Contrary to popular discourse, Jean-Dominique Giuliani shows that the European Union has the means to address the new challenges of the 21st century. Europe has succeeded beyond the expectations of its founding fathers. It can still succeed in guaranteeing its place among the three greatest powers in the world by the end of the century.

The President elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen approved the candidatures of Thierry Breton and Oliver Varhelyi to the posts of French and Hungarian Commissioner after having met them on 28th October. The Commission's spokesperson however expressed his doubts about the legitimity of the candidature presented by Romania on 29th October, due to the dispute between outgoing Prime Minister Viorica Dancila and President Klaus Iohannis on the choice of Victor Negrescu. On 29th October the European Council recalled the UK's obligation to put a candidate forward since it has been granted a delay on Brexit.

The international conference for solidarity regarding the refugee and migrant crisis in Venezuela organised by the EU and the UN took place on 28th and 29th October in Brussels. The High Representative Federica Mogherini stresses that the Union is prepared to continue supporting the 4.3 million Venezuelans who have fled their country due to the political situation.

In an opinion published on 31st October the Advocate General from the Court of Justice deemed that Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic "failed to fulfil their obligations under the Union's law", when these countries refused to implement the provisional mechanism and the temporary relocation of asylum seekers in 2015. The opinion is not binding for the Court when it gives its decision.

Christine Lagarde officially took office as President of the European Central Bank on 1st November for an eight year mandate.

German Minister for the Economy, Peter Altmaier, presented the project, Gaia-X for the European digital cloud developed with France. This secure infrastructure for data involves the cooperation of European businesses with shared standards and rules.

The Danish Energy Agency authorised the passage of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline through its waters in the south east of the Bornholm Island. This decision will enable the completion of this project to bring Russian gas to Europe, directly from Russia via Germany.

On 1st November the UN announced that the 25th international conference on climate change, the COP25, will take place from 2nd to 13th December in Madrid. This announcement follows the decision taken by Chile's President Sebastian Pinera to withdraw its offer to host the event due to social unrest.

On 29th October Florence Parly, French Minister for the Armed Forces, travelled to Tapa in Estonia. She met the soldiers from Lynx 6, a non-permanent mission comprising the strengthening of NATO's military position in the Baltics.

French President Emmanuel Macron started a three day state visit to China on 4th November. He is going to the Shanghai International Imports Fair, in which France is the guest of honour, then on to Beijing. Discussions will focus on multilateralism and trade relations, with special attention being given to Europe. Emmanuel Macron is travelling with the European Commissioner for Agriculture and future Commissioner for Trade, Paul Hogan, as well as the German Minister for Education and Research, Anja Karliczek. On the first day of the visit he announced that an agreement between the EU and China will be signed on 6th November regarding Protected Geographic Indications.

In the night of 31st October to 1st November, following the significant increase in the number of refugees, Greek Parliament adopted a law that tightened up the procedure for access to asylum. Dunja Mijatovic, the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe warned of the risk of a "superficial" assessment of asylum requests by the Greek authorities, which would significantly compromise migrant and refugee rights.

Russian President Vladimir Putin together with his Foreign Affairs Minister Serguey Lavrov, travelled to Budapest on 30th October to speak with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Their meeting mainly focused on the renewal of a gas supply contract which will come to an end in 2021, the expansion of the nuclear powerstation PaksII and a joint project to supply railway equipment to Egypt.

The Romanian government led by Ludovic Orban (PNL) was invested on 4th November by Parliament, 240 votes in support, ie seven more than the necessary minimum. Despite the boycott of the PSD and Pro Romania (left), the PNL managed to win the support of the main right/centre-right parties (USR, UDMR, PMP) and the minorities. It is now expected that Romania present a candidate for the post of European Commissioner.

On 29th October the European Council decided to delay the date of withdrawal by the UK from the EU until 31st January 2020. It said that if the British Parliament ratified the withdrawal agreement, then Brexit would occur before 31st January. Elections have been convened for 12th December.

A report by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities at the Council of Europe adopted on 30th October noted positive developments in Russia since 2010, notably the acknowledgement in the Constitution of the principle of local autonomy and the introduction of instruments enabling the participation of citizens in local public affairs. However there is still concern such as the reduced share of public affairs that come under the responsibility of local authorities and access to electoral rights.

Unemployment lay at 6.3% in the Union in September and at 7.5% in the euro zone indicated Eurostat on 31st October. In both cases the figures are stable in comparison with August.

From 6th to 17th November Stockholm is hosting a selection of 150 films for the 30 international film festival.