Brussels, 08/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Leonardo da Vinci programme makes it possible for people in vocational training to obtain a grant for completing a traineeship in another European country and has been going from strength to strength since it was set up in 2000. For 2005, 3,015 projects have been selected across Europe (EU25, EEA and the three associated countries, Bulgaria Romania and Turkey), corresponding to almost 70,000 traineeships in total (i.e. an average of 23 trainees per project) explains the European Commission, allocating a budget of €120 mil this year. The number of grant recipients has almost doubled in five years. Almost half of all beneficiaries are young people in initial vocational training who will spend between three weeks and nine months in a company or vocational training institution abroad. Almost 300,000 people received a Leonardo grant between 2000 and 2005. With the launch of the Europass in January 2005 (European passport for vocational training and qualifications), qualifications and skills acquired during a traineeship in another country may be recognised, under certain conditions, in the trainees' country of origin. Ján Figel', the Member of the European Commission responsible for Education and Training, stresses that the Leonardo da Vinci programme, by supporting the mobility of people in vocational training, is contributing actively to the emergence of a genuine European labour market in which the qualifications obtained in another country may be recognised at European level, while benefiting European citizenship.