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OPINION (2026/0196(BUD))

On the General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2027 – all sections

CULT-AD-791038

Committee on Culture and Education · Rapporteur: Hélder Sousa Silva

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✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 22 Oct 2026

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The Committee on Culture and Education gives its opinion on the 2027 EU budget, asking the Committee on Budgets to include its points in the resolution. It calls for more money for Erasmus+, Creative Europe and the European Solidarity Corps, and criticises cuts proposed by the Council and the Commission. It asks for specific increases: EUR 50 million for Erasmus+ learning mobility, EUR 5 million for Erasmus+ youth, EUR 3 million for Erasmus+ sport, EUR 5 million for the European Solidarity Corps, and EUR 7 million, EUR 5 million and EUR 3 million for the three Creative Europe strands. It wants all EUR 357 million recovered from the pandemic period returned to Erasmus+ learning mobility, and supports pilot projects and preparatory actions graded A and B. It asks that budget flexibility keep funding for education, youth, sport, culture and media visible and traceable.

Committee position. The committee asks the Committee on Budgets to incorporate its points into the resolution: more funding for Erasmus+, Creative Europe and the European Solidarity Corps, reversal of the Council's cuts and of the Commission's Erasmus+ cut, and visibility of culture and education spending.

Key points

  1. Calls for an adequate budget for Erasmus+, Creative Europe and the European Solidarity Corps in the final year of the current programming period, and deplores the Council's cuts of EUR 159 million, EUR 31.6 million and EUR 0.18 million respectively.
  2. Strongly deplores the Commission's attempt to cut Erasmus+ funding to create unallocated margin in heading 2b, and demands that all EUR 357 million recovered from the pandemic period go to the programme's largest strand.
  3. Calls for an additional EUR 50 million for the largest Erasmus+ strand, citing oversubscription, smaller organisations, people with fewer opportunities, inflation and rising living costs.
  4. Underlines the need for stable funding for the European Universities Alliances and Erasmus+ Teacher Academies, to safeguard European Schools Alliances and to support the European Education Area.
  5. Proposes increases of EUR 5 million for the Erasmus+ youth strand and EUR 3 million for the sport strand, citing high demand and oversubscription.
  6. Stresses the need to reinforce the European Solidarity Corps by EUR 5 million to offer more volunteering and solidarity activities, including youth-led responses to crises such as the war in Ukraine.
  7. Insists on increases to all three Creative Europe strands: EUR 7 million for Culture, EUR 5 million for Media and EUR 3 million for the cross-sectoral strand, to support the audiovisual sector, media freedom and pluralism.
  8. Recognises pilot projects and preparatory actions as tools for Members of the European Parliament to test new initiatives, and supports the CULT ones graded A and B.
  9. Points out that budgetary flexibility and simplification must go with transparency and democratic accountability, and stresses the need to keep funding for education, youth, sport, culture and media visible and traceable.

Who is affected

  • Erasmus+, Creative Europe and the European Solidarity Corps: the opinion seeks more funding for them and opposes cuts.
  • Young people, smaller organisations and people with fewer opportunities: the proposed Erasmus+ increase aims to include them better.
  • The cultural, creative, audiovisual and news media sectors: a reinforced Creative Europe is meant to help them reach audiences across borders.
  • Members of the European Parliament: the opinion supports their pilot projects and preparatory actions graded A and B.

Figures and deadlines

  • EUR 159 million: the Council's cut to Erasmus+ in its reading of the 2027 draft budget.
  • EUR 31.6 million: the Council's cut to Creative Europe.
  • EUR 0.18 million: the Council's cut to the European Solidarity Corps.
  • EUR 357 million: funds recovered from the pandemic period in 2024, 2025 and 2026 that the opinion wants returned to Erasmus+.
  • EUR 50 million: the proposed additional increase for the largest Erasmus+ strand.
  • EUR 5 million and EUR 3 million: the proposed increases for the Erasmus+ youth and sport strands.
  • EUR 5 million: the proposed reinforcement of the European Solidarity Corps.
  • EUR 7 million, EUR 5 million and EUR 3 million: the proposed increases for the Culture, Media and cross-sectoral strands of Creative Europe.