The European Commission’s revised proposal for the next long-term EU budget (2021-2027) brings both hope and disappointment. The strong commitment to European cooperation and public investment demonstrated by its proposed allocation of 1.1 trillion euros, along with 750 billion euros for recovery instrument NextGenerationEU, is a positive sign for the future of Europe. Addressing the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis, as well as the green and digital transitions, certainly requires ambitious public investment. In this regard, Europe cannot afford to leave people behind by failing to adequately channel such investment into funding programmes which have a tangible and positive impact on their lives while also helping to tackle the above challenges and contribute to the EU’s recovery. However, compared to the Commission’s original proposal from 2018, the revision surprisingly reduces the allocation to such programmes.
Set up in 2015 by the Lifelong Learning Platform and European Youth Forum, the Erasmus+ Coalition is an informal alliance of civil society and stakeholder organisations -including garagErasmus- with extensive experience in working with Erasmus+ and previous generations of the programme. Both organisations, together representing all categories of programme beneficiaries, coordinate dialogue between the EU institutions and civil society organisations across Europe. The Coalition meets regularly to discuss issues of common concern in the implementation of the Erasmus+ programme.
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