The second inter-institutional negotiation meeting regarding the post-2020 European Solidarity Corps will take place on Tuesday 12 November. The main stumbling block between the three institutions is the issue surrounding the use of implementing acts, which the European Parliament is refusing because of the lack of influence they give.
The European Solidarity Corps was launched in December 2016 by the European Commission (see EUROPE 11684/23) in order to enable young people aged 18 to 30 to participate in a range of solidarity activities through voluntary service, internships or fixed-term employment within the EU. The negotiations here concern the modalities of the programme during the 2021-2027 programming period (see EUROPE 11798/17). However, they do not address the financial aspects or horizontal provisions that are discussed under the Erasmus programme.
According to our information, the main difficulties are related to secondary legislation. The European Commission, supported by the Council of the EU, has proposed to define the Corp's work programme by means of implementing acts, while the European Parliament prefers to do so by delegated acts.
Neither do the co-legislators share the same position regarding the issue of programme evaluation: the European Parliament would prefer binding evaluations, while the European Commission does not want them and the Council of the EU remains neutral. The European Parliament's position was adopted in March 2019 (see EUROPE 12212/31) and the Council of the EU's position in November 2018 (see EUROPE 12146/24). (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)