Timothy Comments On Erasmus For All
Brussels -- Wednesday 30 May, 2012
Erasmus is a well known and quite successful scheme which facilitates the movement of students for the purposes of study in Europe.
It is up for review and deliberations are ongoing in the European Parliament.
As a substitute member on the culture and education committee in the European Parliament, I expressed some concerns today about the Commission's proposal on establishing the programme Erasmus for All.
Apart from the title, which is misleading, I outlined a few concerns.
Outside the Culture Committee today
The main concerns I have surround the top-down approach that the Commission has gone for in this proposal. It is perhaps a little too prescriptive, especially in the terms of the eligible activities and criteria.
I"m very keen that the sport element focuses on grassroots sport and that it encourages as many young people to take advantage of the facilities around them - I'm very keen that communities get involved in programmes.
Lastly money! I'm worried that almost 40% of the money is not fully assigned to a particular priority. From past experences, especially in the EU context, this is a worrying trend. The Commission must be more precise with its appropriations in order to get as much out of the scheme, but also in the interests of transparency.
