Semester abroad in Bucharest, Utrecht, Bologna or Malmö? Erasmus is mainly known as an exchange program for students. But under the name Erasmus+, the program has been offering the opportunity to promote various forms of exchange beyond the university since 2014. For example, for young trainees or sportspersons. Now people from disadvantaged contexts are getting better chances to participate in the program!
Erasmus is a European success story. The program has been around for over 30 years. More than three million participants have had the opportunity to get to know other European countries.
Today, Erasmus is bigger than ever. Under the name Erasmus+, a number of additional features have been added. And with 23.4 billion euros, more money than ever before is available for the 2021-2027 funding period.
A lot can be done with that. For example, we as the European Parliament have pushed through easier access for people from low-income families. In addition, non-university exchanges are now better supported.
However, the budget is only half of what the European Parliament had asked for. And it is nowhere near enough to achieve the ambitious goals that had been set. The future of a number of planned major projects is now uncertain:
In the future, I will continue to work to further increase funding in order to
