On 7-8 February 2013 the European Council came to an agreement about the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) of the Union for 2014-2020. An agreement that has a big effect on AEGEE and AEGEE-Europe’s president Luis Alvarado Martinez explains in this article the consequences it may have for your antenna.
Discussions started off with a €1-trillion budget proposed by the European Commission; last November it went down to €973 billion in the proposal made by Council President Herman Van Rompuy and in February Member States in the European Council decided to cut it down to €959 billion. This is the first time an EU budget has been cut in real terms. After that the European Parliament started to form its opinion on the matter and on 13th March 2013 they voted on a resolution which stated that the Parliament is not satisfied with this MFF proposal and it wishes to continue the negotiations. Now the ball is back in the court of the European Council and national ministers.
Compared to the current Financial Framework, the agreement reached by the European Council includes increasing investments in areas such as research and innovation as well as education, training and youth. Nevertheless, this agreement actually constitutes a decrease of 24% budget allocation under Heading 1a “Competitiveness for Growth and Jobs”, down from around €164 000 million of the initial EC proposals, to €125.614 million in the European Council February discussions. This subheading also includes the budget line for the next funding programme for education, training, youth and sport “Erasmus for all/YES Europe” where it is unclear until now, how much this specific programme would get in the end.
Why should you care?
The sum allocated to Education and Youth has an effect on policy development in those fields as well as on the possible implementation of projects, including youth-led ones. Moreover, the investment at European level also has an effect on the national level, both in terms of policy cooperation among countries and funds for local projects.
As a European Platform, AEGEE receives a big part of its funding from the European Commission, both for our events as well as for our statutory meetings, running costs and advocacy-related activities. Our work can only be ensured if the Education and Youth Program “Erasmus for All/YES Europe” includes the necessary investments young people in Europe and their representative youth organisations deserve. We firmly believe that education is the only way of beating the crisis, students and young people in general deserve a European Union that invests in them! We, as European students are not only the future of our society but also the present and we demand quality education in all EU Member States!
We call on our Member Organisations and on all young people to (re)act on the MFF and the future of the EC programmes!
Here below you will find various resources useful for your advocacy. Contact your Ministries, Member of the European Parliament and National Agencies. Act now!
Resources:
1) Position European youth Forum
3) http://www.euractiv.com/socialeurope/political-rhetoric-save-lost-gen-analysis-519222
Written by Luis Alvarado Martinez, Comité Directeur
Feature picture courtesy of Pietro Naj-Oleari,