The Portuguese government has revealed the details of its draft budget for 2013. It is said to be one of the harshest in the country's recent history.  The Portuguese government has spent a significantly greater amount than the total revenue, and is therefore experiencing a budget deficit. Due to this deficit, government is forced to borrow money from the public, thus increasing its budget deficit even further, and ultimately increasing their total national debt.  The government was already granted a 78 billion- euro bailout last year, which has still not accounted for their budget deficit. Therefore, the Portuguese government was forced to make some huge changes in the economy,.  As stated in the article, the government will have to borrow money from the public through average income taxes, which will increase from 9.8% to 13.2%. Furthermore, they will have to cut spending worth up to 2.7 billion euros next year, which includes laying off 2% of the countries 600.000 public sector employees.  Moreover, the Portuguese government has decided to cut their spending by not raising social security contribution next year from 11% to 18%.  According to Vitor Gaspar,finance minister, this budget would allow Portugal to reduce its budget deficit to 4.5% in 2013.  Ultimately hoping to achieve the European Union target of 3% of GDP. 

Although fuel costs throughout the UK are rising, UK's inflation has fallen to 2.5% in September from 2.6% in August. It is expected that the rising costs for fuel would cause firms to increase prices as their costs of production are increasing, resulting in cost-push inflation. Instead, lower prices for clothes, furniture, and household services have offset the increase in fuel costs. Furthermore, this decline in costs of food, clothes, and household good has eased the rise in travel fares.  This significant decrease in prices for foods, clothes, and household goods was caused by an incredible decrease in consumer demand during the recession in the UK.    

According to this article, Germany's unemployment had increased for a fifth month in august. The unemployment rate is currently at 6.8%. This increase in unemployment was a consequence of the European debt crisis, which had severely decreased demand for exports, causing companies to hold back on investments.  These two factors have therefore decreased both aggregate demand (net exports decrease) and aggregate supply (decrease in investments). Therefore fewer jobs are required as less output is being demanded. This is shown by the numerous job cuts which have occurred throughout Germany. "Siemens AG (SIE) said on Aug. 27 it will cut 500 jobs at its German factories making industrial gear boxes and clutches by 2016, citing slack demand".   However, the article states that the unemployment rate is still the lowest it has been for the past two decades, and meanwhile wages are rising. This increase in wages is boosting consumer spending, therefore causing an increase in aggregate demand, which should eventually allow for aggregate supply to increase, and therefore increasing the need for workers.  Moreover, although unemployment has risen in Germany, it still does not yet compare to the 8.2% unemployment of the US, the 10.8% in Italy, and the euro-area average of 11.2%. 

This article discusses the changes which European Union officials are planning for the future in order to ensure economic growth. One of the changes mentioned are the Spanish borrowing costs which will be pushed up to their highest levels for four months. In the short-run this will mean less spending from consumers, but in the long run will ensure a significant decrease in debt. Furthermore, they have called on national governments to "implement a series of job-creating policies". These include cutting labor-related taxes, as well as shifting the burden to property, energy and emission levels. These particular changes will cause a rightward shift in aggregate demand as there is an increase in government spending. Moreover, countries will be forced to lift remaining restrictions on worker movement within the EU, which will allow for more employment. This will also cause a rightward shift in aggregate demand because there will be more employed workers and therefore amount of consumption will increase as more people will be able to spend more money.  Overall, this article shows improvements for the future which will increase aggregate demand of the EU.