To find out all there is to know about the Budgetary Pact the Robert Schuman Foundation has published an explanatory paper on the Stability, Coordination and Governance Treaty. It is also offering its readers a summary table of the ratification procedures ongoing in the various Member States.

On 14th October next the Montenegrins are being called to ballot to renew the 181 members of Parliament. These general elections are taking place 6 months earlier than planned. Dominating the political arena for the last 20 years, the Democratic and Socialist Union (DPS) led by Prime Minister Igor Luksic and President of the Republic Filip Vujanovic, will, in all likelihood, win the election again.

The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy -VVD - led by outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte won the general elections on 12th September in the Netherlands with 26.5% of the vote and 41 seats (+10 in comparison with the previous election on 9th June 2010). The party is slightly ahead of the Labour Party (PvdA) led by Diederik Samsom which won 24.7% of the vote and 38 seats (+8). Together the liberals and labour have 79 seats i.e. the absolute majority in the States General, the lower chamber of parliament. The populist parties suffered a clear rebuttal. The Freedom Party (PVV) won 10.1% of the vote and 15 seats (-9). The Socialist Party won 9.6% of the vote and 15 seats (=). Turnout totalled 74.13%.

In its report on youth published on 10th September 2012 the EU calls for a priority to be given tp policies in support youth and employment, social integration, healthcare and well-being. Indeed the crisis has hit youth full on. The unemployment rate has risen by 50% in the EU since the start of the crisis, rising from 15% on average in February 2008 to 22.5% in July this year. According to the most recent statistics published by Eurostat the highest rates have been noted in Greece (53.8%) and in Spain (52.9%). To counter youth unemployment the report highlights the "Erasmus for all" programme that has been put forward for the period 2014-2020. It aims to enable 5 million young people to benefit from subsidies for study abroad.

The Greek Statistics Authority (ASE) announced on 13th September that the unemployment rate worsened in the second quarter of 2012, totalling 23.6% against 22.6% in the previous quarter. In the second quarter of 2011 this rate lay at 16.3%. Unemployment is affecting the 15-24 year olds, 53.9% are without work, the rate lying at 62.1% concerning women in this age category. According to the ASE "the highest unemployment rates have been recorded amongst those who have no schooling (35.8%) followed by those who only have secondary education or technical training (26%). The rate of employees in Greece, at 63.2% of the working population, continues to be "lower than the average amongst EU members, where the rate totals 80%."

The Swedish Statistics Bureau, Statistika Centralbryån said on 13th September 2012 that the unemployment rate had risen by 0.3 points in August, to 7.8% its highest rate in over a year and a half.

The Troika (ECB, EU, IMF) said on 11th September 2012 that it was satisfied with Portugal after its fifth assessment of the measures being implemented to overcome the crisis. The goals in terms of growth and exports are being respected, but public revenues as well as employment rates are still too low. Additional consolidation work has to be done but experts believe that Portugal is on "the right path", that the dangers threatening financial stability have been mastered and that reforms in support of competitiveness, employment and growth are moving forwards. On 14th September the 17 Finance Ministers from the euro zone (Eurogroup) confirmed this satisfecit saying that the overall aid package would remain unchanged and that Portugal should be able to fund the markets normally in 2013.

During his speech on the State of the Union to the European Parliament on 12th September the President of the European Commission, called for a true "federation of Nation States". He explained that the present problems could not be solved simply with national solutions and that the rise of populism has to be warded off. Moreover he said that a new treaty was necessary so that greater economic and monetary union could take place, so that the system could function better. He suggested that the "stakes in the next European elections in June 2014 should be Europeanised. The European political parties might contribute to this by appointing their candidate for the presidency of the European Commission ahead of time.

According to a new report by the European Commission, published on 14th September 2012, education and future prospects are strongly influenced by the place where one lives in Europe. This document entitled "Mind the Gap - Education Inequality across EU Regions" stresses the major differences in training opportunities and the results that exist between Member States and also points to differences within these. The Commission calls on the competent authorities to introduce specific measures rather than general ones to remedy this problem.

On 11th September 2012 MEPs adopted, 551 votes in support, 15 against and 81 abstentions, of a non-binding resolution on public health comprising several chapters. MEPs are notably calling on Member States to cooperate better together in view of cross-border organ donations and stress the medical advantages of using stem cells. They finally asked for organ donations and those of human tissues to be free of charge, voluntary and anonymous. The competent, national authorities will have to define a transparent, strict framework for encouraging and compensating donations.

On 12th September 2012 the European Parliament adopted the text written by Elmar Brok (EPP, Germany) regarding the Council's report on the Common Foreign and Security Policy, that was published in June 2011. This report reviews the priorities expressed by the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton in view of informing the European Parliament on the implementation of the CFSP. The Parliament notes that the "report does not meet the ambitions of the Lisbon Treaty" and indicates a lack of strategic orientation on the part of the CFSP. The parliament also notes the lack of mechanism designed to guarantee "coherence" between all of the institutions responsible for the common policy (Council and Commission, notably the External Action Service). The European Parliament also criticises the lack of adequation between the declared priorities in this report and the resources devoted to them. Finally Parliament expresses its attachment to the financial instruments devoted to the CFSP, as "strategic tools" to stabilise our neighbours in the East and the South. However issues of Defence should be "included in the CFSP's overall framework," it remarks.

On 11th September 2012 MEPs approved the directive on energy efficiency. Aiming to achieve a 20% reduction in European energy consumption and savings of around 50 billion euros annually, this text follows several paths: energy efficiency in public buildings and energy services; the systemisation of energy audits and finally the introduction of adequate funding mechanisms. The directive was adopted 632 votes in favour, 25 against and 19 abstentions. It will have to be applied in the Member States within the 18 months following its entry into force.

In a press release published on 14th September Eurostat announced that the annual inflation rate in the euro zone lay at 2.6% in August 2012 against 2.4% in July. The EU's annual inflation rate lay at 2.7% in August 2012, against 2.5% in July.

According to a Eurostat press release on 13th September 2012 the EU recorded a rising trade surplus of goods with South Africa in 2011. Exports totalled 26.6 billion euros and imports 20.5 billion - a level below that of 2007. In the first half of 2012 exports decreased slightly but imports even more so, leading to a surplus of 3.4 billion euros over this period against 2.7 billion in the first half of 2011.

On 11th September two IMF economists, André Oliveira Santos and Douglas Elliott published a report on the ongoing reform of the financial world that resulted from the international Basel III agreement in September 2010 and which is due to enter into force on January 1st 2013. This reform, which notably obliges banks to increase their own funds in order to prevent a repetition of the financial crisis of 2007-2008, will lead to a moderate rise in bank interest rates in Europe, in the USA and in Japan according to these two economists. These interest rates may, long term, increase base points by 17 in Europe, by 28 in the USA and by 8 Japan. However they believe that the banks have the ability to adapt to these changes without taking measures that would damage the economy as a whole.

Three economists from the World Bank, Truman Packard, Johannes Koetti and Claudio E Montenegro have published a report on the informal economy in the countries of Eastern Europe. They recall that in a context in which these States are heavily affected by the euro zone crisis, they must consolidate their public finances. The informal economy is depriving them of resources they could use to facilitate this consolidation. They insist therefore on the need to make the formal economy "more attractive" to their citizens and put forward measures to be applied in this direction.

On 11th September the Finnish Institute for International Affairs (FIIA) published a study entitled "The electoral trap: why the EU should think beyond Belarus's parliamentary election?" This analysis explains why we should expect nothing of the elections on 23rd September next which will just be an "electoral farce" and advises the EU to place more importance on encouraging and training players in civil society in view of the presidential election 2015, since they might promote democratic values in Belarus.

During a Franco-Germany conference on 12th September 2012 in Versailles, the Secretaries General of the Franco-German Office for Youth (OFAJ) presented the "Franco-German Relations Barometer" that was undertaken with the magazine ParisBerlin. This study was undertaken on line between 12th and 19th July 2012 involving the interview of 750 French and German citizens aged 15 to 34. According to the poll young French people associate Germany firstly with an economic model and the two World Wars whilst young Germans link France to lifestyle and tourism. Only 7% of the German and French would like to live in the respective neighbouring country.

On 12th September the German Marshall Fund of the USA (GMF) published its report on the state of Transatlantic relations in 2012. According to polls undertaken in June 2012 in twelve EU countries, in the States, Turkey and Russia by GMF, it is seen that 2/3 of Europeans and Americans believe that "their values and interests" are much closer regarding China, whilst the Russians distinguish themselves from the Westerners on this point and reject all types of European and American leadership. However, in spite of a desire to coordinate on international issues the use of military action (Libya, Syria) is still a source of divergence.

The Kulturforum Museum in Berlin is putting on a major exhibition devoted to the gifted artist Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841). Under the title "Karl Friedrich Schinkel, history and poetry" visitors discover 300 works by this artist who was not only an architect, but also a painter, draughtsman and set designer. The exhibition is open until 6th January 2013.

The Tate Gallery is presenting more than 150 works, paintings, sculptures and furniture until 13th January 2013 by artists from the pre-Raphaelite movement which managed to introduced a different type of audacity into the art world at the end of the 19th century when the Victorian era was in full swing. The exhbition shows the Pre-Raphaelites as the pioneers of the avant-garde movement in painting and in other arts. It has taken five years to put this exhibition together. After London it will travel to the National Gallery of Art in Washington and to the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.

On 14th September 2012 the town of Paphos in Cyprus was selected as European Capital of Culture 2017. It will be sharing the title with the town of Aarhus in Denmark. The Council of the European Union still has to make this choice official and will do so in May 2013. In 2012 the European Culture Capitals are Guimaraes (Portugal) and Maribor (Slovenia), followed in 2013 by Marseilles (France) and Kosice (Slovakia).

Art collectors, Christian and Karen Boro,s are opening their Berlin Second World War bunker again to the public as of 17th September - the latter has been transformed into a gallery to present some of their 700 works by contemporary artists.

There are two exhibitions devoted to Canaletto in Paris at the moment. The first is at the Jacquemart-André Museum, open until 14th January 2013.It is devoted to the veduta (18th century), for which Canaletto and Guardi are best known. The second is at the Maillol Museum from 19th September 2012 to 10th February 2013, and this is entirely devoted to Antonio Canal, bringing together more than 50 paintings. Canaletto is the most famous of the Venetian vedutisti of the 18th century.