The Diplomat
The plenary session of the European Parliament approved this past Tuesday the new edition of Erasmus+, the EU’s flagship program for education, training, youth and sport, which will receive almost double the funding compared to the previous stage.
Specifically, the program will receive more than 28 billion euros, from different sources, in the period 2021-2027, compared to 14.7 billion euros in the previous seven years. In addition, MEPs secured an additional €1.7 billion during the final stages of negotiations with the Council.
As reported by the European Parliament, the new Erasmus+ will include more tools and resources to promote inclusion. For example, the Commission and Member States will have to develop plans to facilitate access to learning and mobility for people who, since the program has existed, have had fewer opportunities to participate, including people with disabilities, those living in poverty or in remote locations, or immigrants.
In addition, people who do not have sufficient means to cover the initial costs of participating in the program (such as buying a train ticket or booking accommodation) may receive additional assistance, some paid in advance. Applications cannot be rejected on the grounds of higher costs if they are linked to measures to ensure inclusion.
To a greater extent than the previous program, the new Erasmus+ will be extended to offer the opportunity for adult students to spend up to six months in another EU country. This will help citizens, regardless of their age or circumstances, to acquire new life and work skills that will enable them to better adapt to the changes that the green and digital transition, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, will bring.
Moreover, the new Erasmus+ will be simpler and more user-friendly for applicants, with more user-friendly IT systems and less red tape. It will offer a special funding scheme for smaller organizations, from which youth associations and sports clubs, among others, will be able to benefit. The program will also assess its contribution to achieving the EU’s climate action targets and reduce its own environmental footprint, for example by encouraging participants to use climate-friendly means of transport.
Since the creation of the Erasmus+ program in 2014, Spain has received funding for 53,517 projects, according to data provided by the European Commission. In 2019, 92,427 people, of which 62,305 belonged to a higher education institution, participated in 2,862 Spanish projects for a total grant amount of €185 billion, according to the latest report published by the European Commission in December 2020. Spain sent a total of 44,052 students and traineeship workers in 2019, mainly from the University of Granada, the Complutense University of Madrid and the Universitat de València, while it received mostly students from Italy, the United Kingdom (which has exited the Erasmus program following Brexit) and France.
In order to ensure a smooth transition with respect to 2014-2020, the Regulation provides for the new Erasmus+ to enter into force retroactively, from January 1, 2021. The Commission and many Member States have already launched application processes and calls for proposals.
