Erasmus+ programme for education, training, youth and sport 2014-2020

The Council took note of oral information from the Presidency on the state of play concerning the proposal for a Regulation establishing "Erasmus for all".

The Commission presented its proposal on 25 November 2011. The Council agreed a partial general approach in May 2012, which excluded any provisions with budgetary implications, pending overall agreement on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), for example, the programme’s total budget and how it would be distributed between different sectors and the loan guarantee facility for Masters-level students. The proposed budget for the Programme is €19 billion.

Although it maintained the overall architecture of the Commission proposal, with emphasis on simplification and on different types of action rather than a purely sectoral approach, the Council did introduce a number of changes to the text, many of which have since been taken up by Parliament.

In particular,

• a separate chapter devoted to youth  and a specific budget for youth were created, and access was broadened to include non-organised (grassroots) activities for young people;
• Member States gave themselves greater flexibility in terms of implementation;
• a guaranteed minimum level of expenditure for each educational sector;
• access to the programme was extended to allow the participation of persons with special needs or who are less favoured.

On 27 November 2012, the European Parliament committee responsible (CULT) voted 273 amendments to the proposal. The main points of divergence with the Council’s position are the following:

• new name for the programme: the YES Europe Programme
• retention of the current 'brand names' for the sub-programmes (Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Grundtvig, etc.);
• detailed objectives for the education, training and youth chapters;
• inclusion of the indicators in (an annex to) the basic act;
• greater use of delegated acts.

A first informal meeting between the Council (represented by the Irish Presidency), the Commission and the European Parliament (trilogue), aimed at preparing an agreement on the proposal, is scheduled for 19 February 2013. The Presidency hopes to achieve an agreement before the summer, which would enable important preparatory work by the Commission to be completed in time for the programme to begin, as proposed, on 1 January 2014.