Since the "rigged" presidential election of 9 August, the Belarusian people have been protesting against the continued rule of Alexander Lukashenko. While opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, exiled in Lithuania, has just met French President Emmanuel Macron and arrests of opponents and police violence continue, the Union has decided to punish leaders of the regime and calls for political dialogue. To follow this crisis, the Foundation offers you a chronology of events and links to European reactions and initiatives.

While the pandemic remains present in Europe, the 27 Member States of the European Union are trying to determine the conditions for maintaining social and economic activities. The Foundation offers you an overview of the health measures in place and the conditions for travel across Europe. An indispensable, regularly updated resource to understand the situation.

On 30 September, the commission unveiled its plan to create a European education area by 2025. It aims to boost cross-border education, promote gender equality, inclusion and diversity, improve understanding of climate change and enrich the digital dimension of the education systems of the Member States. The Commission is also proposing an action plan for digital education for the period 2021-2027.

On 30 September, the Commission presented its objectives for relaunching the European Research Area, created in 2000. It wants to establish the ecological and digital transition in Member States' research and innovation policies. The Commission wants to increase intra-European cooperation by setting a target of 5% national public funding for joint programmes and by calling for a 50% increase in public spending on research and development in countries lagging far behind the European average.

On 1 October, the Commission sent a letter of formal notice to the UK government following the maintenance of its Internal Market Bill, which it considers to be in breach of the EU withdrawal agreement. The UK has one month to respond to the letter of formal notice. On 2 October, chief negotiator Michel Barnier noted further progress on coordination in the areas of social security, fundamental rights and air safety. However, he pointed out "serious divergences on subjects of major importance" such as fisheries, state aid, the governance of the agreement and the question of compliance with the withdrawal agreement. In a telephone conversation on 3 October, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to work "intensively" to reach an agreement "if possible".

MEPs said on 5 October that the Council's proposal concerning the establishment of a conditionality relating to the respect of the rule of law for the European budget and the recovery plan did not go far enough. They believe that the proposal would not "create an instrument that can be triggered in practice". The same day saw the sixth round of negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework between the Council and Parliament, "without significant results" especially on the issue of top-ups for the EU's 15 flagship programmes, according to Parliament's negotiators.

At a meeting by videoconference on 28 September, tourism ministers called for better coordination of travel restrictions within the Union and requested the withdrawal of the quarantine obligation after a first negative test. They announced their determination to support the tourism industry, which employs more than 12% of the European population, in its post-Covid transition.

The Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on 1 October on the reform of rail passenger rights. This reform should help railway companies to improve access to their services for passengers with reduced mobility. In line with the green deal for Europe, the possibility of taking a bicycle on board a train will be improved. Single tickets are to be introduced to facilitate connecting journeys and ticket refunds are also to be simplified. This informal agreement is due to be adopted by the Council in the near future.

The 19 ministers of the Eurogroup, meeting by videoconference on 5 October, discussed the priorities of the national recovery plans. They decided to support the candidacy of the Dutchman Frank Elderson for the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB). They announced that they wanted to prevent the health crisis from widening the gap between the 19 economies, discussed the digital euro project and took stock of the evolution of exchange rates.

Euro-zone annual inflation is estimated at -0.3% in September, down from 0.2% in August, according to a flash estimate issued by Eurostat on 2 October. However, inflation varies from one country to another, ranging from -2.3% in Greece to +1.5% in Slovakia.

According to Eurostat estimates published on 2 October, household savings in the euro zone in the second quarter of 2020 reached a record rate of 24.6%, compared to 16.6% in the first quarter. This is explained in particular by the fall in consumer spending (-12.6%) and household gross disposable income (-3.3%) due to the health crisis. The household investment rate stood at 7.9%. Both rates represent levels that have not been seen since the introduction of the euro.

On 30 September, the Commission published a report reviewing the transposition by Member States of the European directive on the fight against terrorism. The report finds that the national transpositions of these measures are satisfactory overall. However, it notes that there are differences between the States, in particular on the criminalisation of terrorist offences or the sanctioning of terrorist financing.

On 30 September, the Commission published its first report on the state of the rule of law in the Union, focusing on 4 points: the judicial system, the fight against corruption, the balance of power, and the freedom and plurality of the press. While standards in the area of the rule of law are high, the situations in some countries, including Poland and Hungary, which are the subject of infringement proceedings, but also Bulgaria, are a cause for concern. The Commission warns against excessive use of fast-track legislation, political pressure on the media and lack of effective investigation of high-level corruption in several States.

On 1 October, Ernst & Young published a study on the negative effects of Brexit on the UK financial sector. According to the study, more than 7,500 finance jobs have been relocated from the UK to the EU since 2016 and 24 finance companies said they would transfer assets from the UK, around £1,200 billion, to the EU. These transfers of jobs and capital have mainly benefited Dublin, Luxembourg, Frankfurt and Paris.

From 9 October to 15 July 2021, the exhibition "The Olmecs and the cultures of the Gulf of Mexico" will be held at the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac in Paris. It will showcase the culture of the Olmec civilization, as well as the pre-Columbian cultures of the Gulf of Mexico, with nearly 300 pieces from archaeological missions over more than a century, some of which are being shown for the first time outside Mexico.

From 7 October to 29 November, the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork brings science and art together in "Invisible Light", an exhibition on electromagnetic spectra. While only one light spectrum out of the seven that exist is naturally visible to man, the exhibition traces with an artist's eye the history of techniques that have made the invisible visible.

On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna is organising an exhibition until 24 January 2021 which combines painting, sculpture, video and music to retrace the life of the musician who lived in the Austrian capital for 35 years, as well as to experience his work by appealing to all the senses.

From 6 October to 13 December, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum is hosting "Advancing with a Light Step", a collection of artists' projects created during the lockdown and carried out with a minimum of means. Each week pieces ranging from photography to video, drawing and sculpture will be on show.

The fifth edition of the Sicut Sagittae Baroque Music Festival is being held in Naples until the 7th of November. On the programme are concerts of 17th century music, including 'Motets for Two Different Voices' conducted by Angelo Trancone and 'Domenico Scarlatti' with Cantatas and Sonatas.