Few days before the European elections, the fourth edition of the Annual Convention for Inclusive Growth that took place in Brussels brought together civil society organisations and policymakers to discuss the opportunities and challenges ahead. The main focus this year was the future of Social Europe.

Consumers will soon see new traceability markings on the packs for cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco products, together with the required security features, as the European system of tobacco traceability and security features has become operational as of 20 May. The first producers in the EU have requested and received traceability markings for these products.

 EU's flagship programme Erasmus+ is giving chances to higher education students to study, train, obtain experience in work and volunteer abroad, but is also opening opportunities to doctoral candidates, staff and higher education institutions. Two extensive studies, the Higher Education Impact Study and a study on the impact of Erasmus+ Higher Education Strategic Partnerships and Knowledge Alliances , published by the Commission, show what the programme's value is and how it is transforming the life of its beneficiaries.

Following the latest meeting of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Board of Directors, the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) - the Juncker Fund - is now expected to trigger €398.6bn in investments. As of May 2019, the deals approved under the Juncker Fund amount to €73.8bn in financing and are located in all 28 Member States.

The European Union and China signed on Monday an agreement on civil aviation safety and a horizontal aviation agreement to strengthen their aviation cooperation. The main objective of the bilateral civil aviation safety agreement (BASA) is to support worldwide trade in aircraft and related products. This agreement will remove the unnecessary duplication of evaluation and certification activities for aeronautical products by the civil aviation authorities, and therefore reduce costs for the aviation sector.

Today, Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Mariya Gabriel is in Berlin, Germany, to participate in the Bosch Connected World event, a conference on the Internet of Things (IoT) and digital transformation, bringing together executives, decision makers, innovators, developers, entrepreneurs, and IoT experts. 

Calling on “Taking Initiative”, the Green Week in Brussels, Europe's major environmental event, again gathered hundreds of scientists, people from the business and the non-government sectors, European institutions officials, environment experts, to debate on pressing issues for Europe and for the planet.

A new system, launched on Wednesday, will allow Member States to rapidly exchange and jointly process VAT data, leading to earlier detection of suspicious networks, the EU press service reported. The Transaction Network Analysis (TNA) tool comes as recent media investigations once again laid bare the huge costs of VAT fraud for public finances, with criminal gangs profiting at the expense of honest taxpayers. It is part of the Commission's sustained effort to put in place a modern and fraud-proof VAT system.

The European Commission has proposed on Wednesday €293.5m to Austria, Italy and Romania to help with extensive repairs in each country following a series of natural disasters that occurred last year that left each with extensive damage in certain regions, European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu announced on 16 May.

This year's edition of EU Green Week was opened on Monday in Warsaw by Commissioner Karmenu Vella. The event puts the spotlight on how environmental laws are applied on the ground.