The ruling party, United Russia (ER), won the general elections on 4th December in Russia with 49.54% of the vote and 238 seats in the Duma, the lower chamber of Parliament (-77 in comparison with the previous election on 2nd December 2007). It came out ahead of the Communist Party (KPRF), led by Guenady Zyuganov which won 19.2% of the vote (92 seats, +35), Fair Russia (SR), led by Nikolay Levichev, 13.20% of the vote (64 seats +26) and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), led by Vladimir Jirinovski, 11.40% of the vote (56 seats, +16). Turnout was slightly below that recorded in the last general elections on 2nd December 2007, totalling 60.2% ie -3.51 points.

The general elections in Slovenia caused a surprise since the party, Positive Slovenia, led by Zoran Jankovic, won with 28.54% of the vote and 28 seats. The new party came out ahead of the Democratic Party, led by Janez Jansa, which won 26.25% of the vote and 26 seats (-2 in comparison with the election on 21st September 2008). The Social Democratic Party (SD) led by outgoing Prime Minister Borut Pahor followed with 10.5% of the vote and 10 seats (-19), the Citizens List-Gregor Virant, 8.42% and eight seats, the Democratic Pensioners' Party (DeSUS), 6.9% and six seats (-1), the People's Party (SLS) 6.9% and 6 seats (+1). New Slovenia-Christian People's Party (NSi-KLS) makes a come-back in parliament with 4.79% of the vote and four seats. However the National Party (SNS), Zares (Real Z), and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDS) have left Parliament. Turnout totalled 64.69% ie -1.59 points than in 2008.

On 30th November the Portuguese Parliament finally adopted the 2012 budget. This is of draconian austerity with reforms that aim to bring the deficit, which totalled 9.8% of the GDP in 2010, down to 4.5% at the end of 2012. Austerity measures mainly affect civil servants and pensioners with the abolition of the 13th and 14th month of salary. In the private sector the number of hours worked per day will increase by 30 minutes. VAT is also due to go up on various products, particularly on restaurants, where it will rise from 13% to 23%.

On 29th November during a Eurogroup meeting chaired by Jean-Claude Juncker, the 17 euro zone Finance Ministers released the 4th and 6th aid instalments to Ireland and Greece. Ministers also looked into the steps to take to limit contagion of the crisis in the euro zone. The Eurogroup approved two new levers for the European Financial Stability Facility and welcomed the European Commission's proposals for integrated financial and fiscal governance.

The Cypriot government and opposition agreed on 2nd December on austerity measures including tax increases and the freezing of civil servants' salaries, indicated the government's spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou, who said that the government intended to save 200 million additional euros by putting a ceiling on means tested family allowance and school scholarships, and by countering tax fraud. Salaries over 2,500 euros , both in the public and private sector or amongst independents, will be taxed more according to a progressive scale, whilst VAT will rise from 15% to 17%.

On 30th November the European Central Bank announced coordinated international action on the part of several major central banks in order to counter the crisis. Action by the central banks of Canada, UK, Japan, Switzerland, as well as the American Federal Reserve and the ECB, aims to increase available liquidities in order to prevent the financial system from suffocating. This agreement is valid until February 2013 and should also enable various central banks to help each other more easily. This action should also facilitate loans to households and investors and therefore support recovery.

On 1st December the French statistics institute (INSEE) published the unemployment rate for the third quarter that reaches 9.3% in mainland France ie 2.6 million people; and 9.7% of the working population according to ILO standards (International Labour Organisation). On 28th November the Employment and Healthcare Minister published unemployment figures for October, up by 1.2%, in comparison with the previous month and by 4.9% over one year. The number of unemployed without any work at all now lies at 2,814,900.

On 29th November, during his autumn speech to Parliament, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, laid out the measures to protect the UK from world instability. These aim to revive the economy, notably with a £30 million investment in infrastructures; moreover thanks to a national loan guarantee, aid will be set up to a total of £21 billion to enable credit flow to SMEs, which do not have easy access to capital markets. In 2010 the government forecast a surplus of 0.3% of the GDP in 2015. they are now expecting a deficit of 1.6% on that date.

The Spanish Employment Minister published data on unemployment on 2nd December for the month of November. Over one month the increase in unemployment totalled 59,536 people ie a rise of 1.37%. The number of unemployed in Spain increased in November to a total of 4.420 million, a record since 1996.

On 4th December the Italian government adopted an action plan to prevent Italy from being swept away by the crisis. The austerity plan totals 20 billion euros and includes measures to a total of 10 billion additional euros to finance the revival of growth and to support employment: postponement of the retirement age to 66 years in 2018 in the private sector and a 2 point increase in VAT as of September 2012. An increase in property tax and luxury goods is also planned. Moreover, after the adoption of this plan, the head of government Mario Monti announced that he was relinquishing his salary as President of the Council and as Economy Minister. The draft bill was presented to the Italian parliament on 5th December.

The European Commission presented a package of measures on 1st December designed to increase the capacities of European airports. Indeed, nearly 800 million passengers travel yearly through them, ie one third of the world's total. This figure has tripled in 20 years - likewise the need for adequate responses. The three main legislative measures concern time slots, stop-over assistance and noise.

On 30th November last the European Commission presented the Horizon 2020 programme that is due to serve as a funding base for research and innovation projects covering the period 2014-2020. Enjoying resources of nearly 80 billion euros it will be used to support promising new technologies, as well as to aid European researchers. One of Horizon 2020's goals is to stimulate growth and employment by focusing on activities with high value added.

On 1st December the European Commission gave details of, and extended the rules applicable to State aid provided to the financial sector during the crisis. These rules notably aim to guarantee State remuneration in exchange for their support by making banks responsible and individual: remuneration must be set according to the risk linked to the bank being helped, and not according to the risk affecting the sector or the country. The Commission announced that it intended to continue to accept all requests for aid that are addressed to it as quickly as possible, if they are line with the rules in force.

On 2nd December the European Commission published a document in which it insists on the need to step up solidarity between the 27 EU Member States in terms of asylum and the protection of people who need it. Four priorities were put forward. The European Asylum Support Bureau is due to play a greater, more effective role, for example by facilitating the dispatch of civil servants from various countries to areas that most need help. The Commission also hopes to increase the funds made available to Member States and to facilitate their use. The document proposes to set up a warning system to prevent faults in the national asylum systems and to help international protection beneficiaries to relocate in the European Union.

On 1st December the European Parliament approved the EU's budget for 2012 in line with the agreement of 18th November last. The overall budget for next year will total 129.1 billion euros (+1.86%) for payments and 147.2 billion euros (+3.8%) for commitments. The Chair of the Budgets Committee at the European Parliament, Alain Lamassoure (EPP, FR) who chaired the Parliament's Delegation at the Conciliation Committee declared "In times of crisis, we have managed to reduce costs, whilst maintaining growth and competitiveness.

On 1st December Mario Draghi presented the ECB's annual activity report explaining the monetary decisions taken in 2010 and 2011. He recalled the main objective was to counter inflation by both interest rates and unconventional methods and that budgetary imbalance in some States, as in some banks in the euro zone, were mostly responsible for the present crisis. Whilst congratulating the work achieved for better economic governance, he insisted on the need to define a more integrated budgetary policy. MEPs approved this report and welcomed the role played by the ECB in the fight against inflation, but also communicated their concern about the rise in interest rates slowing recovery, and called for greater fiscal coordination.

MEPs adopted a report by Pervenche Beres (S&D, FR) on the European Semester, which plans for increased surveillance over national budgets by Brussels. In this report the MEP asks for the Parliament to be able to decide jointly with the Council of Ministers on the main orientations of the EU's economic policy adopted yearly bey the 27. The report also advises on the enhancement of dialogue with the national parliaments and social partners.

The 27 Defence Ministers looked into on-going military operations on 30th November, to improve cooperation between the EU and other international organisations that have competences in terms of security and defence, notably the UN and NATO. Ministers asked permanent representatives to prepare a modification of the Athena mechanism that is designed to fund operations. They set the European Defence Agency's budget at 30.5 million euros for 2012. The 27 Foreign Ministers condemned Iran with regard to itsnuclear programme and for the attack on British diplomatic buildings. They froze Iran's assets and banned 143 Iranian organisations and 37 individuals from obtaining a visa. They also took new steps to sanction the Syrian regime. They met Nabil El Araby, Secretary General of the Arab League, to discuss joint answers to provide to the Arab Spring and to study that state of progress of the peace process between Israel and Palestine.

On 1st and 2nd December the 27 EU Employment and Social Affairs Ministers came to agreement on a common approach in view of a regulation on the coordination of social security systems. The amendments discussed notably concerned cross-border workers, who encounter the most difficulties because of differences in legislation. However, because a qualified majority was not reached, Ministers did not agree on the extension of the crisis derogation for the European Globalisation Adjustement Fund.

The Serb negotiator Borislav Stefanovic called on the Serbs living in the north of Kosovo to accept an agreement concluded between Belgrade and Pristina on the common management of crossing points which they received with disappointment. "It is high time to understand that this agreement is the best possible one given the circumstances, it is not about acknowledging Kosovo and it would be good for citizens in the north of Kosovo to be with their State (Serbia) at the moment", declared Mr Stefanovic during a press conference in Belgrade. "A major responsibility now weighs on the shoulders of the Serb leaders in the North of Kosovo, which should approach this problem rationally and wisely," said Mr Stefanovic. He said he hoped that Belgrade would reach a "unified" position with the Serbs of Kosovo on this issue.

On 2nd December German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a speech to MPs in the Bundestag in explanation of her position, which she will defend at the European Council on 8th and 9th December. She insisted on the importance of reforming the European Monetary Union to transform it into a fiscal union to overcome the crisis. According to Ms Merkel Europe is starting "achieve fiscal union." "Rules have to be respected," she repeated. The Chancellor re-iterated her intention to modify the European treaties in order to include greater budgetary discipline. She explained that the introduction of joint "euro bonds" in all euro zone countries was not the right answer to the present crisis. In her opinion we might only consider this option after greater integration Europe wide has occurred.

On 1st December French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave a speech on the effects of the crisis and the lessons that France and Europe should draw from it. In his opinion "Europe is a necessity but we have to rethink and reshape it" notably with a new treaty that includes "real euro zone government" with "greater discipline, more solidarity and more responsibility." With regard to the European organisations he said he supported an "intergovernmental" decision making process and "more decisions being taken by the qualified majority". As for the ECB Mr Sarkozy said he attached great importance to it independence and is "convinced" that the ECB will "act" to counter the debt crisis. He also hopes for a review of the Schengen agreement on the free movement of people within Europe.

On 1st December Poland, which is chairing the Council of the European Union until the end of the year, said via its Prime Minister Donald Tusk that it wanted rapid change to be made to the European Lisbon Treaty to overcome the euro zone crisis. "We ask for a rapid change to the European Treaty without long, sterile debate," he declared. Poland prefers "a modification to the treaty in one go, rather than changing various international agreements within the euro zone," he added. Polish Prime Minister spoke in favour of stepping up the ECB's and Commission's role, which should be included in the modified European Treaty. "The present crisis proves that Europe needs a real central bank, and that the ECB's activities and the euro zone cannot be limited to simple emergency measures."

According to figures published by Eurostat on 30th November the annual euro zone inflation rate lay at 3% in November 2011. In October the rate was also 3%.

The European Wind Energy Agency (EWEA) presented its new report on wind energy entitled "Wind in our Sails. The coming of Europe's offshore wind energy industry." The authors are forecasting major growth in the production of offshore wind energy until 2030. Growth will rise to 562 TWh per year which will correspond to 14% of Europe's electricity requirements in 2030.

In its fourth year, the International Human Rights Film Festival is offering a programme of more than 80 films up to 12th December, including a great number of French productions and co-productions which will be screened in four cinemas in Vienna. Debates and conferences will take place focusing on the central theme of Human Rights.

The prize for the best European film 2011 was awarded on 3rd December to "Melancholia" by Dane, Lars von Trier. The prize was given by the European Cinema Academy in Berlin.

The Sarcinelli Palace at Conigliano is hosting an exhibition of some of the most beautiful works of Bellotto, Canaletto, Carlevarijs and Marieschi until 15th April 2012. The exhibition presents the high point of Italian painting in the 18th century typified by colourful landscape paintings. The paintings on show take visitor on a trip through Europe - visitors have a spectacular view of a few towns, with each offering an exceptional architectural wonder, crystal clear light and a palette of very bright colours.