The Committee on Culture and Education adopted the report by Milan ZVER (EPP, SI) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing ‘Erasmus’: the Union programme for education, training, youth and sport and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1288/2013.
The committee recommended that the European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the Commission's proposal as follows:
Continuity of the programme
Members proposed to keep the current name of the programme, namely "Erasmus +", now well known and reflects the fact that the Programme does not merely relate to the higher education sector, but covers a series of other former programmes. They also specified that the future programme should continue to support projects likely to bring European added value.
The programme should support the educational, professional and personal development of individuals in the fields of education, training, youth activities and sport through lifelong learning, thereby contributing to sustainable growth, quality employment, social cohesion and inclusion, in order to promote active citizenship and strengthen European identity.
Inclusion
Members wanted to give more importance to inclusion measures by creating a dedicated chapter on inclusion and requiring the Commission to draw up, by 31 March 2021 at the latest, a framework of inclusion measures and guidelines for their implementation.
This intervention strategy shall be published by 30 June 2021 at the latest and its implementation would be regularly monitored. It would pay particular attention to the following aspects: (i) cooperation with the social partners, national and local authorities and civil society; (ii) support for local grassroots organisations working directly with target groups; (iii) field intervention and communication for target groups, including through the dissemination of user-friendly information; (iv) simplification of application procedures; (v) provision of advisory, training and support services specific to target groups.
The Commission and the Member States shall cooperate to ensure that adequate financial support measures, including pre-financing, where relevant, are put in place to support people with fewer opportunities for whom participation in the Programme is impeded for financial reasons, either because they suffer economic disadvantage or because the additional costs of Programme participation owing to their specific situation represent a significant obstacle.
Budget
While the European Commission is planning a financial envelope for the implementation of the programme for the period 2021-2027 of EUR 30 billion in current prices for the period 2021-2027, Members proposed that this envelope be set at EUR 41 097 000 000 000 in constant prices for 2018 (i.e. EUR 46 758 000 000 in current prices). The annual appropriations should be authorised by the European Parliament and the Council within the limits of the multiannual financial framework.
Simplification
The amendments introduced by Members improve management and application processes and aim to facilitate mobility. They also strengthen provisions to improve cooperation and exchange of best practice between national agencies and to promote common standards for applications and evaluation. Lastly, they introduced indicators to measure simplification.
Seal of excellence
Actions eligible under the programme, which fulfil certain cumulative and comparative conditions, may be awarded a label of excellence as a guarantee of their high quality, which may facilitate their application for funding from other
sources or allow them to be selected for funding by the European Structural and Investment Funds, without a new application procedure.
Evaluation, mid-term review and revision
The Commission shall evaluate the results achieved through the inclusion measures as well as the efforts made to simplify the programme for beneficiaries.
The Commission shall, where necessary and on the basis of the mid-term review, put forward appropriate legislative proposals to amend this Regulation. The Commission shall appear before the competent committee of the European Parliament and the competent body of the Council to report on the mid-term review, including with respect to its decision on whether an amendment of this Regulation is required.
Work programmes
In order to strengthen parliamentary scrutiny, Members proposed that work programmes setting out strategic priorities and corresponding budgetary allocations should be adopted by means of delegated acts rather than implementing acts.