Discussions at the Education and Youth Council on Monday 26 November revealed some points of persistent disagreement, despite the partial general approach reached by Member States earlier in the day on the Erasmus programme in the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).
The partial general approach, negotiated pending the end of the budgetary negotiations on the future MFF, makes, as announced (see EUROPE 12143), few changes to the Commission's draft.
The main change concerns the name: whereas the European Commission proposed to replace Erasmus+ by Erasmus, as before 2014, the draft general approach is referred to as Erasmus+.
The Commissioner for Education, Tibor Navracsics, expressed his satisfaction with this text, which "remains faithful to the spirit of the Commission's proposal".
While Member States generally welcomed the balance of the text, which remains structured around three main areas of action (education and training, youth and sport), they disagreed in particular on the meaning to be given to the term "inclusiveness".
France and Belgium, as well as Portugal, have pushed for social inclusiveness and proposed that the programme offer significant opportunities to high school students and apprentices. "The programme could thus benefit the outermost regions such as overseas France", said Gabriel Attal, French Secretary of State for Youth.
For their part, Romania and Bulgaria called for greater territorial inclusiveness, considering that their territories were currently being left behind by the Erasmus+ programme.
"A geographical balance in terms of mobility must be guaranteed", said Krasimir Valchev, the Bulgarian Minister of Education, who said that mobility too often goes from north to west Europe.
Another point of disagreement is France's proposal to bring the programme under the regime of delegated acts, provided for in Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. This configuration would reduce the Commission's room for manoeuvre once the Regulation is adopted.
France is once again in agreement with Belgium on this point, when other Member States such as Greece are opposed to it.
Consensus around the 'Jean Monnet Activities'
However, a German proposal provoked a broad consensus among Member States. This proposal aims to establish clearer criteria and greater transparency in 'Jean Monnet Activities'.
The 'Jean Monnet activities' "aim to promote excellence in teaching and research in the field of European studies at world level", according to the Commission's website. They mainly consist of courses and research work financed by the Commission after a call for projects.
Doubling the budget
Finally, the Member States warmly welcomed the proposed doubling of the Erasmus+ programme budget, as did Greece, France and Lithuania.
The Commission wants the budget to be increased from €14 billion to €30 billion for the next MFF.
"I assume that, when the agreement is reached, we will not give up this multiplication by two. If the budget were to increase further, I would not object, as I consider this programme to be absolutely essential", said Heinz Fassmann, the Austrian Minister of Education, who chaired the Council, on this subject. (Original version in French by Mathieu Solal)