Post by ecn on Jul 30, 2011 9:46:24 GMT 1
On 29 June 2011 José Manuel Barroso presented the European Commission's draft budget for the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014 - 2020 (MFF 2014-2020). From the point of view of EU exchange programmes, the numbers are encouraging, but do not go far enough.
Mr Barroso indicated in his letter to Fraternité2020 on 16 May 2011 that the new budget proposal will include a 'substantial' increase in money for EU exchange programmes (see here). According to the Commission proposal for the MFF 2014-2020, the most prominent EU exchange programmes should see an increase of 71% (see also here).
To put this - at first sight 'substantial' increase - into perspective just note for a moment how little money was spent on these programmes so far: only about €2 billion annually for all programmes all over the EU (incl. Marie Curie) were spent in the last MFF 2007-2013. This represents a share of only 1.5% (!) of the total EU budget! Hence - considering this extremely low base - a 71% increase might sound large at first; but when looking behind these numbers one has to realize that an initiative like Fraternité2020 is really badly needed to bring about an EU that is closer to its citizens and focuses first and foremost on them when thinking about how to unite our continent....
Mr Barroso indicated in his letter to Fraternité2020 on 16 May 2011 that the new budget proposal will include a 'substantial' increase in money for EU exchange programmes (see here). According to the Commission proposal for the MFF 2014-2020, the most prominent EU exchange programmes should see an increase of 71% (see also here).
Here is the link to the official Commission communication: ec.europa.eu/budget/library/biblio/documents/fin_fwk1420/MFF_COM-2011-500_Part_II_en.pdf
On p. 28-31 the Commission explains what it would like to do in the field of Education and Culture. The Commission wants to merge all existing programes into one budget line called "Education Europe", which will have only one programme called "(New) Erasmus". Generally this might be viewed as a good thing, as this step could indeed help increase efficiency and visibility of these programmes. Nonetheless, they are in itself hardly sufficient to increase the attractiveness of EU exchange programmes.
More important is the ammount of money the Commission plans to spend on EU exchange programmes in the future: In 7 years it foresees 15.2 billion Euros, which means (only) about €2.2 billion annually for the Lifelong Learning Programme (Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Comenius, and Grundtvig) and Youth in Action (incl. the European Voluntary Service). How much other EU exchange programmes (e.g. Marie Curie, Culture, and Erasmus Mundus) will receive under the Commission proposal is less clear. Also disappointing is the fact that the European Voluntary Service (EVS) is not mentioned explicitly in the report.
To put this - at first sight 'substantial' increase - into perspective just note for a moment how little money was spent on these programmes so far: only about €2 billion annually for all programmes all over the EU (incl. Marie Curie) were spent in the last MFF 2007-2013. This represents a share of only 1.5% (!) of the total EU budget! Hence - considering this extremely low base - a 71% increase might sound large at first; but when looking behind these numbers one has to realize that an initiative like Fraternité2020 is really badly needed to bring about an EU that is closer to its citizens and focuses first and foremost on them when thinking about how to unite our continent....