Erasmus+, 35 years of being an ever-growing mainstay of Europe's future
The future is always defined by the new generations, without whose help even the most glittering projects end up as museum material. This is not the case of Erasmus, the European Union project devised and promoted especially by the then Spanish Vice-President of the European Commission, Manuel Marín.
The EU has just closed the commemorations of the 35th anniversary of what has become one of its flagships, enhancing the value of European citizenship and serving as an example of a successful model of European cooperation, which in these times of growing uncertainty is one of the main factors of hope for the future of the only great historical project forged by the free will of its members.
In a happy coincidence, the programme was named after the Rotterdam scholar, but it also stands for the acronym European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students. Three thousand were the first university students to be able to move from their home universities to other EU countries for learning purposes. Since then, thirteen million people have participated in the programme, taking advantage of the opportunities for cooperation and mobility for students and teachers, which is no longer limited to university education but has been extended to school education, vocational education, adult education and, from 2023, sports coaches.
This broadening of the spectrum of beneficiaries is the reason why Erasmus became Erasmus+ in 2014, and why its horizons go beyond annual periods. Thus, Erasmus+ from 2021 to 2027 has been endowed with €26.2 billion, plus another €2.2 billion from external EU instruments. Erasmus+ has therefore been strengthened by extending it to all fields of education, including sport, with youth as a priority beneficiary of Erasmus+. At the same time, collaboration and integration with other programmes, such as DiscoverEU or the European Year of Youth 2022, has made it possible to provide 70,000 travel tickets to as many students from the 27 EU countries.
The consolidated balance sheet for the last year, 2021, shows that despite the difficult global context, Erasmus+ supported 19,000 projects, which are benefiting 648,000 students, including 65,000 people with reduced mobility.
According to the EU office in Spain, there is already a significant avalanche of proposals for 2023, with a budget of 4.2 billion euros. The programme's requirements emphasise "strong support for inclusion, active citizenship and democratic participation, as well as green and digital transformation in the EU and internationally".
Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas, responsible for Promoting our European Way of Life, rightly congratulated himself at the close of the anniversary celebrations: "The opportunities offered by Erasmus+ continue to create hope for a better future, have contributed to strengthening the European identity of all its beneficiaries and serve as a bridge between Europe and the world".
And indeed, as the EU faces the challenges arising from the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis and the highly asymmetric fight against global warming, it is also fair to recognise that there are achievements such as those made by Erasmus+, which can be said to have changed the lives of 13 million people of different ages and backgrounds for the better, naturally projecting their own satisfaction onto the many other citizens around them with whom they come into contact.
The construction of Europe is certainly a long-term project, but events such as this help to shake off pessimism about its suitability and feasibility, and above all to have confidence in the young European citizens who have already been able to see directly and personally that the other members of this conglomerate also abhor the nationalistic exclusivism of the past and advocate, with full knowledge of the facts, cooperation and common, inter-European teamwork.