Thousands of people protested outside the national parliament in Warsaw against a controversial law that would entail a complete ban on abortion in Poland. With this new law, women who have terminated the pregnancy would be liable and could be sent to jail up to five years for causing the death of a conceived child. Additionally, doctors could be charged for carrying out abortions. Legislators are expected to start debating tougher rules on Wednesday, with the backing of the Catholic Church and the Law and Justice (PiS) governing party. To support this, a petition has been signed more than 450,000 times.

The head of the Spanish socialist PSOE, Pedro Sánchez has lost the power struggle over the leadership of the party on Saturday night and has resigned. Earlier, his proposal to hold an extraordinary congress in three weeks was rejected by 133 to 109 votes and therefore he resigned as secretary general of the party. Mr. Sanchez had been heavily criticized, after the loss of PSOE from 28.8 to 22.7 percent in the last election. With Sánchez resignation, the way towards a new government in Madrid should be free, whereby the PSOE would remain in the opposition. 

On the wave of the widespread fears over recent terrorist attacks and the unresolved migrant crisis, Bulgaria has passed a law banning face-covering veils in public places. The bill, which was lobbied by the ruling coalition party Patriotic Front in March and largely supported also by GERB and the opposition, was approved on September 30 by the Bulgarian parliament. The measure is clearly referred to Islamic face-covering burqas and niqab and will affect approximately 1 million of Bulgarians (13.4% of total population - The Guardian) amongst Turks, Roma and Pomaks. The national ban follows the restrictive bill introduced by Pazardjik municipality, which came into force in May after episodes of radicalization and religious hatred within the local Muslim community. 

Scotland will not be able to veto the negotiations on the exit of Great Britain from the EU, but the Scottish Government will take part in the discussions in formulating the position of official London in the negotiations with the European Union, said British Prime Minister Theresa May. According to her, in preparation for Brexit the government will take into account not only Scotland’s opinion but also that of other parts of the United Kingdom.

Bulgaria’s Kristalina Georgieva, a vice president of the European Commission and a former official at the World Bank, has been proposed as a new candidate for the post of UN Secretary General. The decision was announced on September 28 by the Bulgarian Prime Minister Bojko Borisov after having evaluated the disappointing result of five appreciation informal polls of the UN Security Council on its previous backed candidate Irina Bokova, general director of UNESCO.

During the press conference Juha Sipilä, the prime Minister of Finland said  that his country doesn`t violate the arrangements from the agreement about the status of the Aaland islands. He also emphasized that he does not take into account changes in the status of the island. Currently, the ruling regime is the demilitarization of the island. Discussions and uncertainties concerning possible changes in defense of the island, had already begun when there was some action on Gotland, an island belong to Sweden.