56 Amendments of Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL related to 2015/2327(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Points out that Erasmus+ is the EU’s flagship mobility, education and, training, youth and sport programme, which has been allocated a 40 % budget increase as compared to the 2007-2013 period, given the positive results and high demand;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Recognises that investment from the EU budget under Erasmus+ contributes significantly to skills improvement, employability and a lower risk of long- term unemployment for young Europeans as well as active citizenship and social inclusion of young people;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Acknowledges the importance of the Erasmus+ Programme as one of the main flagship initiatives of the Union and encourages the Commission to propose a level of annual funding for the next generation of programmes of at least the same level as the last year of implementation of the current framework;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Welcomes the structure of the programme with separate budget chapters per sector and encourages the Commission to keep separate budget chapters in the proposal for the next generation of programmes;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Recognises the economic and social value of volunteering and encourages the Commission to support better volunteer based organisations across the programme actions;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas the Erasmus+ KA1 main target is the removal of barriers to mobility e.g. financial obstacles, recognition of international work/study outcomes for all targeted sectors;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Stresses that the youth chapter of the programme is the one suffering the most from the increasing interest in the Erasmus+ from European citizens. Notes that at the moment 36% of all Erasmus+ submissions are in the field of youth with a 60% increase in submissions between 2014 and 2016;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Suggests more flexibility to NAs in the financial management of grant requests based on beneficiaries needs within and among the Key Actions;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Believes that the 12.7% increase in the total budget in 2017 compared to 2016 and further annual increases in the remaining programme years will result in higher success rates and greater satisfaction among applicants; welcomes the Commission’s intention to allocate an additional EUR 200 million for the remaining programme period; encourages the European Commission to analyse the programme key actions and sectors that are underfunded, such as KA1 Youth Workers Mobility, KA2, school education, adult education, youth, and those that could benefit the most from the budgetary increase;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Believes that the 12.7% increase in the total budget in 2017 compared to 2016 and further annual increases in the remaining programme years will result in higher success rates and greater satisfaction among applicants; welcomes the Commission’s intention to allocate an additional EUR 200 million for the remaining programme period, though a bigger budgetary effort is needed;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Stresses the important role of non- formal education, youth work, participation in sports and volunteer activities in the Erasmus+ programme as a way to stimulate the development of civic, social and intercultural competences, to foster social inclusion and active citizenship of young people and to contribute to the development of their human and social capital;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Acknowledges the importance of the EU Structured Dialogue on youth, a participatory process that gives young people and youth organisations the possibility to be engaged in and influence EU youth policy making and welcomes the support the programme is providing to the process through the support to National Working Groups and the KA3 Structured Dialogue projects;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Emphasises the added value of Erasmus+ VET actions in supporting the integration or re-integration of disadvantaged groups into educational/vocational training opportunities in order to enhance their transition to the labour market;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Points out the continued social selectivity in enrolment to mobility in some Member States; indicates the high percentage of students in mobility programmes supported by third parties (family, parents, partners); notes that many working students resign from their participation in the mobility programme due to the potential loss in income; encourages the European Commission to further increase financial aid for those who are unable to participate due to financial constraints, and looks for further possibilities to facilitate their mobility in order to make the Erasmus+ truly accessible to all;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Considers the long-standing brand names (Comenius, Erasmus, Erasmus Mundus, Leonardo da Vinci, Grundtvig and Youth in Action) as important tools in promoting the variety of the programme; calls on all stakeholders to continue to use themonsiders as well the name of "Erasmus+" is becoming the most known specially for new comers; calls to add the name of "Erasmus" to the individual programmes (so the they will be "Erasmus Comenius", "Erasmus", "Erasmus Mundus", "Erasmus Leonardo da Vinci", "Erasmus Grundtvig" and "Erasmus Youth In Action"), in order to maintain and strengthen the identity of the sectorial programmes, to under Erasmus+ programme at the same time ensureing better recognition and to overcome any confusion among beneficiaries; calls on all stakeholders to use them, especially in publications and brochures.
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Encourages the Commission to continue its efforts towards an open, consultative and transparent way of working and to further improve its cooperation with partners at all levels of implementation; stresses, to this end, the need to involve stakeholders and beneficiaries in the Programme Committee meetings; highlights that, in line with Regulation (EU) No 1288/2013, this could be facilitated by the establishment of standing sub-committees involving representatives of stakeholders and beneficiaries, sectorial National Agencies, Members of the European Parliament and representatives from the Member States;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Encourages further fostering of cooperation between the NAs and EACEA in order to promote centralised actions of the Erasmus+ programme, provide additional information about them to potential applicants and exchange feedback on improving their implementation process;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Encourages the European Commission to give more flexibility to NAs to move funds within KAs in order to overcome the potential funding gaps based on beneficiaries needs, for instance between KA1 Youth Exchanges and Youth Workers mobility;
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13b. Encourages the facilitating of contacts among European Commission, NAs, programme beneficiaries, representatives of civil society organisations and EACEA by developing a communication platform for exchanging information and good practices where all related stakeholders can receive quality information, as well as share their experiences and suggestions for further programme improvements;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Calls on the European Commission to ensure the consistent application of programme rules and regulations across the National Agencies, observing common quality standards, project evaluation, and administrative procedures, thus guaranteeing the uniform and coherent implementation of Erasmus+ programme;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. Underlines the necessity of pursuing improvements in the programme, making it more user-friendly, taking into consideration the importance of differentiating among various sectors and groups of beneficiaries; encourages the European Commission to transform the programme guide and make it more user-orientated and sector-specific;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 c (new)
Paragraph 14 c (new)
14c. Encourages the European Commission to work on improving programme attractiveness by simplifying administrative procedures and requirements, especially for schools and smaller-scale organisations, VET school, adult education, the youth sector and newcomers who often find the programme challenging to participate in;
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 d (new)
Paragraph 14 d (new)
14d. Welcomes the actions of the European Commission to simplify application procedures, project management, accounting and reporting; encourages further reduction of administrative burdens by streamlining forms, making them promptly available in all official languages, and providing clear indication regarding documents needed at each stage;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the school education dimension of the programme, allowing for more mobility of pupils, simplification of funding and administrative procedures for schools and for non-formal education providers to support schools in organising pupil mobility, exploiting the benefits of cross-sectoral cooperation;
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)
Paragraph 16 b (new)
16b. Encourages the Commission to strengthen youth work and non-formal education development practices within the programme by supporting youth organisations and other youth work providers, as well as by continuing the support to the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Welcomes the introduction of two types of strategic partnerships as a first and important positive step towards increasing the chances for small-sizvoluntary-based organisations to participate in the programme; calls on the Commission to make further improvements in order to include more small-sizvoluntary-based organisations in programme activities, for example by reintroducing the national youth initiatives open to informal groups and by making the transnational youth initiatives more easily accessible;
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Encourages the European Commission to come up with innovative solutions to maximise as much as possible the impact of the programme by proposing new eligible actions, which could be done, for example, by introducing large scale youth exchanges based on the structure of the large scale EVS in the framework of KA1;
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Welcomes, furthermore, the simplification introduced by the use of lump-sum and flat-rate funding;
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 b (new)
Paragraph 18 b (new)
18b. Notes the need to increase the operational support to European networks under KA3 "Support for policy reform" in order to maximise the promotion and dissemination of the opportunities offered by Erasmus+;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Calls for taking concrete steps for volunteering to be eligible as a source of own contributions to the project budget, bearing in mind that Erasmus+ enables the recognition of volunteer time as co- financing in the form of contributions in kind and that the new European Commission proposal for financial guidelines includes this as a possibility;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Welcomes the European Commission´s proposition to set up a European Solidarity Corps; encourages the Commission to involve volunteer organizations in developing this new initiative in order to ensure its added and complementary value in strengthening volunteering in the European Union; encourages the Commission to make a budgetary effort to accommodate this new initiative without underfunding other current and priority programmes and calls to explore possibilities to integrate it under the EVS in order to strength volunteering in the EU without duplicating initiatives and programmes;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Welcomes the European Commission´s proposition to set up a European Solidarity Corps; encourages the Commission to involve volunteer organizations in developing this new initiative in order to ensure its added and complementary value in strengthening volunteering in the European Union;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 b (new)
Paragraph 19 b (new)
19b. Notes the importance of strengthening the local dimension of the EVS; suggests providing the EVS volunteers with stronger support not only before departure, but also upon their return to their local communities in the forms of post-orientated and post- integrated trainings in order to help them to share their European expertise by promoting volunteering at the local level;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Asks the Commission to harmonise the indicated pre-financing rates as much as possible throughout the programme in order to give all beneficiaries the same advantages and to facilitate project implementation, especially for small-sizvoluntary- based organisations;
Amendment 172 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 a (new)
Paragraph 20 a (new)
20a. Notes grant discrepancies between countries and method of its allocations; encourages the European Commission to investigate the outcomes of such differences in an effort to minimise socio- economic disparities in the European Union;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20b. Underlines that grants to support the mobility of individuals within the Erasmus+ programme should be exempted from taxation and social levies;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 d (new)
Paragraph 20 d (new)
20d. Suggests more flexibility in moving funds between KAs, and entrusts NAs in this process due to their familiarity with the potential funding gaps in their countries, thus allowing them to narrow these gaps;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Calls on the Commission to recognise the special nature of projects and mobilities involving people with special needs and people from disadvantaged backgrounds; encourages stronger promotion of the possibilities for people with special needs and for people from disadvantaged backgrounds to engage in the programme, including refugees, and asks that their access thereto be facilitated;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Notes more demanding implementation work for NAs under the current programme; calls on the European Commission to provide NAs with sufficient resources and necessary assistance, thus enabling more efficient programme implementation and allowing NAs to tackle new challenges resulting from the budget increase;
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 b (new)
Paragraph 21 b (new)
21b. Calls on the European Commission to monitor the quality criteria used by the National Agencies in project evaluations and exchange best practises in this regard; encourages trainings for evaluators in order to continue their development, especially in cross-sector projects, and to allow them to provide quality feedback to all applicants in order to encourage the accomplishment of goals in future projects and to improve the performance of future applicants;
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 c (new)
Paragraph 21 c (new)
21c. Calls on the National Agencies to provide full transparency while evaluating projects by publishing the list of selected projects together with their ongoing progress and designated financial support;
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 d (new)
Paragraph 21 d (new)
21d. Stresses that although progress has been made in recognising study periods, credits, competences and skills through non-formal and informal learning gained abroad, these challenges remain; underlines that recognition of international qualifications is essential to mobility and forms the foundation for further cooperation in the European Higher Education Area; highlights the importance of making full use of all EU tools for the validation of knowledge, skills and competences essential to the recognition of qualifications;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 e (new)
Paragraph 21 e (new)
21e. Encourages in Key Action 1 to continue the best function practises from Comenius such as fostering school class exchanges, and the possibility for school staff members to apply individually for mobility grants under Key Action 1;
Amendment 199 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 f (new)
Paragraph 21 f (new)
21f. Notes that despite the high quality of projects in KA2, many of them have been refused due to limited funding; encourages the European Commission to mark these projects in order to help them attract investments from other sources; encourages Member States to acknowledge “the marked projects” by giving them priority in accessing public funds for their realisation, if such funds are accessible;
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 g (new)
Paragraph 21 g (new)
21g. Calls on the European Commission to continue efforts to resolve the funding challenge for European organisations based in Brussels in order to further their contribution to the development of European policies in the fields of education, training, youth and sport;
Amendment 201 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 h (new)
Paragraph 21 h (new)
21h. Notes the NAs' challenges in implementing the International Credit Mobility (ICM); calls for greater flexibility for NAs to allocate resources from some countries and regions for the purpose of meeting the cooperation priorities of the HEIs;
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 i (new)
Paragraph 21 i (new)
21i. Encourages Member States to incorporate educational mobility as a part of higher or vocational education programmes in order to foster knowledge about learning, training, and youth work, improve the quality of higher education and the VET system, help individuals with upgrading their professional skills, competences and career development;
Amendment 203 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 j (new)
Paragraph 21 j (new)
21j. Encourages Member States, in order to foster the mobility of teachers, lecturers and non-academic staff, to acknowledge their participation in mobility programmes as an important part of their career progression, and if possible introduce a reward system linked to participation in mobility programmes; for example, in the form of financial benefits or reduction of workload;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 k (new)
Paragraph 21 k (new)
21k. Notes the decreasing number of individual mobility participants due to preferential treatment by European HEIs of an institutionalised mobility system; encourages the European Commission and national authorities to renew opportunities for individual candidates to participate in mobility;
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 l (new)
Paragraph 21 l (new)
21l. Encourages the European Commission to bolster the VET system by promoting VET mobility programmes among its new organisations and smaller institutions, in addition to providing them with assistance in applying for appropriate funding by offering further guidance, on-line trainings, and personalised support in preparing high quality applications for funding through contact with national agencies for the Erasmus+ programme;
Amendment 206 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 m (new)
Paragraph 21 m (new)
21m. Urges the Commission to identify current unequal participation of VET institutions in the EU mobility programmes in countries and regions in order to diminish these differences through improved collaboration and exchange of information among national agencies for Erasmus+, supporting teamwork among VET institutions by connecting experienced VET institutions with other institutions, offering policy support measures and specific suggestions to VET institutions, and improving VET institution support systems already in place;
Amendment 207 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 n (new)
Paragraph 21 n (new)
21n. Encourages the promotion of the European educational system around the world, as well as the advancement of individual knowledge worldwide by enhancing all relevant stakeholders (Member States, the HEIs, associations of higher education) to make the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees more attractive for HEIs and potential applicants;
Amendment 215 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Calls on the European Commission to involve all relevant stakeholders in the work on next funding programming period, and in the introduction of possible improvements in order to ensure the programme's further success and added value;
Amendment 228 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Calls not only for the current budget level to be secured for the next programme generation under the new MFF, but considers a further budget increase, that ensures a level of annual funding for the next generation of programmes of at least the same level as the last year of implementation of the current framework, to be an important step for the continued success of the programme;
Amendment 235 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25a. Indicates that disadvantaged groups are only specifically targeted in the youth sector; suggests the extension of the Inclusion and Diversity Strategy to all programme sectors in order to promote social inclusion and the participation of people with special needs or with fewer opportunities in the Erasmus+ programme;
Amendment 237 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 b (new)
Paragraph 25 b (new)
25b. Advocates allowing mobile students to combine studies abroad with a study-related placement within the programme, thereby providing additional financial assistance abroad, decreasing social selectivity, increasing the number of mobile students, upgrading students´ skills and enhancing the connections between higher education and the work environment;