As part of the French Presidency the Robert Schuman Foundation is co-organising a seminar in Warsaw on 28th October entitled "Does Europe need a new Robert Schuman?"

The White House announced that a world summit dedicated to the financial crisis would take place on 15th November near Washington. This G20 (bringing together the G8, plus South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey) will be devoted to the study of the causes of the financial crisis and to the identification of the necessary reforms. The summit will take place after the American presidential election on 4th November. The new American president elect will therefore be taking part. Before this the French Presidency of the Council of the EU will organise a meeting with the 27 Heads of State and government of the EU on 7th November which will be designed to prepare for the meeting on 15th November.

Nicolas Sarkozy, the President in office of the Council of the EU travelled to the European Parliament on 21st October to present the mid-term results of the French Presidency. He recalled Europe's effectiveness "two months after the end of the war and the withdrawal of occupation troops" in Georgia. He called for the creation of a "clearly identifiable, economic government" of the euro area working alongside the ECB. He announced the upcoming extraordinary European Council in preparation of the world meetings on the restructuring of the international financial system. To protect European companies from foreign purchase he suggested the creation of a sovereign fund by EU states. He rejected the idea whereby the EU should suspend its fight against global warming on pretext of the financial crisis. He announced a roadmap for December to find a solution to the issue of the Irish ratification. He said he was pleased with the adoption of the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum, a fantastic example of "European democracy".

On 22nd October MEPs approved a programme that aims to make internet safer for children 672 votes in favour, 9 against and 19 abstentions. This programme proposes the establishment in co-operaiton with on-line service suppliers of a common label "safe for children" that will be placed on web pages. Participants in the "Safer Internet" programme will be encouraged to set out a system of symbols or warning messages indicating age categories per content. MEPs suggested the creation of a training-package for teachers and people who take care of children as well as parents.

On 22nd October in Brussels the European Commission and the World Bank organised a conference for donors for the reconstruction of Georgia in the wake of the Russo-Georgian war. Donors pledged a total of 3.4 billion euro (4.5 billion dollars) 2.8 billion of which will come from public donors over three years - which is more than the 2.38 billion necessary for reconstruction as assessed by the World Bank and the Commission. Of the 2.8 billion the EU, Member States and the European Investment Bank (EIB) will contribute 863 million, 500 million of which will come from the community budget and 200 million in loans from the EIB.

The 27 Environment Ministers who met on 20th October to continue discussions on the fight against climate change stressed the need to speak with one voice during the next party conference at the UN framework convention on climate change that will take place in Poznan (Poland) from 1st to 12th December. With regard to the energy-climate package they said that a first reading agreement with the Parliament was vital before the negotiations in Poznan. Finally they adopted a directive on waste management that aims to encourage recycling and which highlights prevention.

During the summit on education which took place on 22nd October in Dresden, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the minister-presidents agreed on a common declaration with regard to the concrete measures to take to improve the German education system. By 2015 the number of high school students leaving school without a diploma is to be reduced from 8 to 4%; the number of young people who do not complete their training is to be reduced from 17 to 8.5%. A professional guidance module is now to become obligatory. In addition to this the transfer over from school to professional training will be facilitated. The Federal State and the Länder are to increase their investments in training and research that are due to reach 10% of the GDP in 2015 (3% for research and 10% for education).

On the occasion of an official visit to China, Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced on 23rd October the launch of an Action Plan China. This plan is due to involve political dialogue, scientific research co-operation, technological innovation, education, trade and investment, culture, tourism, energy, environmental protection and the fight against climate change. According to trade figures China may be a very promising export market for Denmark. Danish exports have doubled between 2003 and 2007 and increased by 40% since the start of the year. The most exported products are fashion, furniture, design and architecture. Denmark will also be present at the Universal Exhibition in Shanghai in 2010.

The Spanish unemployment level rose again in the third quarter to 11.33% of the working population and is at its highest level since the first quarter of 2004, announced the National Statistics Institute on 24th October. In the second quarter the level lay at 10.44%. In the first quarter 2004 the unemployment rate lay at 11.38%.

During a meeting dedicated to the fight against tax havens on 21st October under the guidance of French Minister, Eric Woerth and German Minister Peer Steinbrück, the 17 countries present agreed to ask the OECD to complete and update the list of unco-operative tax havens who for the time being only includes three countries: Andorra, Monaco and Liechtenstein.

On 26th October the conservative opposition won the second round of the general elections in Lithuania. The conservatives led by former Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius won a total of 44 seats out of 141 in the Seimas, the Lithuanian parliament, after the second round of voting. The Social Democrats led by outgoing Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas won 26 seats. The National Revival Party came third with 16 seats, the populist party Order and Justice led by former President Rolandas Paksas won 15 seats, the Liberal Movement 11, the Labour Party 10, the Liberal Union 8 and the National Farmers' Union, 3, and the New Alliance, 1. Four seats went to independent candidates and three to a movement representing the Polish minority. The Conservatives signed an agreement with three other parties to negotiate the formation of a new government (Conservative Party, Union of Liberals, Alliance of Liberals and the Centre, the National Revival Party).

Following the conference organised on 21st October by France and Germany in Paris on the fight against fraud and international tax evasion, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker spoke on the subject of banking secrecy. In response to a parliamentary question and in his televised interviews Jean-Claude Juncker said that Luxembourg "does not want to give up banking secrecy" and that in no way was this the cause of the financial crisis. He said he was prepared to deepen co-operation with Europe on the subject: "Luxembourg actively contributes to the ongoing discussions in the EU on the integration of other financial products into the directive's field of implementation."

After having received German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek indicated that Prague hoped to ratify the Lisbon Treaty by the end of the year before his country took over the presidency of the EU. Ratification may occur between 6th December and the end of the year. The Czech government is waiting for the opinion of the Constitutional Court on the conformity of the Lisbon Treaty to continue the ratification process that has to go through parliament.

On 21st October in Constanta Romanian President Traian Basescu declared that Romania supported the Nabucco project to transport gas from the Caspian Sea towards Europe. He repeated his call to EU Member States to accelerate the completion of the project: "the European Commission and the EU Member States who are partners in this project must make an additional effort to overcome political and technical obstacles with a rapid signature of the Intergovernmental Agreement and by the establishment of real partnerships with the Caucasian and Central Asian suppliers." The declaration comes just a few days after Gazprom's offer to Romania instead of Bulgaria to join the competing Russian gas pipeline project, South Stream.

Queen Elizabeth II together with the Duke of Edinburgh and British Foreign Minister David Miliband travelled to Slovenia and Slovakia on an official visit on 21st and 24th October. The Queen notably met with the Slovenian and Slovakian Presidents, Danilo Türk and Ivan Gasparovic. This was the Queen's first official trip to these countries.

On 23rd October the Macedonian Parliament unanimously adopted a constitutional reform modifying the electoral law which aims to bring down the participation threshold from 51 to 40% for the election of the Head of State and to create a national electoral commission whose chairman would be appointed by the opposition. The next elections (presidential and local) will take place on 15th March 2009. These constitutional modifications, demanded by the European Commission, are to guarantee free and fair elections - this comes after the violence and infringements that marred the general elections in June 2008.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushenko announced that he was going to delay the early general elections from 7th to 14th December and that the dissolved Parliament would be re-established for a few days in order to adopt the laws necessary to fight against the financial crisis affecting the country.

In a report published on 22nd October after the second special mission into zones affected by the conflict in South Ossetia, Thomas Hammarberg, Human Rights Commissioner has noted that "humanitarian conditions and the human rights situation are still critical."

On 22nd and 23rd October the plenary session of the European Economic and Social Committee took place. The Committee elected a new President for the period 2008-2010, Mario Sepin, a former Italian union leader. The new president has called his programme "rights and solidarities to guide globalisation" and promoted the consolidation of the European social model by the application of the fundamental rights charter, the enhancement of participative democracy based on the rules in the new treaty and the enhancement of the Lisbonn Strategy after 2010 as his priorities.

On 21st October the UN Habitat Programme presented the 2008-2009 edition of its report on the state of the world's cities. This fourth edition entitled "Harmonious Cities" observes that since the start of this year more than half of humanity lives in an urban environment and that many megacities of over 20 million inhabitants are forming, after Rio and Mexico come Bombay, Sao Paulo and Karachi. "The 21st century is the century of cities," which creates economic, social and ecological inequalities. With regard to this subject the Foundation has supported the work of Jean-Marie Beaupuy, MEP entitled "Bâtir des villes durables".

On the occasion of the European Forest Week 20th-24th October Eurostat presented statistics with regard to forests in the EU. In 2005 forests and other wooded areas represented 177 million hectares Europe wide ie 42% of its surface area. The biggest wooded areas were in Sweden, (31 million hectares, ie 75% of its surface area), Spain (28 million, ie 57%), Finland(23 million, ie 77%), France (17 millions, ie 31%), Germany (11 million, ie 32%) and Italy (11 million, ie 37%). EU roundwood production increased by 20% between 2001 and 2006.

The Bruegel Institute has published a study on "Divisions of Labour: rethinking Europe's migration policy". Author Jakob von Weizsäcker recommends the EU dedicates itself to the legal immigration of qualified workers, illegal and humanitarian immigration, whilst the legal immigration of poorly qualified workers and integration problems should remain a national competence.

Just as France holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU Belin publications has released a paper by Muriel de l'Ecotais, a doctor in law and lecturer in public law at the University of Picardy Jule Verne; the paper is entitled "Europe: la France qui triche?" (Europe: is France cheating?).

On 22nd October Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, the Belgian directors of the film "Lorna's Silence" won the Lux Prize awarded by the European Parliament for cinema productions 2008. The Lux Prize aims to distribute European films and to facilitate their circulation in Europe where the language barrier is often an impediment. The winning film will be subtitled in the 23 official languages of the EU.