More than 2 months after the "rigged" presidential election of 9 August, the Belarusian people continue to protest against the continued rule of Alexander Lukashenko. Its actions have received new political support with the award of the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize to the opposition represented by the Coordination Council. To follow this crisis, the Foundation offers you a chronology of events and links to European reactions and initiatives.

Faced with the reoccurrence of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe, the 27 Member States of the European Union are taking new restrictive measures, such as a health emergency in Spain and France or partial lockdown in Ireland, Belgium and Italy. The Foundation offers you a summary of the health measures in place and travel conditions across Europe. An indispensable, regularly updated resource for understanding the situation.

The Foundation, in partnership with a European university research network initiated by the University of Lille in 2016 on the subject of "Parliament and Time", is launching a new series of reports aimed at reporting on "the impact of the health crisis on the functioning of national parliaments" in Europe. After France, the United Kingdom, Poland and Greece, the new publications focus on Spain and Portugal.

On 21 October, the Commission presented its open source strategy 2020-2023, which aims to encourage innovation and collaboration between open source software. As part of Europe's goal of digital autonomy, the Commission has announced the creation of free software innovation laboratories, the removal of administrative burdens related to their publication and the recruitment of talent within the Commission itself, which has announced that it will share its source code and wants the European administration to set an example in this area. Open source software is one that is free to use and duplicate, like Linux or Ubuntu.

On 21 October, the Commission announced that it had issued €17 billion of so-called social bonds to finance the European SURE programme to combat unemployment following the economic and health crisis. This issue included €10 billion of bonds redeemable in 2030 and €7 billion redeemable in 2040. The six banks mandated for these issues recorded a request of €95 billion for 2030 and €55 billion for 2040. Social bonds meet precise criteria and must be used to finance social measures.

On 22 October, the European Parliament awarded the 2020 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to the democratic opposition in Belarus represented by the Coordination Council. "Stay strong and don't give up your fight. Know that we are at your side", said Parliament President David Sassoli. The award ceremony will take place on 16 December. The day before, MEPs adopted a resolution in which they refused to recognise Alexander Lukashenko as president, reiterated their support for former candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and called for free elections. They call on the Union to swiftly implement the sanctions against those responsible for the regime, including A. Lukashenko, to review its relations with Belarus and to develop actions of economic and financial support for Belarusian civil society.

On 23 October, MEPs adopted a position on the Common Agricultural Policy for the period 2021-2027. They voted in favour of strengthening mandatory environmental practices and increasing the budget for measures to protect the environment and the climate. Aid for large farms is reduced to help small farms and young farmers. New measures to help farmers cope with crises and tougher penalties for violating EU requirements on environmental and animal welfare standards were also approved.

On 21 October, the Council adopted a position on the capital markets recovery package by amending the Commission's initial proposal. It wishes to exempt bonds sold to professional and retail investors from certain governance-related disclosures of conditional products. It calls for the information that can be disclosed by companies with a public market track record to be reduced and capped in order to protect investors and avoid capital dilution. Finally, it calls for the current regulation to be extended to synthetic securitisation as it applies to banks.

On 22 October, the Council updated the list of third countries for which restrictions may be lifted. The countries concerned are Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Uruguay and China if it takes a reciprocal measure. Canada, Tunisia and Georgia have been removed from the list.

On 23 October, the ministers responsible for competitiveness discussed the reform of competition policy, the Union's industrial strategy and the competitiveness of European industry through the targeted promotion and increased use of innovative technologies.

On 23 October, the environment ministers agreed on certain aspects of the law for the Union's climate neutrality in 2050. They also adopted their political guidelines on the Union's biodiversity strategy and their position on the revision of the drinking water directive.

Representatives of the Council and the Commission for Justice and Home Affairs met with the ministers of the Western Balkans on 22 October. They exchanged views on the creation of a system for exchanging information on migrants' data, on improving their reception conditions, on the continuation of their joint action plan to combat terrorism and on the fight against organised crime and cybercrime. They discussed the continuity of judicial cases during the pandemic, the development of digital tools for justice, progress to be made on the protection of the rule of law and a framework for cooperation with the European Public Prosecutor's Office.

The French Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves le Drian denounced on 25 October the remarks made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan against French President Emmanuel Macron and recalled the French Ambassador to Turkey. The High Representative of the Union, Josep Borrell, also condemned the Turkish President's remarks as "unacceptable", as did the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.

On 22 October, the Spanish government suspended its controversial reform proposal of the General Council of the Judiciary, the body responsible for appointing judges and ensuring their independence and that of the courts. The European Commission considered that the proposal risked undermining the independence of the judiciary by drastically changing the way appointments are made to the Council.

On 23 October, the Commission announced that at least 30 respirators will be sent to the Czech Republic, the European country currently most affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, as part of the RescEU programme. Austria and the Netherlands have subsequently provided the Czech authorities with 15 and 105 devices respectively. RescEU was launched at the beginning of the year to help countries in need of medical equipment, whose European reserves are currently hosted by 6 countries.

On 20 October, the House of Lords approved by 395 votes to 169 a motion declaring that the Internal Market Bill "would undermine the rule of law and the reputation of the United Kingdom". The internal market bill, which violates the withdrawal agreement signed with the Union in October 2019, could be amended before a new reading in the House of Commons.

On 23 October, the United Kingdom and Japan signed a free trade agreement, the first for the UK since Brexit. This treaty provides that 99% of the products traded between the two countries are free of customs duties. The agreement is expected to increase trade with Japan and the UK by an estimated £15.2 billion. In 2019, trade between the two countries was worth £30 billion.

On 22 and 23 October in a video conference, NATO defence ministers agreed to an expansion of NATO's mission in Iraq and announced the creation of a NATO space centre at the Ramstein base in Germany to protect its satellites against enemy attacks. They also discussed the peace process in Afghanistan, Russia, national resilience and the state of critical infrastructure.

On 22 October, the Council of Europe published a report on the efficiency and quality of the judicial system in 45 European countries. The report assesses individually the budget dedicated to justice, the composition of the courts, communication with the public, the use of information and communication technologies and the performance of the judicial systems in each State. In general, the number of women judges and prosecutors has continued to increase despite the strong male presence in these professions, the number of courts decreased by 10% between 2010 and 2018 and the pandemic has not prevented courts from continuing their activities thanks to recent technological advances.

On 22 October the European Court of Auditors published its annual report on the activities of 41 EU agencies and bodies for the year 2019. It recommends a "more rational" assessment of the coherence of the agencies, the evaluation of efficiency losses in the area of governance and improved communication on performance, in particular to facilitate the agencies' cooperation efforts. In the area of recruitment, the Court points to shortcomings in respecting the principle of equal treatment and combating conflicts of interest.

The 28th edition of the Raindance Film Festival, the UK's leading independent film festival, is taking place from 28 October to 7 November. It is being held mainly online, with previews and screenings with directors and producers from all over the world on the programme.

Until 14 February 2021, the Vienna Kunstforum is dedicating an exhibition to the landscapes of the German painter Gerhard Richter. 150 works, some of which have never been exhibited before, are divided into 5 thematic sections that chart the artist's career since 1960.

The Voll Damm Festival Jazz de Barcelona is taking place until the 29th of January 2021, both in venues around the city and online. Spectators will have the opportunity to listen to great artists such as Sílvia Pérez Cruz or María José Llergo, one of the voices of the new flamenco.

Until 21 February 2021, the National Museum in Cracow is presenting the first retrospective of Szymon Czechowicz, a master of Polish Baroque who spent more than 20 years in Rome. More than 200 paintings and drawings are on show from all over the world.

Until March 14, 2021, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid will house works of German Expressionism from the Thyssen collection. The exhibition is structured around three concepts: the process of the paintings' creation, their success with the public and critics, and the exhibition projects organised to promote the collection around the world.

Until 28 March 2021, the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen is hosting the exhibition "The Hungry Lion", a selection of paintings and sculptures emblematic of classical modernism and contemporary art. The exhibition is spread over 8 rooms and honours great artists such as Henri Rousseau, Alberto Giacometti or Louise Bourgeois.

Until 7 February 2021, the Mo.Co, Montpellier's museum of contemporary art, is offering a hundred or so works from the Cranford collection, retracing creation in the 2000s, from Tracey Emin to Damian Hirst, including Louise Bourgeois and Olafur Eliasson.

From 27 to 29 October, the Cannes Film Festival is organising three days of screenings at the Théâtre Lumière in the Palais des Festivals. Spectators will be able to attend screenings of the short films in the 2020 Competition and 4 previews of the Official Selection 2020.