Processes and Actors in the Development of Erasmus 2021-2027
Actors in the Process
The European Commission has the sole right of proposal for all legislative acts of the Union. On May 30th, the Commission presented its proposal for the Erasmus Programme 2021-2027 and sent it to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. The Directorate-General for Education, Culture, Youth and Sports was responsible for working out the proposal. Already in the run-up of the programme proposal, European citizens and stakeholders of the programme were asked for their opinion through open consultations.
The European Parliament needs to agree to the Erasmus regulation before it can come into force. The Committee for Culture and Education (CULT-Committee) is responsible for the programme. It appoints a parliamentarian as rapporteur, who works out a first positioning and leads the proposal through the entire process within the Parliament. Additionally, the parliamentary groups appoint their respective shadow rapporteur. The report/positioning of the CULT-Committee will be submitted to the plenary of Parliament to debate it there. The agreements in plenary session shall require a simple majority.
By analogy with the European Parliament, the European Council – as representative of EU member states – must agree to the Erasmus regulation. The Education Committee prepares the decisions of the Education Council, being responsible for Erasmus. The Education Committee consists of the EU member states representatives, who act on behalf of their respective government. The chair is taken by the representation of the country, which holds the EU’s six-month rotating Presidency (from July onward: Austria). As opposed to the parliamentary decisions, the Council decision shall require a qualified majority (55% of EU-countries agree, representing at least 65% of the entire EU population).
Programme beneficiaries as well as national and European interest groups influence the programme development process across the entire negotiation period. They can give input to the Commission in order to shape the proposal and can equally affect the positioning of Council and Parliament.
A final agreement between Council and Parliament on Erasmus depends on the conclusion of negotiations on the next multi-annual EU budget 2021-2027. This determines the final amount budgeted for the programme. The Commission has the ambitious goal to reach an agreement before the elections to the European Parliament in May 2019. However, it is questionable if this will succeed.
Interested citizens and stakeholders can give their opinion on the Commission’s proposal for Erasmus through an open consultation by the Commission. To the consultation
