Policy.

On 10th March MEPs adopted on third reading 8 legislative texts in the "Erika III Package" which will lead to improvements in ships' security and the measures that are to be taken in the event of an accident. The aim is to protect European coasts from maritime catastrophes and to improve passenger ships' crews' security.

Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the European Parliament opened the plenary session on 9th March dedicated to the definition of the 2010 EU budgetary guidelines. According to the report by László Surján (EPP-ED, HU) adopted by 537 votes in favour, 73 against and 59 abstentions, the budget should focus on the economic crisis, uncertainty about energy, climate change, illegal immigration, crime and terrorism. The main aim of the 2010 budget is to give priority to European citizens and to improve their security which means granting particular attention to the financial-economic crisis and its affects on the growth, competitiveness, employment and cohesion.

MEPs adopted a resolution on 12th March with regard to democratic progress in Turkey in 2008 in which they denounce inadequate reforms and point to the non-settlement of the conflict in Cyprus as well as the Kurdish issue. They were however pleased with progress made by Croatia towards joining the EU and repeated their support of Macedonia's accession.

The Elisa Ferreira (PES, PT) report adopted 526 votes in favour, 105 against and 22 abstentions recalls that national economy rescue plans can affect Europe's competitiveness from a global point of view if they are not well coordinated on a European level. MEPs recommend that appropriate emergency measures are adopted to support activity on the labour market and social inclusion. They want to guarantee access to loans on the part of both private parties and businesses especially SMEs. This report is the main political reaction by MEPs to the Commission's recovery plan. In addition to this the report by Jan Andersson (PES, SV) adopted 609 votes in favour, 60 against and 27 abstentions, asks the Commission to deal with the issue of employment as a priority by putting proposals forward to the European Council on 19th and 20th March for a European employment initiative with coordinated action on the part of Member States to preserve employment and create new jobs.

MEPs approved Holger Krahmer's (ALDE, DE) report, 402 votes in favour, 189 against and 54 abstentions that aims to modernise and toughen up the rules with regard to pollutant emissions of industrial origin. They also approved Andreas Schwab's (EPP-ED,DE) report 610 votes in favour, 34 against and 20 abstentions on the establishment of new immatriculation criteria, the sale and use of cars to improve road safety and to protect the environment better. Finally MEPs adopted Georg Jarzembowski's (EPP-ED, DE) report 452 votes in favour, 108 against and 134 abstentions on the "greening" of all types of transport. They notably recommend that taxes on heavy transport vehicles be based on the atmospheric and noise pollution and the traffic jams they create. The Eurovignette Directive allows Member States to raise taxes so that transporters pay the "real cost of transport".

MEPs have made changes to the draft statute of the European Private Company. The report by Klaus Heiner Lehne (EPP-ED, DE) approved by 578 votes in favour, 72 against would like the measures applied to creating a company and that refer to community law "be made attractive for SMEs" whilst stipulating that a company must include a cross-border component in its activities if it wants to benefit from the SPE status. A cross-border component may mean for example the inclusion of founder members from various countries, or that it has subsidiaries in several countries.

On 12th March as part of its effort to combat climate change and drive economic recovery, the European Commission called on Member States and industry to use information and communications technologies (ICT) to improve energy efficiency. These technologies are expected to reduce total carbon emissions in Europe by up to 15% by 2020. In addition to this the Commission recommends that funding for research and innovation in the ICT area be doubled. At present the EU holds 34% of the world ICT market and the value of this share is increasing 4% per year. However due to the fragmentation of the market and research work the added value produced by the EU's ICT sector only represents 23% of the total. The Commission has invited Member States and companies in the sector to pool their resources and increase their work together.

On 10th March the European Commission gave the greenlight in virtue of the regulation governing monopolies, to the project to acquire joint control of Thales by Dassault Aviation and TSA. Dassault purchased 21% of Thales shares held by Alcatel-Lucent for 1.6 billion euros. After examining the case, the Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or in a substantial part of it. Dassault is now waiting for the verdict on the part of the competition authorities in the main countries where Thales operates, ie USA, UK, which might not happen before April.

An inquiry was launched by the European Commission on 13th March to guarantee that the restructuration of Dexia will lead to the "restoration of its viability". European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes recalls that the "Commission is obliged to check that the major amounts in aid provided to Dexia are being used in realistic projects to remedy the problems which led to the present situation." "Plans that have been presented to the Commission do not allow us to positive conclusions for the time being." The Dexia rescue plan includes recapitalisation to a total of 6.5 billion euros and a guarantee that may rise to 150 billion euros, delivered by both the French and Belgian authorities.

On 9th March the 27 Employment Ministers debated the economic and financial crisis and the effects it is having on employment. They stressed the importance of common European initiatives such as legislation in the terms of coordinating social protection systems, the Eures system and the European Certification Framework. Ministers called on companies to avoid establishing early retirement plans. They approved the joint Reports on Employment and Social Protection. Finally they adopted the conclusions on "New Skills for ew Jobs: Anticipating and matching labour market and skills needs and on professional and geographical mobility of the workforce and the free movement of workers within the European Union."

On 10th March the 16 Finance Ministers from the euro area approved a "strategy to emerge from the worsening public finance situation." Details with regard to this strategy are to be defined during the first half of 2009. Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said that he was "against an all-out enlargement of the euro area;" in his opinion "the time is not right for new debate on the definition of the accession criteria to the euro area or on a new interpretation of our criteria."

The Ambassador of Austria in Slovenia, Valentin Inzko was appointed the EU's special representative for Bosnia-Herzegovinaon 11th March.

EUFOR, European Force deployed for a year to Chad and Central Africa passed command over to the UN Mission on a satisfactory note from both an operational and political point of view. 26 countries (23 from the EU, Russia, Albania and Croatia) have sent 3,200 soldiers into the field to provide security notably to the 190,000 displaced persons and to 260,000 refugees in neighbouring Darfur against the Janjawid Militia.

In a report published on 11th March French Employment Minister presented the paid employment figures in the fourth quarter of 2008. The latter declined by 0.6% in comparison with the previous quarter ie 106,800 jobs. There has been a significant decrease in temporary jobs (13.3%) (in comparison with 3.5% in the previous quarter) as well as a rise in employment in the private sector - mainly in non-trade sectors - (a rise of 0.5% after 0.6% in the previous quarter).

On 11th March Thomas Hammarberg, Human Rights Commissioner for the Council of Europe published a report on his visit to Serbia and said that "in spite of progress he witnessed obstacles preventing the effective implementation of Human Rights standards." To improve tbe country's Human Rights situation the Commissioner has made some practical recommendations with regard to justice, the fight against discrimination, Human Rights militants, the behaviour of the police and conditions of detention.

According to figures published by Eurostat on 13th March the total hourly cost of labour in the euro area increased in nominal terms at an annual rate of 3.8% in the fourth quarter of 2008, in comparison with 4.2% in the previous quarter. In the EU the annual rise reached 4.6% in the fourth quarter of 2008 in comparison with 4.2% in the previous quarter.

According to Eurostat figures published on 13th March in January 2009, compared with December 2008, the volume of retail trade rose by 0.1% in the euro area and by 0.6% in the EU. In December retail trade fell by 0.3% and 0.2% respectively. In January 2009, compared with January 2008, the retail sales index decreased by 2.2% in the euro area and by 1.2% in the EU.

According to figures published by Eurostat on 12th March revealing that in January 2009 compared with December 2008, the industrial producer price index fell by 0.8% in the euro area and by 0.6% in the EU. In December 2008, prices decreased by 1.5% and 1.7% respectively. In January 2009 compared with January 2008, industrial producer prices dropped by 0.5% in the euro area but rose by 0.2% in the EU.

The Groupe de recherche et d'information sur la paix et la sécurité (GRIP)(Research and Information Group on Peace and Security) has published a report entitled "Armes nucléaires de l'OTAN : fin de partie ou redéploiement" (Nuclear Arms and NATO: game over or redeployment) which reviews the storage of American nuclear arms in Europe. The arsenal has diminished significantly over the last five years for political, economic and strategic reasons; the report looks into the perennity of nuclear arms in Europe.

Ten years of world anti-drugs policies have failed even marginally to prevent this scourge says a European Commission report presented on 10th March in Vienna. "Nothing shows that there has been a decrease in the world drug problem over the period 1998 to 2007," says the study undertaken by a team of international, independent experts. Its publications coincides with the opening on 11th March Vienna of a meeting that involved 53 Member States of the UN's Commission on Narcotic Drugs designed to review the results of ten years of global anti-drugs plans launched by the UN General Assembly in 1998. Breaking with the consensus that reigned at the time the European Commission report requested by Justice and Security Commissioner Jacques Barrot states the failure to fight against drugs has been almost total.

On 12th March the Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption (GRECO)published its Third Round Evaluation Report on France. It focuses on two distinct themes: criminalisation of corruption and transparency of party funding. Regarding the criminalisation of corruption, GRECO recognises that following various changes, the most recent in December 2007, France has a well developed legal framework that enables it to respond, to a very large extent, to the relevant requirements of the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption and its Additional Protocol. Concerning transparency of party funding, French legislation on political funding generally implements the provisions under evaluation of Recommendation Rec(2003)4 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on common rules against corruption in the funding of political parties and electoral campaigns.

Choiseul publishing has released a book by Pierre Verluise entitled "20 ans après la chute du mur, l'Europe recomposée". Thanks to various contributions the author provides the keys to understanding issues and perspectives in Europe in the 21st century. This work is prefaced by Jean-Dominique Giuliani, Chairman of the Robert Schuman Foundation.

The Museum of History of Amsterdam is dedicating an exhibition to opulence and the economic success of Amsterdam in the 17th century, the Golden Century. Some 70 works of art are on show until 9th August; they illustrate the Dutch painters' ability to draw close to everyday reality.

On 21st and 22nd March the weekly French newspaper "Télérama" is offering its readers a "Weekend at a Museum" in over 200 art museums in France. Each museum, art centre or Frac will offer free entry and specific activities as part of the "Weekend Musées Télérama". To have access to the prize readers just have to cut out a "Pass" that is only available in the copies of Telerama dated 11th and 18th March 2009; the pass is valid for four people.