On 4th October the Commission opened an inquiry into the project to create two joint ventures by the plane manufacturers Boeing (US) and Embraer (Brazil). It fears that an operation like this will reduce competition on the regional airplane market and lead to a rise in prices and a reduction in choice.

Meeting on 4th October the Environment Ministers adopted the Union's position for the UN Conference on the Climate (COP25) which will take place in December in Santiago, Chile. They also called on the Commission to put forward a new strategy for the circular economy and defined political guidelines for the Union's 8th action programme that the Commission is due to set out in 2020.

On 7th October the Council adopted the directive on the protection of whistleblowers, which will enter into force in 2021. They also agreed on the need to draft of a new strategy to counter corruption and for the Union to join the Group of States against corruption of the Council of Europe (GRECO). On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, they re-iterated that the Union is based on values such as the respect of human dignity and democracy and it hopes to join the European Convention for Human Rights. They confirmed the importance of allocating adequate resources to the agency for judicial cooperation, Eurojust.

On 3rd October the Union's Court of Justice deemed that internet platforms are obliged to delete illicit content. It gave its decision regarding the case of an Austrian national who was slandered on Facebook and who requested the deletion of comments that tainted her honour. The Court stated that Union law allowed for the deletion of content worldwide.

Montenegro is typified by a general climate of tolerance, the legal framework to counter discrimination is satisfactory and the settlement of the question regarding displaced people from Kosovo has progressed significantly, deemed the Consultative Committee of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCMN) at the Council of Europe in a report published on 2nd October. The Committee demands however "urgent" action to improve the socio-economic situation of the Roma, as well as the re-introduction of civic education at school.

On 2nd October the WTO allowed the US to impose customs duties on European products to a total of 7.5 billion $ (6.9 billion €). This will take immediate effect. The WTO's arbitrator deemed that the subsidies given by the EU to the plane manufacturer, Airbus, distorted competition. The Union said it was prepared to respond to all American sanctions. It is also waiting for a similar decision targeting Boeing, which might be delivered very shortly.

In the first semester of 2019 the Union recorded a surplus in its balance of payments of 40.9 billion €, i.e. 1% of the GDP according to figures published by Eurostat on 4th October. The balance of services has recorded a surplus of 25.7 billion €.

Until 27th January 2020, the Berlinische Galerie will be celebrating the 100th year of he creation of Bauhaus, a movement which has had long lasting influence over architecture, art and design.

Until 12th January 2020 the Palace for Fine Arts (Bozar) in Brussels is running a retrospective of Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi, which inlcudes work by his contemporaries like Man Ray, Modigliani and Rodin. The exhibition is part of the Europalia festival which pays tribute to Romanian culture and arts.

Until 24th February 2020 the Louis Vuitton Foundation is paying tribute to Charlotte Perriand to mark the 20 years since her death. The exhibition covers the work of this visionary architect and designer, around the place of women and nature in society.

The Grenoble Museum is running an exhibition until 5th January 2020 entitled "Picasso, at the centre of the shadows (1939-1945)", which covers the painter's work during his years haunted by solitude and death.

The Guggenheim Musem of Bilbao is running an exhibition until 19th January 2020 of the work by German photographer Thomas Struth. The retrospective focuses on problems like "the importance of public space, the strength of the cohesion of family ties, the importance of nature and culture, as well as the limits and potential of new technologies".

On 7th October Briton Peter Ratcliffe and Americans William Kaelin and Gregg Semenza were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their research regarding the adaption of cells to the variable provision of oxygen, enabling the fight to counter cancer and anemia.