(19 November 2013) – The Erasmus+ and Creative Europe programmes were approved today by the European Parliament.
Aimed at boosting skills, employability and supporting the modernisation of education, training and youth systems, the seven-year Erasmus+ programme will have a budget of €14.7 billion – 40% higher than current levels.
More than 4 million people will receive support to study, train, work or volunteer abroad, including 2 million higher education students, 650 000 vocational training students and apprentices, as well as more than 500 000 going on youth exchanges or volunteering abroad.
With a budget of €1.46 billion over the next seven years – 9% more than current levels – Creative Europe will provide a boost for the cultural and creative sectors, which are a major source of jobs and growth. The programme will provide funding for at least 250 000 artists and cultural professionals, 2 000 cinemas, 800 films and 4 500 book translations. It will also launch a new financial guarantee facility enabling small cultural and creative businesses to access up to €750 million in bank loans.
The European Capitals of Culture, European Heritage Label, European Heritage Days and the five European prizes (EU Prize for Cultural Heritage/Europa Nostra Awards, EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture, EU Prize for Literature, European Border Breakers Awards, and EU Prix MEDIA) will also receive support from Creative Europe. The programme will allocate at least 56% of its budget for the MEDIA sub-programme and at least 31% for the Culture sub-programme.