Brussels, 11/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 11 May, the Council of the EU adopted a general approach on the new integrated Erasmus for All programme proposed by the European Commission. This will replace at least seven education, training and youth programmes for the 2014-2020 period, and add a new dimension, sport. The Danish minister Christine Antorini said that the Commission objective of rationalising existing initiatives would provide greater clarity and make things work better. She also said that member states support this new programme, which aims to combine youth mobility and education. The programme demonstrates the importance of education in improving young people's employability, she added. The Commissioner for education, culture, youth and multilingualism, Androulla Vassiliou was delighted that there had been such broad consensus on the major programme points; that they had been able to focus on European added value and that the ministers had confirmed the three key programme action areas. According to the Commissioner, a clear signal was being sent to young people: Europe is taking care of them. Discussions did not broach the budget, which will be debated during the ongoing negotiations on the multiannual financial framework. The Commission has proposed providing the Erasmus for All programme with a budget of €19 billion for 2014-2020.
The main Erasmus for All priorities include the rationalisation, simplification and consolidation of ties between the formal and informal education and training sectors. The Commission wanted a single programme with simpler application modalities and procedures, to avoid dispersion and the duplication of work. The move has been welcomed by member states in this period of crisis. The new programme concentrates on three key types of action: individual mobility for learning, cooperation in the field of innovation and best practice and support for reforms of national education policies.
The warm welcome given to the integrated programme by the member states does not reflect the concerns raised by a majority of MEPs on the European Parliament's education and culture committee. The latter are afraid that programmes such as “Comenius” and “Grundtvig” will disappear, along with the objectives pursued in current programmes. Some member states, nonetheless, had some difficulty with some specific points, such as the budget and loan guarantees. These issues will be thrashed out under the Cypriot presidency in the second half of 2012. (IL/transl.fl)