Activities of Romeo FRANZ related to 2023/2002(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the implementation of the Erasmus+ programme 2021-2027
Amendments (60)
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas uncertainties or delays in the timing of contracting and payments to beneficiaries add to their administrative burden and complicates financial planning, which is particularly detrimental to small organisations and newcomers, thus undermining inclusion and diversity ambitions;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F b (new)
Recital F b (new)
Fb. Whereas youth work and the education of youth workers are not recognised in all Member States, which results in discrepancies in the Erasmus+ implementation;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F c (new)
Recital F c (new)
Fc. Whereas recognising youth work and the education of youth workers will ensure a minimum harmonisation of the young people’s realities across the Union and would impact positively the quality of the projects in the Erasmus+ programme;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F d (new)
Recital F d (new)
Fd. Whereas the participation of young third country nationals, residing in the EU, is hindered by administrative procedures that could be addressed and eased;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F e (new)
Recital F e (new)
Fe. whereas complicated application processes and long administrative requirements are one of the main hurdles facing new organisations to apply to the programme;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F f (new)
Recital F f (new)
Ff. whereas Inclusion Officers play a vital role in promoting diversity and inclusion within the Erasmus+ program; whereas there is a need for adequate financial support to ensure the effective operation and impact of Inclusion Officers;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Acknowledges with concern that the current situation of how applicant organisations declare their projects’ work with vulnerable groups and people with fewer opportunities in the application process mount to a box-ticking exercise, and allow, in some cases for the inclusion top-ups not to be used by actual vulnerable groups, calls on the Commission in this regard to re-evaluate the tools and mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation in regard to inclusion and diversity in the projects, while having more importance to structural changes that the projects bring, rather than individual benefits;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Applauds the NAs that have drawn up national plans for inclusion and diversity, taking into account the barriers for inclusion and diversity; calls on NAs to invest more in and empower their inclusion officers to be able to support the inclusion and diversity plans as well as provide support to newcomers and first- time applicants, and reach out to organisations led by/working with vulnerable youth who are not part of the programme yet;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Acknowledges the warm welcome ofhigh interest of higher education institutions in the European Universities initiative by higher education institutions and its cpotentriality in facilitating efforts to remove obstacles to international cooperation in higher education;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Notes that DiscoverEU, which was initiated by Parliament, has become a well- established, popular and easy-to-access informal learning activity; Calls on the need to establish stronger synergies between learning mobility and DiscoverEU; along with embedding it further in the informal and non-formal learning culture of Erasmus+;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Notes the successful rollout of the Centres of Vocational Excellence, playing a key role in modernising VET provision in Europe; regrets the high demand and insufficient funding for the instrument; calls on the Commission for a vision on the sustainable continuation of flagship initiatives such as the Centres of Vocational Excellence and European Universities;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Calls on the Commission to remove any financial and administrative barriers in order to achieve a truly inclusive programme embracing diversity, including those introduced by the new ICT tools both at centralised and decentralised level in order to achieve a truly inclusive programme embracing diversity, whilst not reducing the number of grants available to beneficiaries;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Points out that insufficient grants to cover the costs of mobility and delays in payments are one of the biggest deterrents to participants in mobility projects; Points out that increase to the programme funding and adjustments to the ranges need to translate also in increase of the grants on national level.
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Regrets the length of time required to apply for Erasmus+ funding and that applicants often cannot apply without external support; requests that proportionate registr, hindering the participation of youth organisations and application processes be devised, both in terms of ths well as grassroots and volunteer-based organisations and at the same time lbength of documents and the comprehensibility of the language used thereinefiting project-writing organisations and consultancies;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Requests that proportionate registration, and application and reporting processes be devised, both in terms of the length of documents and the comprehensibility of the language used therein, including further reductions of administrative and bureaucratic requirements, especially for smaller grants (e.g KA1s, KA2 small-scale partnerships);
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 b (new)
Paragraph 21 b (new)
21b. Calls on the NAs to be more transparent and certain regarding when decisions are taken and payments are made, which would contribute to better planning by fund recipients and less burdens;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Regrets the fact that complicated processadministrative processes at all stages considerably hinder the participation of newcomers and small-scale organisations, especially in the school and youth sectors;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Regrets that partnerships between schools and non-profit organisations expert in learning mobility are not actively encouraged to ensure access to quality mobility to all, considering the challenges faced already by the teaching profession which would benefit from the support of civil society organisations in their process towards internationalisation;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 b (new)
Paragraph 22 b (new)
22b. Regrets the fact that the current financial frameworks do not support the equal accessibility for participants living in rural and remote areas and the increased financial means they need to access equally mobility projects, especially in relation to travelling from rural areas, islands and more remote areas;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Is concerned by the fact that almost a third of students in higher education mobility reported that they did not receive full credit recognition, which is far fromand calls for action to address this according the objectives laid down in the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Is disappointed by the low uptake of adult learning and education activities, given its importance; calls on the Commission in this regard to strengthen the communication and outreach efforts to relevant stakeholders that aim to increase the visibility of adult learning and education activities and the support available for them;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Calls on the Commission to reconsider its adult learning strategy in collaboration with NAs and relevant stakeholders, given the target of 60 % of adults participating in adult learning and education by 2030;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Welcomes the lump sum approach being applied in cooperation projects, as many beneficiaries acknowledge it as an effective simplification measure; notes, however, that, including the proposal form; notes, however, that this may require more transparent and clearer rules and guidance in plain language, than presently provided. In addition, the requirement of ‘continuous reporting’ can be a burden, especially for smaller organisations;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Deeply regrets the slow and incomplete development of the IT infrastructure and the improper functioning of IT tools such as the Beneficiary and Project Management modules and the Online Language Support (OLS), which increases the workload of all those involved in the programme’s implementation, discourages the participation of newcomers and undermines the programme’s ambition to widen participation; notes that similar issues exist with IT tools in other EU- funded programmes, including the European Solidarity Corps;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 a (new)
Paragraph 28 a (new)
28a. Calls on the Commission to conduct proper testing and piloting when introducing new administrative measures like top-ups and lump sums to avoid placing additional administrative barriers on the beneficiaries;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 b (new)
Paragraph 28 b (new)
28b. Asks the Commission to undergo a review of unit costs in terms of travel to reflect the reality of costs as well as the needs of beneficiaries;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Deplores the fact that IT issues also severely affect data availability, which is essential for the ongoing mid-term review, thus necessitating a much more onerous evaluation methodology and exacerbating the administrative burden;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 a (new)
Paragraph 29 a (new)
29a. Deeply regrets the results of the 2022 centralised youth operating grants (Civil Society Cooperation in the field of Youth), when the number of beneficiaries reduced from 90 to 30, severely impacting the already COVID-weakened volunteer- led youth civil society sector;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 b (new)
Paragraph 29 b (new)
29b. Regrets the significantly lower number of youth and volunteer-led organisations successfully applying for centralised grants in the field of youth, and particularly within the European Youth Together and Key Action 2 Cooperation Partnerships in the field of Youth. Regrets the subsequent reduction of the latter's budget from 5 to 2 million EUR in 2023.
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30
Paragraph 30
30. Calls on the Commission to correct the limited usability oftransparency and usability of the results section “Projects funded under this topic” in the portal for funding and tender opportunities, so that data can be downloaded by stakeholders to analyse the characteristics of successful projects in terms of, budget and per participating country and beneficiary andt not only, organisations’ names, amount of budget, country of project lead or project type;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 a (new)
Paragraph 32 a (new)
32a. Underlines the existing inconsistencies with regards to reporting expectations, evaluation results and general information sharing across the different NAs which create different implementation standards for the beneficiaries and affect the equity needed for the programme’s functioning;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. Expects the memorandum of understanding between the European Education and Culture Executive Agency and NAs to produce tangible improvements, leading to the exchange of good practices and the clarification of roles and responsibilities to achieve consistency, coherence and effective communication by NAs; Calls on the Commission to better streamline policy with practice, it is crucial to provide better general and continuous training for EACEA project officers, staff and National Agencies, accompanied by clear communication about the interpretations of Erasmus+ initiatives;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 a (new)
Paragraph 33 a (new)
33a. Calls on the NAs to give more detailed feedback to applicants on the strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement of their applications, which would lead to better-quality applications in the future, calls for the information sessions on reporting requirements to be scheduled at the beginning of the project rather than at later stages;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 a (new)
Paragraph 35 a (new)
35a. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the alignment of the programme with the EU Youth Strategy, the 11 youth goals and the outcomes of the EU Youth Dialogue, by maintaining the role of the Youth Chapter in Erasmus+ as an incentive for the youth field to actively contribute to the implementation of the Strategy; calls for reinforcing the youth dimension in KA2, by better defining its objectives for the youth field, in line with the EU Youth Strategy, and the role of youth organisations and youth workers in KA2 projects;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 b (new)
Paragraph 35 b (new)
35b. Calls on the Commission and Member States to reinforce the recognition of youth work, education of youth workers, and non-formal education, to harmonise youth workers realities across the Union;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35 c (new)
Paragraph 35 c (new)
35c. Calls on the Commission and NAs to ensure that participants who are third country nationals and residing in the EU are meaningfully included in the programme, through making participants’ lists in Erasmus+ projects able to be signed by people with irregular status, easing visa processes among member states, and that the online registration system accepts other forms of IDs, to make the programme truly inclusive;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Calls on the Commission to strengthen and monitor more coordination across the NAs to ensure a common understanding of Erasmus+ rules across the NAs and prevent NAs requiring documentation or input difficult for small organisations to obtain, while standardising the quality of evaluations across participating countries,
Amendment 132 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 b (new)
Paragraph 36 b (new)
36b. Calls on the Commission to ensure that NAs and their evaluators have a clear understanding of the difference between project grants and operating grants, as the capacity-building objective of operating grants that differentiates them from project grants is not well understood,
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 c (new)
Paragraph 36 c (new)
36c. Calls on the Commission and NAs to raise the awareness of little known platform features like the Quality Label and Project Management Modules among relevant stakeholders and beneficiaries;
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
Paragraph 37
37. Calls on the Commission to foster the role of Erasmus+ in increasing civic engagement and a better understanding of and support for European values, and to turn the programme into a true promoter of European democracy; while ensuring that European values, such as democracy, active citizenship and non-discrimination, have stronger emphasis in the programmes as a core focus;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37 a (new)
Paragraph 37 a (new)
37a. Calls on the Commission, in cooperation with the all stakeholders, to establish European “inclusion targets” for the programme, accompanied by clear impact indicators, and with more data being made available, to help monitor and evaluate the inclusivity of the programme on the medium and long terms;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39
Paragraph 39
39. Calls for centralised and decentralised actions to be better linked and to enhance the use of flexible funding instruments such as micro-grants and subgranting schemes managed by European umbrella organisations;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39 a (new)
Paragraph 39 a (new)
39a. Calls the Commission to include additional support measures for small youth organisations, dedicated funds, appropriate training, incentives for participation in the Programme. The risk in standardising the actions is to cut out small grassroot organisations as they are not able to compete in terms of project writing with experienced organisations.
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 39 b (new)
Paragraph 39 b (new)
39b. Calls on the NAs to develop and implement more tailor-made outreach and communication activities to reach out to new youth organisations who didn’t utilise the programme yet, specially those led by/working with youth with fewer opportunities; calls on the NAs to deliver more capacity building for youth organisations to engage with Erasmus+, like the SALTO’s Appetiser training course.
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 40 a (new)
Paragraph 40 a (new)
40a. Insists that hosting organisations for traineeships need to be required to sign a quality charter that defines the quality standards to be met by hosting organisations, in line with the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education.
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42
Paragraph 42
42. Calls for wider use of, and clearer rules on virtual and blended learning and the building of infrastructure for digitalised learning opportunities;, including by expanding the blended intensive programmes to other education sectors; Insists that such learning formats should only be an addition and complementary to improve the quality of education and facilitate smoother and more flexible transitions. It should in no way replace physical mobility. Funding allocated to support virtual and blended learning cannot come at the expense of physical learning mobility; Requests that all virtual and blended learning is also subject to quality assurance mechanisms.
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43
Paragraph 43
43. Asks for eTwinning to be integrated fully and seamlessly into Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43 a (new)
Paragraph 43 a (new)
43a. Calls the Commission to make available data from the Portal on projects both accepted and refused that includes participants with fewer opportunities and vulnerable groups. This data should be broken down in terms of - but not only -: disability, minorities, LGBTIQ+, migrants, rural youth etc.
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44
Paragraph 44
44. Urges the Commission to step up efforts on the programme’s digital transformation, in particular on achieving an ‘Erasmus Without Paper’ andfor all education and training sectors. Calls on the Commission to support the higher education institutions in the adoption of digital learning mobility nominations and transcripts of records until 2025, as well as establishing the ‘European Student Card’, following the initial planning, and ensure continued adhesion and support of and by the community;
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 44 a (new)
Paragraph 44 a (new)
44a. Urges the Commission to promote and invest in academic and administrative staff mobility, which is a powerful multiplier for fostering mobility among students;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 45
Paragraph 45
45. Asks the Commission to assess options for a more integrated approach towards youth activities across EU programmes, including through higher funding from other programmes and instruments funnelled into Erasmus+ , consultations across EU programmes with youth stakeholders on the design, implementation and evaluation of grants and instruments in the field of youth, adaptation of those grants to the structural realities of youth organisations;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48
Paragraph 48
48. Insists on NAs and beneficiarieto enable NAs, beneficiaries and other stakeholders, including young people, and Parliament to be actively involved in the co-creation process of the next generation of Erasmus+;.
Amendment 185 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 48 a (new)
Paragraph 48 a (new)
48a. Considers the institutionalisation of the involvement of representative civil society in the continuous evaluation and decision-making on the programme, namely through the inclusion of the main representatives of youth, education and sports civil society organisations (including those working on disability rights, LGBTIQ+, minorities, etc). This should happen through their involvement in the Erasmus+ programming committee meetings as well as through bi-annual meetings between the institutions and civil society;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 49
Paragraph 49
49. Urges the Commission and the Member States to ensure that synergies between Erasmus+ and other programmes such as Horizon Europe or the European Social Fund Plus are fully exploited, and that the programme is better connected with other EU policies such as the 2020- 2025 anti-racism action plan; and the EU Disability Rights Strategy 2021-2030;
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50
Paragraph 50
50. Emphasises that issues with the IT infrastructure similar to those experienced in the current programme period are unacceptable, and expects the IT infrastructure of the next Erasmus+ generation to be fully operational from day one, particularly with regards to the functioning of the Beneficiary Module; calls for enhanced testing and consultation with National Agencies and end users before the roll out of additional features or new IT tools; notes that the improper functioning of IT tools causes distress on financial reporting among end users of Erasmus+; Urges the Commision in regards to the IT system to ensure that they comply with the EU Web Accessibility Directive;
Amendment 192 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 50 a (new)
Paragraph 50 a (new)
50a. Highlights the importance of broadening Erasmus+ to involve as programme countries all willing non-EU European countries that abide by the principles of democracy, human rights and rule of law; underlines the need to make the participation of civil society organisations from non-Erasmus+ programme countries more widely available;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 51
Paragraph 51
51. Calls for more gradual and predictable budgetary increases in the next multiannual financial framework programming period that amounts to tripling the current budget, and insists that, from the very beginning in 2028, funding levels must not be less than those of the last year of the current programme (2027) in order to ensure the smooth continuity and stability of the programme’s actions and activities; Outlines the importance for the budgetary increases to be subjected to regular review processes and allowances for inflation;
Amendment 194 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 51 a (new)
Paragraph 51 a (new)
51a. Calls for the funding to support cooperation among stakeholders and representative organisations of the beneficiaries in a more structured and regular way as opposed to project / action based funding. This type of funding should be included and considered an added value for the operating grants;
Amendment 195 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 51 b (new)
Paragraph 51 b (new)
51b. In addition, EACEA and NAs should provide more tailored support and capacity building activities to applicants, especially newcomers and small organisations;
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 52
Paragraph 52
52. Declares its determination to ensure a substantial increase in the Erasmus+ budget in the 2028-20334 programming period and commits itself to a tripling of the financial envelope, taking the requirements of the programme into account;