What changed

PR_INI_ImplReport

Follow up to the European Parliament non-legislative resolution on the implementation of the Erasmus+ programme 2021-2027

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT - SUMMARY OF FACTS AND FINDINGS

Rapporteur: Milan ZVER (EPP / SI)

1. Introduction

Reference numbers: 2023/2002 (INI) / A9-0413/2023 / P9_TA(2024)0007

The objectives of this implementation report are to assess and evaluate the execution of the Erasmus+ programme for the period 2012-2027, in addition to identifying good practices and addressing any challenges in the programme;

Date of adoption of the resolution: 16 January 2024

This interim evaluation will assess the overall effectiveness and performance of the programme, including new initiatives and the delivery of inclusion and simplification measures;

Competent Parliamentary Committee: Committee on Culture and Education (CULT)

The Rapporteur has gathered information and drafted this implementation report following intensive consultations with a wide range of stakeholders. The findings primarily rest on the following written sources:

Brief analysis/ assessment of the resolution and requests made in it:

• The results of a survey issued to Erasmus+ National Agencies (NAs) from the countries who can participate in the Erasmus+ 2021-2027 programme.

This resolution contains 120 comments or suggestions, split in two categories: Challenges and problems (paragraphs 26 to 44) and Improving the current and designing the future Erasmus+ programme (paragraphs 45 to 121)

• The results of a survey issued to a wider set of stakeholders who are involved in the Erasmus+ 2021-2027 programme;

The resolution underlines many positive elements and successes of the implementation: the existing structure of the programme; a good funding ecosystem; the programme’s four horizontal priorities; the new flagship actions; the high budget absorption; and the flexibility of the programme as demonstrated during various unexpected events.

In addition, the Rapporteur also availed of the studies evaluating the early implementation of the programme that were commissioned by the Policy Department for Structural and Cohesion Policies and the European Parliamentary Research Service;

It also stresses challenges such as the difficulties linked to the programme’s IT landscape; the persistent over-subscription; complexity of the application process; heavy administrative requirements; difficulties for participants with fewer opportunities to spend longer periods of mobility. The resolution calls for these issues to be solved in the current programming period.

In addition to the above-mentioned surveys and studies, meetings of Shadow Rapporteurs with NAs and stakeholders from pan-European organisations were organised in June and July 2023 to discuss the programme’s implementation;

For the next years and for the future programme, the resolution calls inter alia for:

The Rapporteur has been in regular bilateral contact with a large number of stakeholders from all the programme’s sectors to gather additional information. He also met with representatives of the Commission’s Directorate-General for Education and Culture (DG EAC) and the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA).

- wider use of and clearer rules for virtual and blended learning,

Finally, the Rapporteur also considered key Commission documents, including the annual work programmes for the implementation of Erasmus+.

- development of synergies between Erasmus+ and other multiannual financial framework (MFF) programmes;

Despite all efforts to collect the relevant information, undertaken with the support of the EP administration, the Rapporteur is well aware that he could not carry out a fully-fledged quantitative and qualitative assessment of Erasmus+ after less than three years of programme implementation. Additional information needs to be assimilated during the remaining programme period in order to acquire a full picture. This will be indispensable when evaluating the final impact of Erasmus+ 2021-2027;

- decentralisation of the Jean Monnet for schools action;

Accordingly, this implementation report intends to provide an overview of the programme’s implementation over the first two and a half years of its existence. It illustrates the opportunities and the main challenges and provides suggestions for improvement for the remaining four and a half years of the programme’s life span. The conclusions and recommendations should feed into the European Commission’s mid-term evaluation report, due by the end of 2024. The report also provides some ideas for the design of the future programme period;

- allocating more funding to opportunities aimed at primary schools and pupils;

2. Origin and structure of the programme

- fostering the role of Erasmus+ in increasing a sense of belonging, civic engagement, a better understanding of the Union and support for European values, and to turn the programme into a true promoter of European democracy;

The original Erasmus programme was an international student exchange programme that has been in existence since 1987, supporting education and training. It underwent several iterations, with each phase building upon the successes and lessons of the previous ones. During the programming period 2014-2020, Erasmus became a central component of the new Erasmus+ programme;

- greater synergies with the European Solidarity Corps programme;

The Erasmus+ programme encompasses various sectors in the fields of education, training, youth and sport, and it promotes international cooperation and mobility through different key actions and funding mechanisms. It also supports initiatives such as European Universities, Centres of Vocational Excellence, DiscoverEU and the European Student Card initiative;

- the necessary programme flexibility in the design of the next generation of Erasmus+, while ensuring uniformity and proper scrutiny of the programme, including by Parliament;

It provides young people – mostly students, pupils and apprentices – with various opportunities to study, train and work abroad; there are also opportunities for adult learners and teaching staff;

- more gradual and predictable budgetary increases in the next multiannual financial framework programming period;

While the Erasmus+ programme 2021-2027 has maintained the same structure as its predecessor, it has strengthened its priorities in four areas: i) inclusion and diversity; ii) digital transformation; iii) environment and the fight against climate change; and iv) participation in democratic life, common values and civic engagement;

- from the very beginning in 2028, funding levels must not be less than those of the last year of the current programme (2027) to ensure the smooth continuity and stability of the programme’s actions and activities.

Overall, the programme’s structure is designed to foster collaboration, mobility, innovation, and policy reform across the board. It has played a significant role in enhancing European cooperation and promoting international understanding through educational exchange and inter-cultural learning. As such, it is one of the EU’s flagship programmes, and enjoys a high degree of recognition and popularity among citizens in Europe and further afield.

The European Parliament also declares its determination to ensure a substantial increase in the Erasmus+ budget in the 2028-2034 programming period and commits itself to tripling the current envelope, taking the requirements of the programme into account.

3. Main conclusions and recommendations

Response to the requests and overview of the action taken, or intended to be taken, by the Commission:

3.1. Preliminary remarks

Regarding paragraphs 26 to 44 related to challenges and problems, the Commission is already addressing many of the issues underlined in the report, as far as the objectives of simplification and inclusion of the Erasmus+ programme are concerned (paragraphs 26 to 30). The Commission is committed to promoting inclusive access of the programme opportunities, within the limits of the available budget. The Commission has thus put in place a comprehensive framework of inclusion and diversity measures since 2021, including the nomination of inclusion officers in all national agencies.

The Erasmus+ programme for the years 2021 to 2027 aims to reach up to 12 million participants. It holds significant importance as a key instrument to build a European Education Area and support the implementation of the European strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and beyond. Its underlying sectoral agendas advance youth policy cooperation under the Union Youth Strategy 2019-2027 and develop the European dimension in sport;

Moreover, since the 2024 Erasmus+ call for proposals, participants are offered a higher level of grant support in learning mobility. This comes in the context of inflation and escalating price levels that have affected participants and the programme’s implementation. Dedicated travel support has also been introduced for all higher education student participants in learning mobility, which can then leave more budget from the other support items to students. Participants are also encouraged to prioritise green travel as their first choice when planning their trip; the programme offers stronger incentives for those who travel in a sustainable way, while considering the specific geographic situation of the participant. There is also increased support to ensure that participants living in remote areas, islands or with insufficient rail networks are not excluded from these improvements.

The beginning of the current programme proved difficult, starting with a delay in the approval of the Multiannual Financial Framework and, consequently, the Erasmus+ Regulation itself. This was followed by the COVID-19 outbreak and an overall difficult economic situation aggravated by the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, causing also high inflation rates across Europe. All this brought unprecedented challenges to the activities falling under Erasmus+. A general sentiment of the institutions involved in the implementation of Erasmus+ centres on the lack of flexibility illustrated during the COVID-19 crisis, in particular by EACEA. While the measures of the European Commission and EACEA to adapt to the Ukrainian crisis are appreciated, many institutions expressed a clear viewpoint that more could have been done, and that national funding sources were more easily available than funding received under Erasmus+.

The Commission strives to maintain a fair balance between necessary requirements and accessibility to all participants. This is also the case for reporting mechanisms for beneficiaries and national agencies (paragraphs 36 and 43). Reporting requirements are proportional to the size and complexity of the project and the number of deliverables. The Guide for the national agencies provides clear expectations with respect to information about the programme. It also gives clear instructions on the notification of grant award results to the applicants and the ex-post publication of results, to ensure transparency and avoid inconsistencies.

3.2. Size and outreach of the programme

O a general note, regarding budgetary considerations of the resolution, the Commission takes note, but indicates that the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) cannot be prejudged.

The interest in the programme is very high and is currently at the same level as before the COVID-19 pandemic. With the exception of adult education, the demand for mobility and cooperation activities is much higher than the opportunities available;

Regarding recognition difficulties for higher education mobility participants (paragraph 31), the Commission underlines that automatic credit recognition of mobility periods is a key principle of the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education, the adherence to which is a pre-condition for higher education institutions’ participation in the Erasmus+ programme. Erasmus+ national agencies are asked to carefully monitor this aspect of the Charter. The February 2023 progress report from the Commission to the Council on the implementation of the Council Recommendation on promoting automatic mutual recognition shows that 84.4% of Erasmus+ students on study mobility from EU countries to other Programme Countries funded under call 2020 received full recognition. In March 2024, the Commission presented a package for Europe’s higher education sector which includes two proposals for Council recommendations on a European quality assurance and recognition system in higher education.

It was difficult to implement mobility actions during COVID-19, thus the first year, 2021, saw necessary adjustments by reducing funding for mobility (KA1) and increasing funding for cooperation and innovation partnerships (KA2). It is important that Erasmus+ was not suspended or ceased during the pandemic;

The figures mentioned in the resolution seem to reflect the results of a survey conducted on a much smaller sample. However, the Commission still aims at reaching the objective of 100% automatic recognition, by using all possible opportunities (evaluations, monitoring, events, meetings, webinars) to urge higher education institutions to respect the relevant commitment taken in the Erasmus Charter.

Even during the pandemic, however, physical mobility activities still took place to a considerable degree. The Commission and National Agencies allowed more flexibility; learners and teaching staff were also willing to change their initial plans, and although postponed, they continued to travel. This was accompanied by an extension of virtual and blended learning (eLearning/distance learning), and the building of an infrastructure for digitalised learning opportunities – something that might have taken much longer to achieve without the pandemic;

Paragraph 32 refers to a “lack of encouragement of partnerships between schools and non-profit organisations”. Concerning learning mobility with Erasmus+, the programme does provide a framework for cooperation of schools with non-profit and other expert organisations in finding mobility opportunities. Such cooperation must always take place on a non-profit basis and be beneficial for the school and the quality of their project, so that mobility activities contribute to the strategic development of the school. In addition, the Commission provides direct support to schools looking for mobility opportunities, including through a dedicated online partner-finding tool and funding for transnational cooperation activities, such as partner-finding workshops and seminars. The Erasmus+ programme also encourages cross-sectorial cooperation through Partnerships for cooperation. There are Small-scale partnerships and Cooperation partnerships enabling schools to cooperate with non-profit organisations, the private sector, universities and all other organisations active in education, training and the labour market.

The mobility of adult learners, as a new opportunity, is not sufficiently well advertised yet, and the uptake is relatively low. Numbers, however, have increased from 2022 to 2023 and demand in 2024 is expected to match the opportunities;

The Small-scale partnerships were introduced in 2021. They are intended to attract and widen access for newcomers, less experienced organisations and small-scale actors to the programme. They are particularly well-suited to bring together schools and not-for-profit organisations. The objectives of the action include increasing quality in the work and practices of the organisations and institutions involved and building capacity of organisations to work transnationally and across sectors. The funding mechanism of the partnerships for cooperation, based on lump sums, is intended to reduce the administrative burden on participating organisations, to facilitate the access to the action and to help them to focus on the outputs of their cooperation.

Youth participation activities seem to attract a lot of interest. Barriers to participate, however, continue to be considerably high, considering the combination of intricate administration and application processes for small-sized applicant organisations and the inability of informal youth groups to apply;

Regarding the recognition of vocational education and training (VET) as a path of equal value to academic studies (paragraph 33), the Commission is working on increasing the attractiveness of VET through many initiatives. The European Vocational Skills Week held in October 2023 aimed at showcasing the opportunities offered by VET for career and personal development. A flagship event of the European Year of Skills in February 2024, attracting around 400 young people, aimed at increasing awareness and changing perceptions on VET, through showcasing champions from WorldSkills and EuroSkills, interactive stands and discussion sessions. In addition, the Commission proposal for a Council Recommendation on Europe on the Move stresses the importance of increasing mobility opportunities also in the VET sector and proposes to establish an ambitious target of 15% of mobile VET learners by 2030 and thus also contributing to putting VET on same level as academic studies.

At the same time, the results of the consultations for this report underline that Erasmus+ has indeed become very popular and undoubtedly one of the most successful European brands.

The resolution regrets the insufficient funding for Centres of Vocational Excellence in view of the demand (paragraph 34). Indeed, it can be noted that Erasmus+ supports a wide range of successful actions, where demand exceeds the financing limitations. The Centres of Vocational Excellence have become a successful action. The high number of applications is due to the industry demands, technological advancements and continuous need for the investment in curriculum development, staff training, and infrastructure. The intense competition can ensure that only the best projects’ proposals are selected. In addition, the projects proposals which are not selected for funding with the Centres of Vocational Excellence call and receive a high score can be funded from other funding programmes under the Seal of excellence. Member States can also complement funding on VET excellence through other available EU funding such as cohesion policy funds or the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

3.3. Recognition and Transferability of Credits

As far as the low uptake for adult education is concerned (paragraph 35), it should be noted that the action to support mobility opportunities for adult learners was only introduced in the Erasmus+ programme in 2021. In this context, the promotion efforts for these new activities had to take place on a short notice and are still developing, while the sector needs time to adapt to these new opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down the roll-out, also hampered by the lack of capacity of many adult education organisations. The Commission, together with the national agencies, has put in place specific implementation measures to help adult education organisations to participate in mobility activities. While these measures need time to produce measurable impact, the preliminary results for the call 2023 indicate a positive trend in a take-up of the mobility opportunities for adult learners.

According to a survey of the Erasmus Student Network, almost a third of respondents reported they did not receive full credit recognition, which is far from the objectives laid out in the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education. The Rapporteur, therefore, asks the Commission to work towards greater recognition of credits earned during mobility periods, making it easier for students to transfer credits between institutions and ensuring the academic value of their experiences. In addition, the feasibility and need for a ‘Joint European Degree’ should be explored.

Increasing the participation of adults in learning is a priority of the EU, in line with the 2030 EU skills target welcomed by the EU leaders and the Council in 2021 (at least 60% of adults should participate in training every year). EU actions to this end include the 2022 Council Recommendations on individual learning accounts and a European common framework for micro-credentials, the Pact for Skills, which has resulted so far in 20 large-scale partnerships in all strategic EU industrial ecosystems (two million people upskilled in the first 2 years), and the 2016 Council Recommendation on Upskilling Pathways. The EU budget 2021-2027, in particular through the European Social Fund+, and the Recovery and Resilience Facility together allocate some EUR 65 billion to education, training and skills activities. These funds may also include learners’ mobility, in addition to the opportunities provided through Erasmus+.

3.4. Main features and structure

Regarding success rates in centralised youth operating grants (paragraph 37), European Youth Together (paragraph 38), the Erasmus+ programme supports youth organisations via various means. One of them is Civil Society Cooperation (CSC) operating grants in the field of youth. The budget for this action has been increased continuously in recent years. To help the sector in its recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 the Commission allocated EUR 7 million to Erasmus+ CSC call in the field of youth operating grants, covering both 2020 and 2021. In 2022, the annual allocation of the call was increased to EUR 4 million, while the grant amounts were adjusted to reflect the real cost increases of the funded organisations. In line with this necessary adjustment, the success rate decreased to 32% in 2022 (in previous years the success rate was 79% for Framework Partnership Agreements and 36% for Annual Operating Grants), while staying at a level comparable to other actions. In 2023, the budget allocation was doubled to EUR 8 million, addressing the concerns of youth associations with regards to raising inflation and related financial difficulties. Consequently, it was possible to fund the same number of beneficiaries as in the previous Multiannual Financial Framework: 74 Specific Grant Agreements. In 2024, again EUR 8 million were allocated to this action.

The current programme is based on the same approach as the previous programme of clustering activities under Key Actions (KA 1 Learning Mobility of Individuals, KA2 - Cooperation among organisations and institutions, KA3 – Support to policy development and cooperation) plus Jean Monnet Actions. The KA approach now applies to sport as well, unlike the previous programme. The three key actions of the Erasmus+ programme have been well established and are accepted by the various communities in the fields of education, training, youth, and sport.

European Youth Together projects aim to create networks promoting regional partnerships, to be run in close cooperation with young people from across Europe. The Commission has increased awareness as applications declined during the pandemic, and actively promoted the call, informing potential applicants, and showcasing good practices. As a result, there is an increase in applicants from 47 in 2022 to 71 in 2023. This trend should continue in the 2024 call, which has a stable budget of EUR 8 million.

3.5. Programme Priorities and Impact

The sport budget (paragraph 39) is framed by Article 17 of the Erasmus+ Regulation which plans a budget of 1.9% of the total budget for this field. Within this framework and with the funds allocated to sport, the programme supports a wide range of activities, striving to optimise the given resources for a meaningful impact in the sport sector. Overall, an increasing popularity and rising number of applications for the sport actions can be noted.

Individual mobility continues to be a central component of Erasmus+. While mobility actions enjoy high popularity and receive positive feedback on most aspects, there is room for improvement when it comes to clarity of funding rules and enhancement of programme management, especially via digital tools. Changes to the grant agreement should be a priority in the second phase of the programme, in order to ensure that all participants receive their grants before their mobility commences. Currently, Erasmus grants do not completely meet the additional costs of studying abroad. Funding for education within the Multiannual Financial Framework should increase so that it is possible to attain the set goal of wide access to high-quality mobility and keep up with the increases in actual mobility costs. In addition, DiscoverEU has become a well-established, easy-to-access activity, which is highly sought after by young people;

On IT development issues (paragraphs 40 and 41, paragraphs 49 to 51), significant progress has been achieved in 2023. The Commission has also put in place specific actions to improve infrastructure stability and performance and the quality of the data and as well as delivered specific features to simplify and accelerate the data encoding. The Commission is committed to make more and more data available through data exchange services and is in permanent contact with national agencies to improve data exchange.

In terms of outreach towards the wider public in Europe, learning mobility is the most effective activity when we consider the numbers of individuals. This also applies to value-for-money. Small-scale partnerships also reach out to many individual participants. This becomes evident when looking at project reports and listening to the feedback of project promoters;

The Commission started discussions with the national agencies to have a state of play on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in the submission of projects and in the use of AI in their daily work, as requested in paragraph 42. This issue is growing, and some national agencies are already working on tools/mechanisms to detect frauds in project proposals. It is essential to have a common approach between national agencies on how to manage this type of fraud which must be flexible enough to be consistent with their different national legislation and European legislation. The Commission is working with the national agencies on the best way to support them, for example by providing them with guidelines or tools that could help them identify potential fraud and, more broadly, develop their capacity building in the use of AI.

At first glance, a programme set-up with a few key actions seems simple and easy-to-understand. All actions, however, consist of sub-actions with a lot of variety within each one. This makes the programme relatively complex and difficult for target groups to understand. It also makes the programme’s administration challenging;

About a possible shortage of professionals and volunteers to implement the programme (paragraph 44), the Commission Staff Working Document accompanying the proposal for a Council Recommendation 'Europe on the Move' – learning mobility opportunities for everyone of 15 November 2023 (SWD(2023) 719) indeed underlines that ‘Erasmus+ national agencies and beneficiaries report that staff working on mobility projects and activities often do so on a volunteer basis without remuneration and at times having to justify their activities, rather than being recognised for performing them.’

Inclusion and Diversity:

It stresses that this is more noteworthy in the adult education, youth and youth work sectors, where many organisations lack stable and structural funding and rely on volunteer staff and youth workers with varying conditions. It suggests that two changes are needed to improve the situation: changing the workplace culture and management mind-set to better valorise learning mobility activities and by extension the work necessary to implement them, and creating, expanding and promoting the use of regulatory mechanisms for formal recognition of work on organising learning mobility as a valid professional task that counts towards the working hour quotas and career advancement requirements for education, training and youth staff.

Erasmus+ places a strong emphasis on promoting inclusion, diversity, and equal opportunities for all participants, to overcome any barriers related to their background, socio-economic status, abilities, or other characteristics. Projects and activities are encouraged to address barriers to participation and promote social cohesion;

On improving the current and designing the future Erasmus+ programme (paragraphs 45 to 120), the Commission will feed its current assessment with the timely requests for improvements to the current programme contained in the resolution, as well as with the ideas for the successor programme post 2027. Some of the points are already the subject of specific actions on which the Commission elaborates below.

The single biggest barrier to achieving inclusion is the insufficient level of grants provided. Strategies need to be further developed to ensure that underrepresented groups, including individuals with disabilities and those coming from marginalised communities, have effective access to Erasmus+ opportunities;

Simplification, as underlined in paragraphs 55 to 57, remains a key objective. The Commission is working together with the national agencies and the executive agency to explore simplification of administrative documents, application and reporting processes, while having always in mind the need to keep a correct balance between reporting obligations and accountability rules.

The European Parliament considers inclusion as central; it focuses especially on the support provided to disadvantaged groups to facilitate their participation. Parliament requests specific information on the socio-economic background of participants and the financial impact of disabilities. At present, this data is not available due to a lack of properly functioning IT tools, in addition to the fact that it is still too early to have completed projects;

The Commission also introduced new administrative measures such as top-ups and lump sums, to avoid creating additional administrative barriers to beneficiaries (paragraph 114).

Green and Digital Transitions:

Another important and immediate improvement are the intensified Commission efforts in 2023 to accelerate the adoption of digital administrative processes to achieve ‘Erasmus Without Paper’ and implement the ‘European Student Card’ (paragraph 64). Actions undertaken include the provision of technical workshops, publishing new guidance materials and more active consultations with stakeholders. These measures have led to significant progress. Over 2.3 million European Student Cards have been issued and more than 3 000 institutions are today connected to the Erasmus Without Paper network compared to 2 600 in 2022. At the start of 2024, over 350 000 digital Erasmus+ inter-institutional and learning agreements had been successfully concluded. The number of digital learning agreements for the ongoing academic year have already surpassed the previous academic year results by more than 30 000. Technical and business requirements co-developed with the community of beneficiaries and software developers are set to take place in 2024. The same applies to the expansion of digital services into other education and training sectors.

Erasmus+ has a strong and legitimate focus on physical mobility, which needs to be balanced with the mitigation of climate change. It is clear that steps have been taken to increase the amount of green travel and higher rates are available for more environmentally friendly ways of travelling;

The resolution calls on the Commission and the Member States to help address the problems of accommodation for Erasmus+ mobility students (paragraph 67). While policies for mobile students’ accommodation are not under the Commission’s remit, recommendations to national agencies and higher education institutions to help students in finding appropriate accommodation exist in the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education and are formulated on all occasions of exchanges with stakeholders. The Commission is also working to provide support to students via the Erasmus+ App, and the Erasmus Student Network is also active in this area.

The Rapporteur welcomes the efforts dedicated to bring about a digital transformation, in particular by stepping up efforts to foster ‘Erasmus without papers’ and the ‘European Student Card’. Linking programme management and the participation of individuals to the eID initiative is particularly important. Implementation, however, is not happening at the initial planned speed. The Rapporteur requests the Commission to enhance digital processes, procedures and tools and to improve the interoperability between the different tools that are available;

The European Universities initiative (paragraphs 68 and 69) has proven its potential to be a game changer in implementing the European strategy for universities. The European Universities Alliances bring transnational cooperation to a new level of intensity and scope. They are setting-up European inter-university campuses providing seamless mobility opportunities and innovative teaching and learning for students to be equipped with future-proof skills.

Promoting Young People’s Participation and Democratic Values:

The alliances are developing together joint programmes, joint micro-credentials, blended intensive programmes and multiple other forms of cooperation to pool their educational and research potential together to equip the students and lifelong learners with the skills and competences that Europe need, including in strategic areas where Europe needs to improve its autonomy.

Erasmus+ aims to empower young people to engage actively in their communities, participate in decision-making processes, and contribute towards building a strong sense of democratic values and active citizenship. Projects are encouraged to foster critical thinking, media literacy, and youth participation in democratic processes;

As announced in the European strategy for universities, the Commission is consulting stakeholders and Member States on an investment pathway for European Universities to provide continuous support to the alliances in the period 2028-2034, complementing the educational dimension with support across all alliances’ missions, removing silos between education, research and innovation, while building synergies with national and regional funding, as well as other EU instruments. In parallel to the investment pathway, the Commission is also consulting the alliances, higher education sector and Member States on a monitoring framework for the European Universities initiative. This will provide fundamental evidence for funding in 2028-2034.

Research shows that participation in Erasmus+ increases a better understanding and support of European values. According to a study by the ESN, the majority of students identify more as global citizens and with the EU following their Erasmus+ experience without losing identification with their countries and regions. Civic engagement and participation in democratic life is one of the new priorities of the programme, as KA2 will devote greater attention to ‘common values, civic engagement and participation’, but progress has yet to become evident. Overall, Erasmus+ actions in the field of citizenship education are considerably lacking in systemic impact. Making civic engagement a priority in learning mobility experiences in Higher Education would contribute to the achievement of objectives laid out in the European Strategy for Universities. It would also constitute an integral part of the horizontal priorities of inclusion and participation in democratic life of the programme. Erasmus+ should also promote the 2024 European elections and motivate participation.

Overcoming the gender gap in science, technology, engineering arts and math education is one of the policy priorities which is also being promoted through the programme (paragraph 70). In the overall Erasmus+ programme, women represent the majority of participants. For example, for the Erasmus+2022 call, female participants’ share was 59.4% (across all actions and fields) and in general the average share has been increasing over the last 10 years. Within the Cooperation Partnerships, the Commission prioritises to fund projects to promote girls and women in STEM fields. The 2024 Erasmus+ European policy experimentations call also prioritises boosting gender balance in ICT related studies and professions and GreenTech.

3.6. Budget

As for the digital transition in the programme (paragraphs 71 to 73), the Commission is developing a Strategy on implementing the digital priority of Erasmus+ (and European Solidarity Corps). The Strategy will address all sectors and guide national agencies and the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), as well as beneficiaries, in implementation of projects addressing the digital priority. This Strategy will also address improving quality and inclusiveness of projects through different digital tools and virtual or blended learning. Moreover, these programmes contribute to the efforts to reach the EU targets in digital skills development in synergies with other EU funding, for example Digital Europe programme, Horizon Europe, European Social Fund Plus, Recovery and Resilience Facility, Just Transition Fund or European Regional Development Fund. These programmes are complementary in scope, to achieve greater impact.

The estimated overall budget available for 2021-2027 is EUR 26.51 billion, made up of EUR 24.57 billion at current prices and a ‘top-up’ of EUR 1.938 billion in current prices from the Commission’s revenues from fines. Most of the budget (up to 83 %) is earmarked for education and training. Compared to the previous programme, the budget for Erasmus+ has almost doubled, which is undoubtedly a welcome development, despite falling short of the tripling originally requested by the European Parliament. The doubling of the budget, however, has coincided with a surging inflation;

The European School Education Platform (ESEP), combining eTwinning and the former European School Gateway on a single integrated platform (paragraph 74), offers information on Erasmus+ opportunities, notably through practical tools (course catalogue, mobility opportunities and partner search) to help schools prepare their Erasmus+ applications.

The Rapporteur suggests that the annual budget allocations should have been distributed more evenly over the programme years, in particular for well-established activities;

To promote a better understanding of the EU, both in general education and vocational training (paragraph 75), the Erasmus + Jean Monnet Actions in these sectors (teacher training and Learning EU Initiatives) provide teacher training institutions, schools and teachers with co-funding for developing further competences and resources aiming at contributing to the European dimension of teaching at school. The Erasmus+ programme provides professional development opportunities to teachers through learning mobility periods abroad (courses, job shadowing or teaching assignments). In addition to these mobility opportunities, a policy experimentation call for proposals has been launched in the context of Erasmus+ in 2024. This call should stimulate innovative approaches towards structural obstacles to learning mobility of teachers, for example by ensuring substitute teachers during learning mobility periods.

It can also be observed that during the current programming period, the number of youth organisations receiving Erasmus+ centralised grants managed directly by EACEA has decreased;

In November 2023 the Commission presented a proposal for a Council Recommendation ‘Europe on the Move’ – learning mobility opportunities for everyone, (as part of the Talent Mobility Package). The Council adopted the Recommendation on 13 May 2024. With the full support of Member States in the implementation phase, this key building block of the European Education Area will contribute to make learning mobility opportunities a reality for everyone by removing structural barriers to the implementation of learning mobility of learners and staff in any education and training sectors. It will also give a specific boost to learning mobility for teachers through a dedicated policy framework.

It should be noted that the Sport sector has very limited funds, which constrains the scope for mobility, the development of innovation and transnational cooperation. Synergies with the EU4Health programme 2021-2027 also need to be ensured;

As far as funding opportunities for schools are concerned (paragraphs 77 and 78), the Commission notes that the demand in the school education sector is indeed growing at a very rapid pace. Given the high motivation of the sector, further funding would make it possible to achieve systemic impact on European school education, in line with the objectives of the European Education Area.

The budget available for actions in adult learning and education (ALE) is becoming increasingly unpredictable. The current total amount and the share it represents, 5.8 % of the total budget for education and training, are not sufficient to achieve a participation of 60 % of adults in ALE by 2030. This is within a background of a lack of structural funding for ALE at national and regional levels in Europe, leading to a high degree of dependence on EU project funding.

The Commission remains committed to working with the national agencies, schools, school authorities (national, regional and local) and all other interested stakeholders to ensure the widest possible reach of Erasmus+ within the budget limitations. Further improvements to the consortium project format are particularly important in this context. The current budgetary limitations do not meet the needs to reach the full potential of Erasmus+ accreditation in the school sector, for example regarding inclusiveness and accessibility, could be reached with a higher budget available under this specific objective, within the resources allocated to the programme.

3.7. Programme Administration

The Council Conclusions on the contribution of education and training to strengthening common European values and democratic citizenship adopted in November 2023, and the Communication ‘No place for hate: a Europe united against hatred’ of the Commission and High representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, highlight the contribution of Erasmus+ to support the relevant priorities. The Commission proposed to increase in 2024 the funding for cooperation with UNESCO on combating antisemitism, racism, anti-muslimism hatred and hate speech through education (paragraphs 79 and 80).

To address past criticism that the programme is excessively bureaucratic, Erasmus+ 2021-2027 introduces a range of simplification measures, such as two-stage proposals, lump sums and small-scale partnerships, all of which have been welcomed by stakeholders. There has been a marked effort to provide clarity about the aims of calls and on the communication of these calls;

There is a high number of projects supported by the programme focusing on anti-bullying and the enhancement of non-discriminatory environment (paragraph 81). The special call for policy experimentations organised this year includes in the field of school education, under Pathways to School Success, a sub-priority on building a systemic, whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing in schools in Europe aiming to build schools’ capacity towards addressing well-being and mental health. Such a strategy should include a high focus on prevention, combined as appropriate with intervention measures, be evidence-based and combine universal measures with targeted and/or individualised provisions for learners requiring additional attention. It should be multi-layered and multisectoral (cooperation between health, education, social welfare and child protection).

From the perspective of the beneficiaries and the National Agencies, there are, however, a number of shortcomings. Examples are the cumbersome registration process, application forms and other processes that require many details, which are hard for smaller entities and individuals to deliver without specific support;

Support to civic engagement and EU values is a core element of the Erasmus+ programme (paragraphs 82, 83 and 118) through the impact it has on the participants. 82% of participants in learning mobility activities declare that they feel more European and 72% are more interested by European topics after their mobility in projects which promoted civic engagement and EU values. Specifically, 27% of the cooperation projects supported under Erasmus+ in 2022 supported democratic participation and common values, for a total grant amount of EUR 340 million. Moreover, Erasmus+ supports specific actions with a strong citizenship education component, such as youth participation activities or the EU Youth Dialogue, Jean Monnet actions or Erasmus+ Teacher Academies. Moreover, a whole set of instruments has been developed in the programme implementation to ensure both promotion and respect of EU values. Respect of European values is a fundamental principle of the programme that all beneficiaries, accredited or not, must comply with. The Commission and the national agencies are committed to follow-up any indication that a given beneficiary is not in compliance with these rules. In case of non-compliance, a full range of remedial measures is available, including termination of accreditations and grant agreements.

Furthermore, the lack of support or guidance from the central level to the NAs hampers evaluation and reporting processes and leads to inconsistencies between NAs. Over and above, IT tools are an issue;

When initiating the DiscoverEU initiative (paragraphs 84 to 86) in 2018, the European Parliament chose to focus on young people turning 18, as this age marks a major step to adulthood and to European citizenship.

The ‘continuous reporting’ request is very cumbersome for beneficiaries and takes away valuable time from project implementation. This requirement should be reconsidered in the remaining programming period and the future programme;

The results of the post-travel surveys show that the action fosters European identity, cultural understanding, tolerance, and solidarity among young participants. 80% reported increased openness to Europe's multiculturalism after their DiscoverEU journey. In addition, 83.5% visited museums and galleries during their trip, while 77.7% explored cultural heritage sites. 63% reported improvements in their foreign language skills.

The Rapporteur, therefore, strongly recommends an easing of administrative requirements at all levels and stages, including the application phase. Clearly, the current situation prevents small beneficiaries from applying for Key Action (KA) 1, e.g. youth exchanges, as well as KA2 small-scale partnerships, which are specifically intended for smaller organisations;

The implementation of the DiscoverEU Learning Cycle by the Erasmus+ national agencies at national level amplifies this learning component. The cycle incorporates the organisation of meet-ups for the young people, which focus on intercultural understanding and the discovery of Europe’s cultural heritage. The cycle also encompasses pre-departure information meetings for participants and, as of 2024, post-travel feedback meetings as a pilot initiative. Finally, as a legacy of the European Year of Youth 2022 and its flagship initiative to increase the cultural dimension of DiscoverEU, the young travellers now all receive a discount card on cultural activities. These initiatives not only reinforce participants' sense of belonging within the DiscoverEU community and the EU, but also create further learning opportunities.

IT Issues:

To give all young people the chance to participate, the Commission is making DiscoverEU as inclusive as possible. Young people with special needs can specify it in the application form when applying on the European Youth Portal and can receive extra support if necessary.

Despite the centrality of the digitalisation priority in the programme, the slow advancement of digital tools foreseen to support the programme’s implementation is falling short of all expectations, negatively affecting the participation and the implementation of the programme. It is also hindering necessary data collection and monitoring, and ultimately poses a high reputational risk to the overall image of the programme;

Since 2022, with the launch of the new DiscoverEU Inclusion Action, the Erasmus+ national agencies have been awarding grants to organisations working with young people with fewer opportunities. The DiscoverEU Inclusion Action allows participants to receive extra support while travelling, such as the possibility to be accompanied, to receive extra budget for subsistence, organisation of mobility activities, mentoring, and support to the journey preparations. The aim is to allow young people with fewer opportunities to participate in DiscoverEU on equal footing with their peers. In the first three rounds of the DiscoverEU Inclusion Action, more than 400 projects have been submitted by the organisations, and the first projects started in March 2023.

The Rapporteur strongly urges the Commission to ensure that existing digital tools and systems used for the programme’s management and implementation are user-friendly. These should be working properly and to their full extent. He calls on the Commission to tackle, without delay, the serious persistent issues relating to the Erasmus+ IT tools and to test them on a sufficiently large scale before their further implementation. He also notes that there are similar issues with IT tools in other EU-funded programmes, including the European Solidarity Corps and Creative Europe.

To maintain and build on the European Year of Youth’s momentum and experience including approaches towards youth activities across EU programmes (paragraph 87), the Commission adopted on 10 January 2024 a Communication on the European Year of Youth. This Communication deepens the youth dimension of EU policies and puts forward actions directly addressing youth concerns across policy areas and giving young people a greater voice in EU policymaking. When designing EU policies, the Commission will apply a ‘youth check’ which will ensure that their impact on young people is systematically factored in. The full potential of the Better Regulation framework will be used to apply a youth check on all relevant new initiatives mentioned in Annex I of the Commission’s annual work programme. The youth check will happen in four key phases outlined in the Communication.

3.8. Cooperation and Synergies

Additionally, the Commission will further strengthen its internal capacity to work with young people. Building on the experience of the Year, the Commission will continue the internal Commission Youth Network where youth correspondents would be the primary contact points on youth issues in their respective policy areas and would help strengthen cross-sector cooperation and youth mainstreaming. This network, animated by the EU youth coordinator, will exchange information on policies and instruments in preparation that could have a potential impact on young people. The Commission will explore the feasibility of providing micro-grants in the future Erasmus+ programme. These low-threshold and low-value grants were successfully tested by some national coordinators during the Year. They provide easy access to funding for young people to work on common projects, develop their skills, capacity for action and their confidence, to make a positive difference in their communities. Moreover, micro-grants are an efficient mechanism for raising young people’s awareness of and interest in EU opportunities for young people.

The EU has been actively working to strengthen cooperation and creating synergies between Erasmus+ and other EU initiatives, programmes, and funding instruments. These efforts aim at maximising the impact and effectiveness of EU investments in education, training, youth, research, innovation, and regional development. There is, however, considerable room for improvement and the inter-operability of programmes needs to be facilitated both at national and central (EC) level. There is also a need to improve the link between centralised and decentralised actions within the programme.

The 2021-2027 Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programmes are key instruments supporting the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027 objectives and activities (paragraph 88). There are already strong links and alignment between the programmes and the Strategy’s objectives and activities, for example through new or updated actions, such as the Erasmus+ Youth Participation Activities and DiscoverEU, which have enriched the opportunities open to young people and supporting their democratic, civic, social and humanitarian engagement. The European Youth Work Agenda within the EU Youth Strategy guides the support to youth work provided by Erasmus+, notably through Youth Worker Mobility, civil society cooperation, cooperation partnerships in the youth field and the cooperation with the Council of Europe.

3.9. Cooperation between EC, Executive Agency (EACEA) and National Agencies

Specific support is provided by Erasmus+ to the EU Youth Dialogue, such as grants for the national process within the Dialogue, and the wide-ranging outcomes and recommendations of the EU Youth Dialogue feed into Council documents and the EU Youth Strategy Work Plans.

EACEA is responsible for most of the centralised administration. In order to implement projects (e.g., European Universities Alliances), good communication and coordination between EACEA and NAs is required. So far, this is not the case. In 2023, EACEA and NAs signed a Memorandum of Understanding, but this has yet to lead to some improvement. More coordination across the NAs, driven and monitored by the EC, would improve consistency in the interpretation of rules across NAs and help improve the standardisation and quality of evaluations. The EC should ensure NAs and their evaluators have a clear understanding of the difference between project grants and operating grants. It is evident that the capacity-building objective of operating grants that differentiates them from project grants is not well understood.

The follow-up to the Communication on the European Year of Youth 2022 and the Commission Report on the interim evaluation of the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027, provide insights into the links between with the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programmes, other EU and national programmes and the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027, and efforts for strengthening the implementation of the EU Youth Strategy.

3.10. European Universities initiative

With regard to the content of the Erasmus+ programme Key Action 2 in the field of youth, the objective of the programme, among others, is to share strong links with beneficiaries typically active in the area of non-formal education, such as local, regional, national and European NGOs, social enterprises and youth workers. The request for a better definition of objectives and roles for projects in Erasmus+ Key Action 2 in the field of youth is a valid and constructive suggestion that the Commission takes note of. It is important to acknowledge the continuous evolution and dynamic nature of youth-related programmes.

The centrality of the European Universities initiative has facilitated further attention and dialogue at national and institutional levels on removing the remaining obstacles to international cooperation in higher education. Some Member States have already enacted long-awaited legislative changes that will be beneficial not only to the alliances participating in the initiative, but also to other forms of cooperation, and higher education institutions outside existing Alliances. Nonetheless, a fast track to funding for existing Alliances should be avoided to ensure a fair and equitable system to all;

The national agencies communication network, in cooperation with SALTO-YOUTH Participation & Information (Support, Advanced Learning and Training Opportunities for Youth), supports the national agencies by providing them with knowledge material and skills to carry out more tailored communication and outreach activities (paragraph 89). In particular, the annual meetings and webinars organised by the network feature the participation of leading experts in the field of public communication, contributing to presenting the latest trends and tools in communication. One of the main priorities of the network is the topic of inclusion and in particular the inclusion of participants with fewer opportunities.

The further development of the European Universities should be thoroughly informed by the upcoming separate evaluation of the initiative, and based on a sound monitoring framework, to build on what has worked well, in addition to taking stock of what has not worked well. A reconsideration and recalibration of the multiplying overall objectives will be required;

The Commission attaches great importance to measures ensuring access to education, across formal, informal and informal settings (paragraph 92). Micro-credentials make it possible for individuals to acquire knowledge, skills and competences in a flexible and targeted way, can be instrumental in upskilling and reskilling of learners but they do not replace traditional qualifications. Before it becomes possible to deliver on the full potential of micro-credentials, Member States need to create enabling eco-systems conducive to their uptake on a wide basis. For this reason, the 2024 policy experimentation call includes call for projects supporting reforms and policy impact in Member States in the implementation of the Council Recommendation of 16 June 2022 on a European approach to micro-credentials for lifelong learning and employability.

European Universities should be further supported and developed under Erasmus+. This should not, however, be at the expense of other forms of cooperation that are equally vital to support targeted innovation and the development of practical solutions, and which support wider participation of higher education institutions in Erasmus+.

On top of the policy experimentation call, there is also funding set aside in the Erasmus+ Work Programme 2024 for the development of micro-credentials in three areas: higher education, vocational education and training, and adult education.

4. Conclusion

The Council Recommendation on individual learning accounts (ILA) adopted by the Council in June 2022, aims at increasing the incentives and motivation of individuals to take up training and ensuring access to labour market relevant training for all, including for professional transitions and irrespective of their labour force or professional status. It aims to support all working-age adults and it recommends Member States to consider setting up a personal account for training entitlements, embedded in an enabling framework that includes a national registry of training, validation, and career guidance opportunities that are eligible for funding from the training entitlements as well as paid training leave arrangements for employed adults.

The strengths of Erasmus+ 2021-2027 include its overarching position as a programme, which has stood the test of time (more than 35 years, if we count Erasmus) and now has become a globally recognised brand. Accordingly, the Rapporteur insists that the visual branding of Erasmus+ has to maintain a clear link with the EU;

The Erasmus+ programme provides the opportunity to support the development of ILAs, under Key action 2, especially in forward-looking projects and in partnerships for cooperation (adult education strand).

The benefits of Erasmus+ extend far beyond formal education. Overall, participating in the programme offers numerous benefits, from personal growth and cultural enrichment to enhanced employability, improved rounded education, and a more interconnected and inclusive Europe. The programme enables participants to establish networks and form lasting friendships with peers outside their immediate circle;

About the need to improve the visibility of some actions underlined in paragraphs 100 and 101 (support available for adult learning and education activities or for sport), the Commission can underline that together with the Erasmus+ national agencies, efforts were joined to reinforce the promotion and communication on opportunities for adult learners offered by the programme, being at national level or through EU platforms like the Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe (EPALE)l. In terms of funding rules, additional support is provided for supporting people with fewer opportunities in their participation in learning mobility abroad with Erasmus+.

It is clear that the great potential of Erasmus+ requires sufficient funding in the future to continue with its far-reaching impact on individuals and societies across Europe and beyond;

In the framework of specific rules managed by the Commission, Erasmus+ national agencies can transfer funds between actions and sectors, based on the demand from applications received following the publication of the annual Erasmus+ call for proposals. For example, unspent funds for mobility activities for adult learners are transferred by the national agencies to the cooperation partnerships projects to finance more projects’ proposals, from the reserve list. The Commission is taking measures to ensure that the synergy between EU programmes (ESF+ in particular) is effectively addressed by fostering closer coordination between relevant stakeholders (ESF+ managing authorities and Erasmus+ national authorities and Agencies).

Results from Parliament’s evaluation suggest that it is essential for the future success of the programme that technical issues do not undermine its effectiveness and that further simplification of the programme is urgently required;

To ensure good visibility of the sport funding in Erasmus+, every year, the EACEA organises a Sport Info Day for all interested stakeholders, in addition to regular promotional activities. This event is well attended and can be followed in person and online. The awareness and knowledge of the funding opportunities appears to be growing, as the number of applications in sport is increasing every year. The Erasmus+ funds are granted through open calls for proposals according to well-defined criteria which apply indiscriminately to all applicants following award procedures set by the financial rules applicable to the EU budget.

The upcoming MFF mid-term evaluation is due to be finalised by the end of 2024 and is expected to deliver further insights into the achievements and shortcomings of the current programme;

Paragraph 111 stresses the need to accelerate synergies between the European Education Area, the Digital Education Action Plan and the European Skills Agenda in shaping a digital education policy. The Commission stresses that the Digital Education Action Plan (DEAP) and the objectives of the European Education Area (EEA) and the European Skills Agenda complement and reinforce each other. As part of the implementation of the DEAP, the adoption of the Digital education and skills package in November 2023 was another step towards achieving the European Education Area and its targets. This concerns the EEA Union level target of reducing the share of low achievers in computer and information literacy to less than 15% by 2030. The Council Recommendation on improving the provision of digital skills and competences in education further supports the objectives of the European Skills Agenda to help all individuals develop more and better skills to strengthen competitiveness. This concerns achieving the European Skills Agenda target of 70% of adults aged 16-74 having at least basic digital skills by 2025. The policies outlined here are highlighted and translated in the Erasmus+ programme priorities. In addition, the Commission will continue to support Member States and stakeholders in the implementation digital education policies through new actions, including guidelines on digital education content and informatics; higher education interoperability framework; and ‘Digital Education in Europe’ survey.

First and foremost, Erasmus+ needs to be a programme that is close to the people and accessible to all.

As regards taking account of fraud (paragraph 119), the Commission is continuing its efforts to ensure that the Erasmus national agencies are aware of fraud risks and are properly equipped with the necessary guidelines to handle suspected fraud cases. National agencies have to handle the fraud cases at national level and report the cases to their national antifraud authorities. In accordance with the Commission guidelines, national agencies also report the suspected fraud cases to the Commission which liaises with the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) when investigations are ongoing. The Commission ensures that, after closure of the investigation, action is taken to protect the EU budget by recovering the amounts identified by OLAF or the EPPO. The Commission is also reinforcing its procedures to exclude organisations where appropriate.

MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

Finally, as far as the European Parliament’s commitment to tripling the Erasmus+ budget in 2028-2034 is concerned (paragraph 121), the Commission takes note of the European Parliament’s views regarding the budget of Erasmus+ for the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) post 2027 as well as the excellent budget performance of the programme combined with low success rates observed in most of its actions. The Commission recalls that the next Multiannual Financial Framework cannot be prejudged at this stage. The Commission will table a proposal for the post-2027 MFF by July 2025.

on the implementation of the Erasmus+ programme 2021-2027

(2023/2002(INI))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to Articles 165 and 166 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

– having regard to Regulation (EU) 2021/817 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2021 establishing Erasmus+: the Union Programme for education and training, youth and sport and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1288/2013,

– having regard to its resolution of 15 September 2020 on effective measures to ‘green’ Erasmus+, Creative Europe and the European Solidarity Corps,

– having regard to its resolution of 11 November 2021 on the European Education Area: a shared holistic approach,

– having regard to its resolution of 23 November 2021 entitled ‘EU sports policy: assessment and possible ways forward’,

– having regard to its resolution of 19 May 2022 on establishing the European Education Area by 2025 – micro-credentials, individual learning accounts and learning for a sustainable environment,

– having regard to its resolution of 23 June 2022 on the implementation of inclusion measures within Erasmus+ 2014-2020,

– having regard to the study entitled ‘EU funding programmes 2021-2027 in culture, media, education, youth and sports: first lessons, challenges and future perspectives – Erasmus+’ published by its Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union on 11 September 2023,

– having regard to the study entitled ‘Early implementation of four 2021-2027 EU programmes: Erasmus+, Creative Europe, European Solidarity Corps and Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (Strand 3)’ published by its Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union on 20 July 2023,

– having regard to Rule 54 of its Rules of Procedure and Article 1(e) of, and Annex 3 to, the decision of the Conference of Presidents of 12 December 2002 on the procedure for granting authorisation to draw up own-initiative reports,

– having regard to the report of the Committee on Culture and Education (A9-0413/2023),

A. whereas Erasmus+ (‘the programme’) is an EU flagship programme supporting education, training, youth and sport in Europe and beyond;

B. whereas Erasmus+ is crucial in fostering a European sense of belonging and understanding between diverse cultures, enabling the strengthening of a European identity that exists alongside national identities;

C. whereas the 2021-2027 programme has an estimated overall budget of EUR 26.2 billion and places a strong focus on inclusion, the green and digital transitions, and promoting young people’s participation in democratic life;

D. whereas the European Universities initiative has been much more successful and far-reaching than initially envisaged; whereas the ambition is to have 60 European Universities Alliances involving more than 500 higher education institutions by mid-2024;

E. whereas demand for the programme largely exceeds the available financial resources, negatively affecting participation and the number of projects that can be funded;

F. whereas the programme contributes to reducing inequalities and improving social cohesion and gender equality at European and Member State levels by increasingly focusing on learning mobility that is accessible for all, in particular for people with fewer opportunities and small-scale organisations;

G. whereas inclusion officers play an important role in promoting diversity and inclusion in Erasmus+;

H. whereas the participation of individuals with fewer opportunities, adult learners, young people, third-country nationals and small-scale partnerships and organisations is still hindered by heavy administrative requirements;

I. whereas the programme’s objectives are being pursued through three key actions (KAs), namely ‘Learning mobility of individuals’ (KA1), ‘Cooperation among organisations and institutions’ (KA2) and ‘Support to policy development and cooperation’ (KA3);

J. whereas the rising costs of living, high inflation rates and other challenges are putting additional pressure on the programme’s budget;

K. whereas students with fewer resources face greater obstacles to enjoying Erasmus+ student mobility; whereas the increase in housing rental prices and the scarcity of student accommodation make it difficult for students to find affordable accommodation and the problem has worsened in recent years;

L. whereas uncertainties or delays in the timing of contracting and payments to beneficiaries add to their administrative burden and complicate financial planning, which is particularly detrimental to small organisations and newcomers, thereby undermining the ambitions to achieve inclusion and diversity;

M. whereas the programme has been a driving force for the European Education Area and should continue to respond to future trends in education to keep up with societal and technological change;

N. whereas the professional development of youth workers positively impacts the quality of projects in Erasmus+ and the disparities in youth workers’ status in different Member States hinders the development of projects in the youth sector of the programme;

State of affairs and successes

1. Highlights that the programme focuses on an increasing variety of measures, including lifelong learning, better inclusion of people with fewer opportunities and the removal of barriers to learning mobility, in particular the lack of automatic recognition of qualifications, and financial barriers;

2. Acknowledges that the existing structure works well, successfully bringing together formerly separate programmes, thus providing a good funding ecosystem;

3. Acknowledges the importance of a sufficient variety of actions rather than a one-size-fits-all approach;

4. Values the ‘learning community’ that Erasmus+ has managed to create, made up of participants, beneficiaries, stakeholders, National Agencies (NAs) and EU institutions;

5. Welcomes the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the European Education and Culture Executive Agency and NAs; highlights the importance of improving and maintaining a constructive and cooperative communication between these two parties;

6. Expects the memorandum of understanding between the European Education and Culture Executive Agency and NAs to produce tangible improvements, leading to the exchange of good practices and the clarification of roles and responsibilities to achieve consistency, coherence and effective communication by NAs;

7. Points out that learning mobility and small-scale partnerships have proven to be highly effective activities to reach out to the wider public across Europe, providing excellent value for money considering the number of individual participants;

8. Recognises that learning mobility and training of staff is a powerful multiplier for mobility among learners;

9. Is aware that the programme’s horizontal priorities have been very well received by different sectors and stakeholders;

10. Welcomes the ambition to bring about a digital transformation of the programme, and digital learning opportunities;

11. Emphasises that these formats may be used as a valuable complement to physical mobility in specific situations, but do not provide the same quality of experience and benefits, nor do they act as a substitute for meaningful interaction on the ground;

12. Appreciates the steps being taken to increase the amount of green travel and the higher funding rates being paid for more environmentally friendly ways of travelling; encourages even more efforts to achieve this goal, though this should not become a barrier for access to the programme in areas where green options are not yet accessible;

13. Recognises that the new flagship actions have demonstrated their added value;

14. Acknowledges the warm welcome of the European Universities initiative by higher education institutions and its centrality in facilitating efforts to remove obstacles to international cooperation in higher education; highlights that mobility projects, the creation of common curricula and research cooperation between universities in Europe are instrumental to address needs in strategic areas; stresses the importance of the initiative to the European strategy for universities;

15. Welcomes the steps taken towards a joint European degree label and common European diplomas;

16. Welcomes the new opportunities provided by Teacher Academies;

17. Welcomes the newly established Centres of Vocational Excellence and notes that their successful roll-out plays a key role in modernising vocational education and training (VET) provision in Europe;

18. Notes that DiscoverEU, which was initiated by Parliament, has become a well-established, popular and easy-to-access informal learning activity which brings young people, including those with fewer opportunities, closer to the EU, encouraging their future involvement in other EU projects;

19. Highlights that centralised actions in sport managed by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) proved useful to promote the European dimension in sport; recognises that the introduction of mobility in 2023 as a decentralised action boosts the exchange of sports staff and coaches;

20. Recalls that the 2021-2022 budget absorption was almost 100 % despite a delayed start to the programme;

21. Notes the necessary adjustments owing to the pandemic, with a temporary reduction in funding for learning mobility and increased funding for cooperation and innovation partnerships;

22. Appreciates the swift reaction and enhanced flexibility of the programme to support Ukrainian students, teachers, educators and educational institutions;

23. Notes that some processes for applying have improved, by being made simpler and more efficient;

24. Highlights the very low error rates in comparison with other EU funding programmes, especially considering the programme’s complexity;

25. Highlights that all interested countries meeting the requirements of the programme, including Switzerland and the UK, are welcome to join the programme and thus contribute to European learning mobility; supports the participation of civil society organisations from associated countries;

Challenges and problems

26. Points out that insufficient grants to cover the costs of learning mobility and delays in payments are among the biggest deterrents to participants in mobility projects;

27. Regrets that many young people with fewer opportunities are kept from spending longer periods of time abroad by financial or other obstacles;

28. Acknowledges that the process of NAs drawing up national plans for inclusion and diversity has been difficult;

29. Regrets the fact that complicated administrative processes at all stages considerably hinder the participation of newcomers and small-scale organisations, particularly in the school, youth, VET and sports sectors, as well as in adult education;

30. Regrets that it remains time-consuming to apply for Erasmus+ funding and that applicants often cannot apply without external support, discouraging the participation of small organisations and benefiting project-writing consultancies;

31. Is concerned by the fact that almost a third of students in higher education mobility reported that they did not receive full credit recognition and calls for action to align with the objectives laid down in the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education; underscores that this hinders the creation of a genuine European Education Area and forms a significant barrier to students who depend on completing their degree in a timely manner;

32. Regrets the lack of encouragement of partnerships between schools and non-profit organisations which have the knowledge to help teachers access quality learning mobility;

33. Considers that the recognition of VET as a path of equal value to academic studies is overdue; moreover, is worried by the remaining obstacles to seamless VET mobility, such as policies fragmented between national and EU level;

34. Regrets the insufficient funding for Centres of Vocational Excellence in view of the demand for them;

35. Is disappointed by the low uptake of adult learning and education activities, given its importance;

36. Welcomes the lump sum approach being applied in cooperation projects, as many beneficiaries acknowledge it as an effective simplification measure; notes, however, that the requirement of ‘continuous reporting’ can be a burden, especially for smaller organisations;

37. Regrets the fact that in 2022, the number of beneficiaries of centralised youth operating grants was reduced drastically, severely impacting an already COVID-weakened, volunteer-led youth civil society sector;

38. Regrets also the significantly fewer successful applications from youth and volunteer-led organisations for centralised grants, particularly in the European Youth Together and Key Action 2, Cooperation Partnerships in the field of Youth, and the subsequent reduction in the latter’s budget in 2023;

39. Notes that the Erasmus+ sport sector has very limited funds in some areas, particularly for the organisation of events, thus limiting its scope;

40. Deeply regrets the slow and incomplete development of the IT infrastructure and the improper functioning of IT tools such as the Beneficiary and Project Management modules and the Online Language Support (OLS), which increases the workload of all those involved in the programme’s implementation, discourages the participation of newcomers and undermines the programme’s ambition to widen participation; notes that this inhibits optimal implementation, risks flawed and incomplete programme documentation and monitoring, and jeopardises evidence-based development in the future and notes further that similar issues exist with IT tools in other EU-funded programmes, including the European Solidarity Corps;

41. Deplores the fact that IT issues also severely affect data availability, which is essential for the ongoing mid-term review, thus necessitating a much more onerous evaluation methodology and exacerbating the administrative burden;

42. Points out the need to take the impact of AI seriously, since it has already facilitated fraudulent actors, but could also ease the workload of NAs and improve data collection;

43. Underlines the existing inconsistencies with regard to reporting expectations, evaluation results and general information-sharing across the different NAs, which creates different implementation standards for beneficiaries and affects equity in the programme’s functioning;

44. Is concerned about the shortage of professionals and volunteers to implement the programme and requires clarification as to whether this has an impact on the absorption of funds;

Improving the current and designing the future Erasmus+ programme

45. Calls on the Commission, the Member States, national authorities and NAs to keep Erasmus+ close to the people and ensure it remains a bottom-up ‘citizens’ programme’ offering quality education and mobility opportunities for young people and learners of all ages;

46. Emphasises that the overarching purpose of Erasmus+ is broad and goes beyond labour market needs;

47. Asks that the programme be simplified at all levels, including by assessing whether existing (sub-)actions can be merged, and that this EU flagship programme not be overloaded with new tasks and initiatives that dilute its core objective;

48. Calls on the Commission to remove all barriers, including financial, linguistic and administrative barriers, such as those created by the new ICT tools, in order to achieve a truly inclusive programme embracing diversity, while not reducing the number of grants available to beneficiaries;

49. Insists that digital tools should be optimised by 2025 at the latest to create a user-friendly, accessible, reliable, speedy and efficient environment that respects data protection;

50. Emphasises that issues with the IT infrastructure similar to those experienced in the current programme period are unacceptable; calls on the Commission to stabilise the existing IT-tools and not change them with each new programming period, and expects the IT infrastructure of the next Erasmus+ generation to be fully operational from day one, particularly with regard to the Beneficiary Module;

51. Calls for thorough trials and consultations with NAs and end users before rolling out additional features or new IT tools, and for compliance with the EU Web Accessibility Directive to be ensured;

52. Calls on the Commission to correct the limited transparency and usability of the results section ‘Projects funded under this topic’ in the portal for funding and tender opportunities, so that data can be downloaded by stakeholders to analyse the characteristics of successful and rejected projects in terms of organisation, budget amounts, lead country of project or project type;

53. Requests that the Commission consider charging for digital tools and online activities to support learning separately, particularly when they are used to prepare for an activity, in order to avoid excessively high advance payments;

54. Insists that the simplification of application procedures and requirements and the improvement of the guidelines, particularly for individuals, must remain a high priority, as they are barriers to the programme; points out that inadequacies often affect young, first-time participants the most;

55. Requests proportionate registration, application and reporting processes in terms of the length of documents and a reduction in administrative and bureaucratic requirements, particularly for smaller grants;

56. Points out that proposal forms need to be accompanied by clear rules and guidance in understandable language; calls on the NAs to further improve feedback to applicants;

57. Calls on the Commission to provide continuous training to EACEA project officers and NAs’ staff and clear communication about the interpretation of Erasmus+ initiatives;

58. Recalls that the early, transparent and reliable communication of deadlines and steps is the basis for fair and equal access to the programme;

59. Calls on the NAs to organise information sessions on reporting requirements at the beginning of the projects; suggests a comprehensive revision of reporting and accounting so that the same information is not requested repeatedly;

60. Calls on the NAs to empower their inclusion officers to implement the plans for inclusion and diversity;

61. Calls on the Commission to strengthen its work with stakeholders on European ‘inclusion targets’ for the programme and to make available data on projects which include participants with fewer opportunities;

62. Calls for a better balance between quantitative (the number of beneficiaries and supported projects) and qualitative objectives within the programme, and emphasises that improving the quality of education must continue to be a focus of Erasmus+;

63. Urges the Commission to step up efforts on the programme’s digital transformation, in particular on achieving an ‘Erasmus Without Paper’ for all education and training sectors; calls on the Commission to establish the ‘European Student Card’ following the initial planning, and to help higher education institutions adopt digital learning mobility nominations and transcripts of records by 2025;

64. Asks for an increase in the upfront payments for beneficiaries with fewer opportunities and to provide beneficiaries with timely payments;

65. Asks for a more frequent and regular review and adjustments to the inflation rate index of grants and unit costs in order to align them with the cost of living, inflation and the needs of beneficiaries;

66. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to help address the problems of accommodation for Erasmus+ mobility students;

67. Calls on the Commission to evaluate the alliances’ readiness for autonomy together with them before the end of their funding period, in order to determine whether they need some form of targeted support to achieve autonomy within a reasonable time frame, as well as for the stabilisation and deepening of alliances through project-related future funding;

68. Calls on the Commission to discuss with the co-legislators, as early as possible, the sustainable continuation of the European Universities Alliances as a flagship initiative; stresses that such a future-oriented vision must make these alliances the spearhead of European higher education; recalls that the European University Alliances should serve as models and that the Commission and the Member States should create framework conditions which are fully interlinked to the European Higher Education Area and the European Education Area as well as a legal status for European Universities Alliances;

69. Calls on the Commission to use the programme’s tools to encourage accommodations that would open up sectors where women are underrepresented such as IT, science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics, entrepreneurship and VET, and subsequently to facilitate women’s integration into these segments of the labour market; suggests that the Commission foster gender balance in the programme;

70. Stresses that by improving co-creation, Erasmus+ can support education to respond to new societal needs with methodologies that foster the development of an adapted set of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, and draws attention particularly to the programme’s contribution to the transition towards digital education;

71. Calls for the wider use of and clearer rules for virtual and blended learning and the building of infrastructure for digitalised and remote learning opportunities, extending them to other educational sectors in order to facilitate smoother and more flexible transitions and to facilitate inclusion;

72. Suggests the development of synergies between Erasmus+ and other multiannual financial framework (MFF) programmes to fund improvements in access to educational tools for areas and communities where connectivity or access to technologies are low, similarly to what is being tested in a preparatory action;

73. Asks for eTwinning and the European School gateway to be integrated fully and seamlessly into Erasmus+ and to be better promoted among teachers and school staff;

74. Asks the Commission and the Member States to promote the European dimension in teachers’ professional development and to encourage mobility among them; asks for provisions to be made to substitute teachers or to compensate them for time spent on Erasmus+ projects;

75. Suggests that the ‘Jean Monnet for Schools’ action become decentralised so that it is managed by the NAs in order to simplify access for schools;

76. Underlines the need to allocate more funding to opportunities aimed at primary schools and pupils, given the very high level of demand in most programme countries;

77. Calls on the Commission to resolve the issues caused by the quantitative limitation implicit in institutional accreditation, given the programme’s ambition to be inclusive, particularly with regard to schools, given their sheer number across the EU;

78. Calls on the Commission to examine how synergies between Erasmus+, other MFF programmes and the EU Strategy on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life (2021-2030) can be established and promoted so that secondary schools have better access to the network of Holocaust memorial sites and their pupils are given the opportunity to visit at least one of these sites in Europe during their school careers;

79. Requests that the Commission issue a call for projects to enable secondary school students to visit a site connected with the atrocities committed by totalitarian regimes in Europe;

80. Asks the Commission to issue calls for proposals in Erasmus+ to support schools in the fight against all forms of bullying and discrimination, and to enhance school psychological counselling;

81. Calls on the Commission to foster the role of Erasmus+ in increasing a sense of belonging, civic engagement, a better understanding of the Union and support for European values, and to turn the programme into a true promoter of European democracy;

82. Asks the Commission to introduce the EU citizenship education component with curricular and extracurricular activities, connected to learning mobility, which are certified by micro-credentials, develop active citizenship and embrace non-discrimination;

83. Welcomes the action’s learning component and asks the Commission to assess its outcomes with a view to strengthening the educational dimension by establishing stronger synergies between learning mobility and DiscoverEU;

84. Calls for the development of DiscoverEU in order to promote a more inclusive action;

85. Suggests considering ticket quotas for group trips, as insisting too rigidly that all peers in a group must be aged exactly 18 to qualify as a DiscoverEU group can be counterproductive;

86. Asks the Commission to assess options for a more integrated approach towards youth activities across EU programmes, learning from the experience of the European Year of Youth 2022 and in consultation with youth stakeholders on the design, implementation and evaluation of grants and instruments in the field of youth;

87. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the programme’s alignment with the EU Youth Strategy, the 11 youth goals and the outcomes of the EU Youth Dialogue; calls for a better definition of objectives and roles for projects in Key Action 2 in the field of youth in a way that reinforces youth work, the professional development of youth workers and non-formal education;

88. Calls on the EACEA and the NAs to create a communications strategy that reaches out to new youth organisations, particularly those led by or working with youth with fewer opportunities, and to provide them with additional support in writing project proposals and capacity building using Support, Advanced Learning and Training Opportunities for Youth (SALTO);

89. Recalls the need for sufficient funds for small partnerships in all sectors of the programme to facilitate entry by small organisations and inexperienced persons, and to offer them real prospects for development;

90. Insists that the programme is key to establishing the European Education Area and asks for greater synergies with the European Solidarity Corps programme; urges the Commission and the Member States to initiate an open method of coordination on the mutual recognition of competences acquired during periods of European mobility or civic engagement;

91. Suggests that the programme offer greater support to measures such as individual learning accounts and micro-credentials which improve the permeability of educational systems;

92. Stresses the importance of promoting mobility among VET students, among other reasons in order to reach young people with fewer opportunities; calls on the Member States to develop synergies between Erasmus+ and other funding programmes to facilitate learning mobility among VET learners and low-skilled workers and to improve territorial and regional cooperation;

93. Urges the development of a dedicated online tool tailored to the needs of teachers, instructors and learners in initial and continuing VET, as the current tools have proven insufficient;

94. Calls on the Commission to discuss with the co-legislators, as early as possible, its vision on the sustainable continuation of the Centres of Vocational Excellence as a flagship initiative;

95. Calls for a holistic educational approach within the Centres of Vocational Excellence and calls on the Member States to make these centres the driving force behind the development of joint European VET qualifications, curricula and diplomas;

96. Calls on the Commission to study the status of VET learners who are on mobility; insists that the organisations hosting apprenticeships be required to sign a quality charter in line with the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education and calls for better monitoring of the working conditions and for adequate remuneration for the individuals participating in Erasmus+ apprenticeships;

97. Suggests that the programme continue to support projects that promote a wide variety of skills, including artisanal crafts, in order to preserve them;

98. Calls on the Commission to reconsider its adult learning strategy in collaboration with NAs and relevant stakeholders, given the target of 60 % of adults participating in adult learning and education by 2030;

99. Calls on the Commission to increase the visibility of the support available for adult learning and education activities; suggests that unspent funds are not immediately siphoned away to other actions but used for cooperation in adult education and to ease the uptake of mobility among adult learners with fewer opportunities through awareness campaigns, easy-to-fill-in applications and greater synergies with the European Social Fund Plus across Member States;

100. Calls on the Commission to improve communication on and the promotion of sport funding in Erasmus+; calls for a better representation of sport associations in the awarded projects, as non-sport organisations such as non-governmental organisations and consultancies are often over-represented as beneficiaries;

101. Stresses that the programme’s capacity to provide support in crisis situations is necessarily very limited and the Commission should additionally facilitate cooperation between Member States to address common challenges comprehensively, safeguarding the programme from being overloaded;

102. Calls on the Commission and the NAs to endeavour to ensure that prospective participants, who are third country nationals, residing lawfully in the EU, do not face difficulties during the application process, making the programme truly inclusive;

103. Points out that cooperation with non-associated third countries can be very difficult, and calls on the Commission to systematically monitor, improve and strengthen the international dimension of the programme;

104. Asks that closer attention be paid to issues concerning the international dimension of the programme such as data protection rules for non-EU countries, the impact of geopolitical issues and visa-related issues;

105. Calls on the Commission to provide for the necessary programme flexibility in the design of the next generation of Erasmus+, while ensuring uniformity and proper scrutiny of the programme, including by Parliament;

106. Insists that NAs, beneficiaries and other stakeholders, including young people, and Parliament are actively involved in a continual, dialogue-based process to optimise the current and the next generation of Erasmus+; suggests that the Commission explore how AI tools can be used to aid with the evaluation of the programme and provide clearer insights into needs and possible developments without replacing human decision-making;

107. Asks the Commission to re-evaluate the need for increased visibility of the direct link between the EU and Erasmus+ as its flagship programme in order to increase awareness of that link among current and future beneficiaries;

108. Urges the Commission and the Member States to ensure that synergies between Erasmus+ and other programmes such as Horizon Europe or the European Social Fund Plus are fully exploited, and that the programme is better connected with other EU policies such as the 2020-2025 anti-racism action plan; and the EU Disability Rights Strategy 2021-2030;

109. Requires timely updates from the new inter-programme group between the Commission’s Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture and its Directorate-General for Research and Innovation on its results in terms of synergies between Horizon Europe and Erasmus+;

110. Stresses the need to accelerate synergies between the European Education Area, the Digital Education Action Plan and the European Skills Agenda in shaping a digital education policy;

111. Requests the Commission, the EACEA and NAs to analyse and systematically implement concrete measures that break down existing silos in the programme structure in order to increase synergies between different educational areas and actors so as to improve permeability and rebalance the programme, while maintaining the distinctions that are necessary for effective political scrutiny;

112. Calls for centralised and decentralised actions to be better linked and for the use of flexible funding instruments such as micro-grants to be enhanced; suggests that given the positive experiences gained with micro-grants during the pandemic, they should be maintained in a targeted way;

113. Calls on the Commission to conduct proper piloting and testing when introducing new administrative measures such as top-ups and lump sums to avoid creating additional administrative barriers to beneficiaries;

114. Calls for operating grants to support the development of strategic sectors that often rely on volunteers and for structured and regular cooperation between stakeholders and beneficiary representative organisations;

115. Calls for an improvement in the quality of evaluations of operating grants;

116. Encourages stronger incentives and better guidance so that the Seal of Excellence label will start having a tangible positive impact on Erasmus+;

117. Calls on the Commission to consistently follow up on any indications that an accredited beneficiary does not respect European values, with the aim of ensuring confidence in the established accreditation mechanism and to take appropriate action as a result, which must lead to expulsion if the allegations are substantiated and cannot be immediately and permanently remedied; points to the need for stricter monitoring in the next programing period;

118. Calls on the Commission to take better account of fraud, such as letterbox companies or inclusion top-ups that do not actually reach groups with fewer opportunities, and to make the actions taken to counter such abuses more transparent;

119. Calls for more gradual and predictable budgetary increases in the next multiannual financial framework programming period, and insists that, from the very beginning in 2028, funding levels must not be less than those of the last year of the current programme (2027) in order to ensure the smooth continuity and stability of the programme’s actions and activities;

120. Declares its determination to ensure a substantial increase in the Erasmus+ budget in the 2028-2034 programming period and commits itself to tripling the current envelope, taking the requirements of the programme into account;

121. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the Erasmus+ National Agencies.

ANNEX: ENTITIES OR PERSONS FROM WHOM THE RAPPORTEUR HAS RECEIVED INPUT

Pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure, the rapporteur declares that he has received input from the following entities or persons in the preparation of the report, until the adoption thereof in committee:

Entity and/or person

Institute MOVIT Institute for Development of Youth Mobility, Slovenia

Centre of the Republic of Slovenia for Mobility and European Educational and Training Programmes

Swedish National Agency (NA) for Erasmus+

OeAD, Austria's Agency for Education and Internationalisation

JINT, Nationaal Agentschap voor Erasmus+ Jeugd in Vlaanderen

EU University Association

Academic cooperation association

European Vocational Training Association

European Association of Institutes for Vocational Training

Lifelong learning platform

The European Association for the Education of Adults

Erasmus Student Network

Youth Forum

European Students' Union

EFIL - European Federation for Intercultural Learning

European Olympic Committee, EU Office

Erasmus+ Civil Society Coalition

National Youth Council of Hungary

Movetia – Switzerland National agency for the promotion of exchanges and mobility in the education system

DZS, Czech National Agency for International Education and Research

The list above is drawn up under the exclusive responsibility of the rapporteur.

INFORMATION ON ADOPTION IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

Date adopted

28.11.2023

Result of final vote

+:

–:

0:

22

3

2

Members present for the final vote

Asim Ademov, Andrea Bocskor, Ilana Cicurel, Laurence Farreng, Tomasz Frankowski, Catherine Griset, Sylvie Guillaume, Hannes Heide, Irena Joveva, Petra Kammerevert, Niyazi Kizilyürek, Niklas Nienaß, Marcos Ros Sempere, Monica Semedo, Andrey Slabakov, Michaela Šojdrová, Sabine Verheyen, Theodoros Zagorakis, Milan Zver

Substitutes present for the final vote

João Albuquerque, Ibán García Del Blanco, Chiara Gemma, Łukasz Kohut, Marcel Kolaja, Emmanuel Maurel, Wolfram Pirchner, Rob Rooken

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

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