Following the announcement of European Commission’s President Jean-Claude Junker about the new initiative ‘European Solidarity Corps’ (ESC), the bodies of the EU have been moving fast to give shape to this new programme.
The Public consultation was closed at the end of March and EFIL submitted its position on the subject, in close cooperation with EFIL members running SENTIO programmes. You can read it here: EFIL input on ESC
The European Commission hosted a high level event on 12 April to consult stakeholders, and will issue a legislative proposal soon, in order to launch the separate ESC programme in 2018, following the 2017’s pilot which has been running thanks to existing funding programmes.
Whatever structure ESC will have, this will influence the European Voluntary Service now funded under Erasmus+, and its future.
The European Parliament and the European Youth Forum made it very clear that ESC should not be funded with budget which is supposed to be invested in the EU programme for youth, education and training, Erasmus+. The European Youth Forum issued its position on 17 February, and the European parliament issued a resolution on the topic on 22 March.
It is still uncertain what is the EU Member states position on this Commission’s initiative.
For more information: elisa.briga@afs.org