As announced at the end of 2016, the discussions on the future of Erasmus+ after 2020 are starting this year, at the same time as the mid-term evaluation of the programme.
EFIL has contributed to the consultation on the mid-term evaluation and is taking part in the meetings organised by the Erasmus+ civil society coalition put together by the Lifelong Learning Platform and the European Youth Forum. Furthermore, EFIL has joined the expert group on Erasmus+ of the European Youth Forum (YFJ), which is drafting the position of the platform on the future Erasmus+; the policy paper will be adopted at the Council of Members at the end of November and will be the basis of YFJ’s advocacy in the next years.
The European Commission will release its first proposal for the future Erasmus+ in mid 2018, therefore this is the key moment for civil society to start imagining a new programme, based on the good aspects of the current one, and solving the issues we are facing, such as decentralization and lack of funding for some actions.
The European Parliament is very keen on starting to work on the future Erasmus+; they are preparing a resolution on the topic and in December they will host an event for celebrating the 30 years of Erasmus, looking at what will come after 2021.
What we know at the moment, is that some key political leaders from EU Members states are calling for 10 times for budget for Erasmus+ , and also President Junker, on the day of the 30th anniversary of Erasmus, said that more investment in this programme is needed. We are also aware that the funding for volunteer mobility now present within Erasmus+, will most probably shift completely to the new initiative of the European Solidarity Corps.
EFIL will advocate for the funding for European youth NGOs to be managed at central level, with adequate resources. In addition, we will ensure more funding is allocated to pupils’ mobility run by expert non-profit organisations.
For more information: elisa.briga@afs.org