In its proposal for the EU’s next long-term budget (2028-2034), announced on Wednesday 16 July, the European Commission is proposing to increase the budget for Erasmus+ from the current €26.5 billion to €41 billion for the 2028-2034 period.
The aim is to expand access to mobility and training, particularly for the most disadvantaged groups.
For this reason, the programme, which would continue to fund school, university and professional exchanges, will take greater account of social and environmental issues.
Inclusion also appears to be a priority, thanks to an increase in funding for participants with fewer opportunities, through individual financial aid, covering disability-related costs, and partnerships with organisations working with disadvantaged groups.
The main innovation concerns the launch of the AgoraEU programme, which would bring together current funding from Creative Europe and the ‘Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values’ (CERV) programme.
With €8.6 billion, AgoraEU would bring together European support for culture, the media, civil society and democracy under a single umbrella.
It would be organised around three strands: culture (€1.8 billion), the media (€3.2 billion), and democratic rights and values (€3.6 billion).
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, explained in her statement on Wednesday 16 July, that this package should make it possible to “support media freedom, civil rights, diversity and democratic participation”, but also to simplify access to funds.
The new programme would also fund actions to combat gender-based violence and protect vulnerable groups.
This is “welcome” but insufficient support, according to the sector
The European network of cultural organisations, Culture Action Europe, considers the budgetary effort to be “welcome”, with a doubling of funding compared to the previous period.
But according to its Head of Policy, Luiza Moroz, this is still not enough, given the economic and social importance of the sector. She is calling for at least 2% of the total EU budget to be devoted to culture, which accounts for 4% of European GDP and nearly eight million jobs, and also wants to ensure that the cultural sector has access to other instruments such as Horizon Europe, the Competitiveness Fund and national and regional partnerships.
The cultural budget would represent around 21% of the total AgoraEU budget, divided between numerous sub-sectors such as music, theatre, heritage and the visual arts.
Also contacted by Agence Europe, Fernando Bittencourt Hersan, General Coordinator of Liveurope, the European platform for concert venues that promotes the circulation of emerging European artists, said that while “the increase in the budget devoted to culture will provide significant support to the sector in coping with rising costs and budget cuts at national level”, “it is not enough on its own”.
He therefore calls on the European Commission to put in place “a strong and focused strategy to help key sectors such as music to meet today’s challenges and unleash their full economic and social potential”. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)