French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that he would support German Chancellor Angela Merkel if she were to seek to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission, news wires reported. Merkel has said she will retire from politics when her fourth term runs out in 2021. But some in the bloc hope she will reconsider, given her vast experience and commitment to the EU.

The directive on special safeguards for children enters in force as of today. It is the last in a set of six EU directives guaranteeing procedural rights for people across the EU, completing the full set of rights. In addition to these new rights for children, the directive guaranteeing access to legal aid started to apply on 5 May. This package of rules ensures that EU citizens' fundamental rights of fair and equal treatment are respected in criminal proceedings and that they are applied in a similar way in all Member States.

Eight sites for supercomputing centres have been selected across the EU to host the first European supercomputers, European Commission press service reported.

Italy is in breach of EU fiscal rules because of its growing debt, which justifies the launch of a disciplinary procedure, the Commission concluded last Wednesday while presenting European Semester 2019 Spring Package, with recommendations for Member States for the next 12 to 18 months. According to the Commission, Italy had made limited progress in addressing EU economic recommendations and backtracked on necessary structural reforms, which may negatively affect the country's growth potential.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel will host five other EU government leaders in Brussels on Friday as part of efforts to hammer out a compromise over new appointments to top posts in the European Union. All 28 national leaders of member states are due to meet on 20-21 June for a summit to agree who will succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the EU executive, the European Commission. The choice will, in part, reflect the results of an election last month to the European Parliament.

The Commission presented last Wednesday its proposal for the 2020 budget, which is the seventh and last one under the current 2014-2020 long-term EU budget framework, the EU press service reported. It operates within the limitations set therein and is designed to optimise funding for existing programmes and to boost the European added value in line with the Juncker Commission's priorities.

The European Commission has lifted geographic restrictions on the free flow of non-personal data between EU Member States as of 28 May. As part of EU's Digital Single Market strategy and together with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which started to apply one year ago, the new Regulation on the free flow of non-personal data, considered to be the first of its kind in the world, provides for a stable legal and business environment on data processing.

The European Commission on Tuesday adopted its annual assessment of the implementation of reforms in the Western Balkan partners and Turkey, together with recommendations on the next steps for those countries. In its reports, the Commission confirmed that a credible enlargement policy is a geostrategic investment in peace, stability, security and economic growth in the whole of Europe, the EC press service said.

The European Union and Member States have made good progress in responding to evolving hybrid threats through a number of concerted actions in a wide range of sectors to significantly boost capacities, the latest report adopted on 29 May by the Commission and the European External Action Service shows.

On Friday, 24 May, the European Commission adopted new EU rules, aimed at ensuring increasing drone traffic across Europe is safe and secure for people on the ground and in the air. The rules will apply to all operators of drones – both professionals and those flying drones for leisure.The move follows the recently adopted technical requirements for drones under the Commission's Aviation Strategy for Europe.