On 12 October 2018, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway submitted a joint EEA EFTA Comment on the European Commission’s proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing ‘Erasmus’: the European Union’s program for education, training, youth and sport and repealing EU Regulation No 1288/2013.
The current Erasmus+ programme has played a significant role in achieving goals of growth, job opportunities, equity and social inclusion at the European level through international cooperation.
In their Comment, the EEA EFTA States welcome the Commission’s proposal for the Erasmus programme, and the stability and continuity the proposal represents. The importance of continued participation in the new Erasmus programme is emphasised. Such participation should be based on the relevant articles of the EEA Agreement, and include equal access to the programme, the same rights and obligations to partners, as well as the same rights and obligations regarding dissemination and evaluation of the programme.
Even though the EEA EFTA States are overall satisfied with the Commission’s proposal, they raise some issues in their Comment. Firstly, they question the need for a distinction between cooperation and innovation partnerships. In particular in the field of higher education, they question the added value of cooperation partnerships that do not provide funding for innovation and development.
Secondly, both Iceland and Norway are currently participating in both Erasmus+ and Horizon 2020 and would like to see the two programmes more closely linked in the future for participants to take advantage of the synergies between the two programmes.
Thirdly, the EEA EFTA States would welcome a clear commitment to more transparency and involvement of National Agencies in the implementation of centralised actions, as this is considered to be key to ensure inclusiveness and accessibility of the programme to its applicants.
The submission of Comments on important policy issues is one way the EEA EFTA States contribute to decision shaping through the EEA Agreement.
Read the full text of the EEA EFTA Comment here.
A full list of EEA EFTA Comments is available here.
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