The Law and Justice Party (PiS) won the general elections that took place in Poland on 25th October with 37.58% of the vote. It has won the absolute majority and is due therefore to govern Poland alone for the next four years, a first in the country's history since the fall of communism in 1989.

On 21st October during the 23rd Congress of the European People's Party (EPP) in Madrid Joseph Daul was re-elected as head of the party for the next three years. On 22nd October the EPP also elected its 10 new Vice-Presidents, its Secretary General and Treasurer.

Given the influx of nearly 50,000 migrants into its territory in just a few days the Slovenian government decided to mobilise the army to help the police on the borders.

Private activity growth gathered pace in October in the euro zone with a brightening on the employment front said the Markit consultancy on 23rd October.

On 21st October the Commission published the list of actions necessary to implement phase 1 "Deepening by Doing" of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU): the external representation of the euro zone, revamped European Semester and improvement in the economic governance tools.

On 22nd October the 28 Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers came to agreement on fishing opportunities in the Baltic Sea in 2016 and discussed the fisheries agreement between the EU and Norway.

According to a decision delivered by the European Court of Justice on 22nd October bitcoins (a virtual currency not issued by a Central Bank) should be exempt of VAT during traditional currency exchange against bitcoins in the same way as traditional currencies are in standard currency conversions.

According to a report by the Court of Auditors published on 22nd October Spain, Greece, Hungary and Romania "still haven't transposed all of the EU's regulations in terms of timber" which was introduced to prevent illegal timber from being marketed in the EU.

The President of the European Central Bank (ECB) spoke after an ECB Council of Governors meeting on 22nd October in Malta guaranteeing that he "wanted to act and had the capacity to do so if necessary," to continue supporting the economy in the euro zone and to counter the threat of deflation.

On 26th October the 28 Foreign Affairs Ministers met in Luxembourg. The Council adopted conclusions on Afghanistan, on the 2015 report on Policy Coherence for Development and the European Regional Action Plan 2015-2020 in the Horn of Africa. They also asked for the launch of consultations with Burundi under article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement for the non-respect of vital elements of the agreement. Finally Ministers held an in depth debate over migration, after which they agreed to strengthen cooperation with third countries. There was also an exchange of views over the future of the partnership with the countries of Africa-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) and humanitarian affairs.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk inaugurated the German/Ukraine Economic Conference on 23rd October at the Chamber for the German Economy in Berlin.

The Spanish 2016 budget was finally adopted by the Congress of Deputies on 20th October. It notably features the "redistribution of the results of the effort made to society" during the five years of recession and economic stagnation.

On 22nd and 23rd October French President François Hollande travelled to Greece to discuss the reforms that had been undertaken and those still to come, as well as the migrant issue.

The High Court of Ireland ordered the National Data Protection Commissioner on 20th October to investigate the dispatch of the personal data of European citizens to the USA via Facebook after the European Court of Justice's invalidation of transatlantic transfers.

On 23rd October the closing conference of the European event "Women mean business and economic growth - promoting gender balance on company boards" aims to "promote a balanced representation of men and women in terms of economic decision making."

On 22nd October Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva appointed outgoing Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, winner in the general elections on 4th October, head of the next government.

From 20th to 23rd October Chinese President Xi Jinping was in London in view of strengthening economic and financial ties between the two countries, the value of which is estimated at over £30 billion. He indicated that he hoped that the UK would remain "an important member" of the EU.

On 21st October Ukraine launched a procedure against Russia at the WTO. The dispute involves railway equipment imports from Ukraine into Russia.

17 countries of the Council of Europe including France, Germany, the UK, and Belgium as well as the EU signed an agreement on 22nd October in Riga that is designed to counter "foreign terrorist fighters" who travel to areas of conflict, notably Syria and Iraq.

According to a Eurostat report on 20th October, "the EU's current account registered a surplus of 12.5 billion € in August 2015".

According to the report "Trends and projections in Europe in 2015" published on 20th October by the European Agency for the Environment, greenhouse gases declined by 23% between 1990 and 2014 and now lay at the lowest levels ever recorded.

The new copy of the review "Questions internationales" is entitled "L'euro. Un dessein inachevé." (The euro. An incomplete project). It notably analyses the difficulty in preceding political union by monetary union and the apparent need for European economic government.

The Cibeles Centre in Madrid is hosting, until 28th February 2016, one of the biggest monographic exhibitions ever undertaken in Spain on the painter Vassily Kandinsky.