The European Commission has successfully tested a new scheme to promote the mobility of artists and cultural professionals. i-Portunus - a pilot funded through the EU's Creative Europe programme - is a concrete result of the New European Agenda for Culture adopted in 2018.

The European Union alongside the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) have organised a high-level International Solidarity Conference in Brussels for 28-29 October to discuss having a more concerted and robust policy for Venezuelan refugees and migrants.

The European Commission fears next year’s draft budgets for France and Italy could be in breach of European Union fiscal rules and it asked for clarification by Wednesday in letters sent to the countries’ finance ministers, news wires reported. The EU executive has also issued budget warnings to Finland over its spending, and to Spain, Portugal and Belgium who have submitted incomplete budget plans because of recent elections.

The EU needs looser budgetary policies and an overhaul of its fiscal rulebook, Paolo Gentiloni, who is going to become the bloc’s new economic affairs commissioner said in an article published on Sunday. In Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore he said that while the EU’s deficit and debt rules must not be ignored, they needed to be “reviewed and updated”. “It’s time for countries which have fiscal space to use it, in an overall context of less restrictive budgetary policies,” Gentiloni, due to replace Pierre Moscovici as economic and financial affairs commissioner, said.

Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos, Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc and Commissioner for the Security Union Julian King are today participating in an international conference in Brussels aimed at discussing ways to counter the threats posed by drones.

The new European Commission will not start working on 1 November as initially planned, but will be delayed at least for a month, an European Parliament spokesman said last Wednesday after EP leaders meeting. The Parliament is “willing to vote on time to allow new Commission to start 1 December,” Jaume Duch tweeted, adding that for such a development three new commissioners-designate, from France, Hungary and Romania, should be put forward as soon as possible.

Despite the difficult global economic climate, European companies have continued to make good use of the opportunities created by the European Union's trade network, a new report shows. In 2018 this network covered 31% of Europe's trade exchanges, a figure that is set to rise significantly (to almost 40%) as more trade agreements enter into force, according to the European Commission's annual report on the implementation of trade agreements released on Monday.

European Union Member States have published a joint risk assessment report into 5G technology which highlights “an increased exposure to risks related to the reliance of mobile network operators on suppliers” that will require the establishment of a new EU policy and security framework.

Today, the European Commission's science and knowledge service, the Joint Research Centre, published a new flagship report exploring the challenges and impacts of distributed ledger technologies. The report "Blockchain now and tomorrow" offers an in-depth and practical understanding of blockchain and how the technology can be used in finance, industry, trade and the public sector in the future.

More than €4 billion of European Union funds were misspent last year, EU auditors estimated in a report released on Tuesday, which highlighted poor checks in receiving states on how the bloc’s funds are invested. The annual assessment is likely to fan the heated debate about the bloc’s next seven-year budget which Germany, the largest contributor to it, wants to cap below EU proposals meant to address new expenses on migration, social security and job-creation.