On 26th October the Irish are being convened to ballot to elect their President of the Republic. Outgoing President Michael D Higgins will face five other challengers. The most recent poll by RED C, published in The Sunday Business Post on 16th September forecasts the outgoing President as the winner in the election with 67% of the vote. Sean Gallagher is due to come second with 15%, ahead of the Sinn Fein candidate, Liadh Ni Riada, who is due to take 7% of the vote and Gavin Duffy, who is due to win 6% of the vote. The President of the Republic of Ireland is elected for a seven year mandate that is renewable once.

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the Commissioner responsible for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica announced on 28th September the start of negotiations with the countries of Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) to take their cooperation forward after 2020, notably in the fight to counter terrorism and climate change.

On 27th September the Council adopted a regulation that creates a single digital portal. Available in the Union's 24 official languages, the platform will provide information and assistance on the most frequent European procedures (study abroad, work, Erasmus grant ...). The Single Portal or Gateway is there to reduce red-tape. The Council and Parliament must now sign the regulation that should enter into force in five year's time at the latest.

On 27th September the Council adopted a regulation creating a legal framework for the European Solidarity Corps until 2020. This programme based on Erasmus+ addresses young people aged 18 to 30, who are Union citizens or who are from neighbouring countries who want to do voluntary work for projects across all of Europe.

During the Competitiveness Council on 27th and 28th September, Ministers adopted a regulation creating a joint European business, EuroHPC, which will supervise the pooling of resources in the project to build a super-computer that will process big data. 23 Member States are taking part in EuroHPC, a public/private partnership that will start to work in 2019 with a budget of 1 billion euro. They discussed a draft action plan on artificial intelligence and debated the future research and innovation programme Horizon Europe. Ministers hoped that Horizon Europe, which will follow on the Horizon 2020 programme for the period 2021-2027, will have a budget that is twice as big as the present one.

The mutual recognition of electronic IDs by the Member States is now effective (as of 29th September, as part of the eIDAS regulation.

Bank card fraud has decreased for the first time since 2011 in the SEPA zone according to an ECB report published on 26th September. The measures taken by banks in the SEPA zone (EU, Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland, Monaco, Switzerland, and San Marino) have led to a reduction in infringements. Online payments are still increasingly affected.

Last year customs authorities seized 31 million counterfeit products on the EU's borders, representing a market value of 580 million euro, announced the European Commission on 27th September. Amongst the items seized 43% were "daily products that counterfeiting makes potentially dangerous," such as healthcare products, medicines, toys and electric equipment ..."

The unemployment rate in the euro zone decreased in August to 8.1%, its lowest level since November 2008, announced the European statistics office, Eurostat. In the EU it is stable at 6.8%, its lowest level since April 2008.

The European Parliament has published a study on the EU's future relations with the UK after Brexit. This study assesses the respective goals and principles on which the negotiations are based as expressed publicly by each of the parties and analyses certain legal constraints and existing practices and precedents that shape cooperation between the EU and third countries. This helps evaluate the possibilities of any future partnership.

The "Gauguin & Laval in Martinique" exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam from 5th October 2018 to 13th January 2019, brings together canvasses and drawings created by Paul Gauguin and his friend Charles Laval during their stay together in Martinique in 1887.

From 5th to 14th October the light installations projected on to the monuments and historic venues of Berlin will transform the city into an immense artistic stage. These shows will tell various stories and present diverse culture and art.

The musical performances of the Biennale in Venice will continue until 7th October. Keith Jarrett and Sebastian Rivas will be awarded a prize, the former for all of his musical work and the latter as the young hope of contemporary composition.

Vienna Design Week is taking place from 7th October in many museums and galleries across the town. The event aims to present and sell creations by contemporary designers.