On 14th November in Paris, the European economic and social committee and the French economic, social and environmental council will organise, with scientific support from the Robert Schuman Foundation, a conference entitled: "Economic and social councils faced with the expectations of European civil society". You are invited to come and discuss with the speakers who will attempt to explain how greater proximity can be established between political leaders and European citizens. Entrance is free of charge but prior registration is required.

In the third quarter unemployment fell to 23.67% in Spain, dropping below the 24% mark for the first time since the end of 2011, said the National Statistics Office (INE) on 23rd October. Mariano Rajoy's government is forecasting an unemployment rate of 24.2% by the end of the year and 22.2% by the end of 2015. In spite of this notable progress, unemployment in Spain is still amongst the highest in the developed countries.

On 23rd and 24th October in Brussels, the 28 EU heads of State and government reached a general agreement on climate. This agreement includes 3 objectives: reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40% between now and 2030, bringing the share of renewable energies up to 27% (compared with the current level of 14%) and improving energy efficiency by 30% by 2030. They announced that the European Union is to contribute a billion euros to help with the fight against the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and made the future European Commissioner for humanitarian affairs, Christos Stylianides, responsible for coordinating the European response to the Ebola outbreak. They passed a ruling prolonging through until the end of 2015 unilateral trade preferences applied in favour of Ukraine. In terms of the economy, they supported the initiative of the next Commission to launch a plan that will mobilise 300 billion euros for additional investments, and saluted the launch, on 4th November, of the Single Supervisory Mechanism which "will contribute to supporting economic recovery". Finally, they ratified the composition of the European Commission which will operate as from 1st November, for a 5 year period. This was the last European Council to be presided by Herman Van Rompuy.

On 21st October the Russian and Ukrainian energy ministers, Alexandre Novak and Iouri Prodan, and the European commissioner for energy, Gunther Oettinger, met in Brussels to discuss the recommencement of deliveries of Russian gas to Ukraine. The parties reached joint conclusions on matters of disagreement, notably the price of gas. It will be 385 dollars for 1000 m3 through until the end of March. The next Russia-Ukraine-EU meeting will be held on 29th October in Brussels. It may result in the signature of an agreement.

The 2014 Sakharov Prize was awarded on 21st October by the European Parliament to Congolese gynaecologist Denis Mukwege. The European Parliament and leaders of political groups wanted to honour him for his work with women victims of rape and sexual violence during armed conflicts, notably those in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Denis Mukwege will be invited to Strasbourg on 26th November to receive his award during the plenary session.

On 21st October, the 28 European Affairs ministers prepared for the European Council to be held on 23rd and 24th October. Within the context of follow-up to the meeting held in June, ministers addressed matters concerning freedom, security and justice, with particular attention paid to the question of foreign combatants and illegal immigration into the European Union. Finally, in relation with the Commission and the Parliament, ministers asked for the establishment of a consultation process, to ensure the reinforcement of annual and pluriannual inter-institutional planning.

On 22nd October, the Auditor's Court published its report on the use of mixed finance by the new Commission. It considers to be generally efficient the implementation of mixed financing which combines subsidies and loans granted by financial institutions using regional investment facilities. However, it refers to several major problems which must be remedied as quickly as possible.

On 26th October 2014, the ECB unveiled its report on the examination of the balance sheets of 130 European banks, the "asset quality review". Its aim is to find out exactly the financial position of the banks on 31st December 2013. The ECB has revealed that 25 banks (9 Italian, 3 Greek, 3 Cypriot, 2 Belgian, 2 Slovenian, 1 Portuguese, 1 Austrian, 1 Irish, 1 French, 1 German and 1 Spanish) had an insufficient level of equity, evaluating their capital requirements at some 25 billion euros. They will have two weeks in which to present the ECB with a recapitalisation plan and between six and nine months to implement it. This will restore confidence between the banks and investors and is an essential stage prior to the implementation of a banking union.

The Board of the European Investment Bank (EIB) approved on 22nd October the release of loans amounting to 8.4 billion euros, of which 2.9 billion euros will go to benefit SMBs and medium capitalisations in the European Union. This brings up to 13.1 billion euros the total amount of support given by the EIB to SMBs and intermediate size businesses since the beginning of the year. In addition to SMBs, loans of a total value of 3.4 billion euros were approved for investment in strategic infrastructure, which will notably support transport projects in France, Spain and Greece, as well as telecommunications in Malta.

On 21st October in Hambourg, at a government conference on digital changes, 800 representatives from the political, economic and scientific sectors discussed the topic "Working and living with digital changes - innovating together". German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Economy and Environment minister, Sigmar Gabriel, presented their "Digital Agenda 2014-2017", which comprises measure including the infrastructure, research, innovation and the protection of private data.

On 22nd October, French president François Hollande held a meeting of the restricted security council (foreign and defence ministers, and the chief of the armed forces) for an update on the crises in the Middle East and the Sahel, as well as the combat against the Ebola outbreak. In Iraq, France maintains its aim of weakening armed terrorist movements and continues to assist the authorities. In parallel, France is willing to support Kurdish forces in their combat in Syria. Finally, with regard to Ebola, France has currently mobilised over 100 million euros for equipment, training and the opening of treatment centres.

The survival of the British health service (NHS), threatened by a deficit that could reach 30 billion pounds sterling (38 billion euros) in 2020, will require an ambitious reform, as well as increased public financing, warned six health organisations on 23rd October, with the publication of a draft five-year reform aiming to modernise the NHS, a real institution in Great Britain. The plan presented provides for a saving of 22 billion pounds sterling (28 billion euros) per year between now and 2020 by improving prevention measures, notably in the fields of obesity and alcoholism, and relying on technological innovations and a rethink of the way in which care is given.

On 21st October Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas received his Swedish counterpart, Stefan Löfven. Discussions involved issues of security in the Baltic Sea, the European Council meeting on an agreement on climate and energy, as well as economic cooperation between the two countries. They confirmed the good relations that exist between the two countries.

On 26th October pro-European and pro-Western parties won the parliamentary elections in Ukraine. According to results that are now almost final, involving 85% of ballot papers, Prime Minister Arseni Iatseniouk's Republican Front party comes top with 22.03%, ahead of President Petro Porochenko's block which has scooped 21.67% of the vote. Another pro-European party, Samopomitch, comes in third position with 10.95%. The opposition block led by former energy minister Iouri Boïko obtains 9.46%, populist Oleg Liachko's Radical Party (7.47%) and Batkivchtchina (5.6%), the party of former Prime Minister Ioulia Timochenko comes in at 5.7%. The Svoboda party (4.7%) and the Communist party (3.9%) did not pass the 5% mark required in order to be represented in the Rada (Parliament).

On 20th October, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, saluted the law guaranteeing respect for the rights and liberties of displaced persons within Ukraine, which has been adopted by the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada). He pointed out that, according to this law, Ukraine was willing to take the necessary measures to protect the most vulnerable people, respecting their human rights in spite o the country's difficult situation.

The 190 member countries of the UN Convention on climate met from 20th to 25th October 2014 in Bonn with the aim of making progress with drafting the first world agreement on combatting global warming, prior to the annual UN Climate Conference to be held in December in Lima. Discussions involved mainly the contributions to be made by each country to the global effort on greenhouse gas reduction. The conference was marked by numerous disagreements between Southern countries and more developed countries, notably in terms of the evaluation of contributions made by each State to the reduction in emissions and the financing of the global objective of limiting the increase in the planet's temperature to 2°C. In the absence of any overall consensus, participants decided to hold 3 intermediate negotiation sessions between the Lima conference and the conference to be held in Paris in December 2015.

On 20th October the WTO published its "Report on World Trade 2014". This report indicates that growth in world trade in volume terms reached only 2.2% in 2013, a level similar to 2012 (2.3%). According to the WTO the weakness of trade and production at world level can be explained in large part by the recession and unemployment, as well as by uncertainty with regard to the timetable of the American Federal Reserve in terms of its policy on monetary stimulus. The WTO explains how it has helped developing countries to adapt to four recent trends that have considerably modified the relationship between trade and development.

On 23rd October, Eurostat published a report on public debt in the European Union. At the end of the second quarter 2014, the public debt ratio compared to GDP was 92.7% in the euro zone compared with 91.9% at the end of the first quarter 2014. Within the European Union the ratio increased from 86% to 87%. Compared to the second quarter 2013, the ratio of the public debt compared to GDP increased both in the euro zone (from 91.7% to 92.7%) and in the European Union (from 85.1% to 87%).

Published by LGDJ, the book "Notre européanité" (Our Europeanness) by Alfonso Mattera is the tale of the European adventure: reconciling, after over a thousand years of fratricide wars, the nations of the European continent, building a shared house in which to welcome all European peoples, giving them a privileged place of peace, freedoms and prosperity, and building a better world. This book is written above all for the young generations, born into a culture of dialogue and wanting to know about their roots, their "Europeanness": a heritage of values which, from Socrates to Jean Monnet, have forged our identity.

Through until 29th March 2015, The Brussels Museum of Letters and Manuscripts is holding an exhibition entitled "Victor Hugo in exile". Visitors will discover a little known side to the great 19th century French romantic novelist, who was also a talented thinker and politician. The drawings of maritime landscapes, poems and famous publications such as Les Misérables and Hugo's vast correspondence demonstrate just how much his relationships, political ideas and the solitude of his exile influenced the writer's work.