Twice as much money for Erasmus, culture and volunteering

In the next seven years, more people than ever before will have an EU-funded foreign learning experience, more artists will be financially supported by the EU and more young people will volunteer to work for non-profit causes. The EU flagship programmes for education, for culture and for volunteering of young people will have almost twice as much money compared to the previous budgetary period. The European Parliament approved the increased budgets at this week's Plenary session.

Milan Zver MEP, the European Parliament's negotiator for the Erasmus+ Programme, said: “Foreign learning experiences will be available for many more people. I am proud to have negotiated more than €28 billion for some 10 million students, teachers, young people, adult learners and sport organisations to participate in Erasmus+. Even during COVID-19 and for those with reduced mobility, virtual learning will be an option for the upcoming years. All preconditions are set for Erasmus+ to continue being the most successful flagship programme of the EU.”

Tomasz Frankowski MEP, who negotiated the Creative Europe Programme, added: “The culture sector was one of the most impacted by COVID-19 restrictions. Thanks to our pressure in the European Parliament, the cultural and creative sectors will now get an almost doubled budget of €2.4 billion compared to previous years to recover. For the first time ever, we will support the news media sector. What is more, we will also have a dedicated fund for music, and special support will be offered to emerging artists and networks.”

Michaela Šojdrová MEP, the Parliament's negotiator for the Solidarity Corps Programme, concluded: “I am glad that the EPP Group’s initiative to support the volunteering of young people has transformed into a strong programme underpinned by over €1 billion for the next seven years. I believe that around 350,000 volunteers for whom the programmes are foreseen will bring much needed solidarity to a Europe hit by the pandemic.”