On discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2023, Section III – Commission…, executive agencies and the ninth, tenth and eleventh European Development Funds

The Committee on Culture and Education calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following into its motion for a resolution:

1.Notes that, in 2023, the Commission’s Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (DG EAC) launched the midterm review process and published the corresponding report for the European Education Area (EEA) and launched the midterm evaluations for Erasmus+, the European Solidarity Corps and Creative Europe for the 2021-2027 programing period; stresses the importance of addressing challenges identified in these evaluations, particularly administrative burdens and digitalization issues, to improve accessability and efficiency for beneficiaries, in particular for people with fewer opportunities and small-scale organisations; welcomes the work done to ensure the legacy of the European Year of Youth;

2. Notes that the EACEA manages several programmes under two MFFs, namely the legacy programmes from the 2014-2020 MFF, with 1 897 projects closed during the reporting period, and the current 2021-2027 MFF, and was entrusted with operational appropriations for EUR 1.6 billion, managing 67 calls and monitoring a portfolio of around 8 000 running projects;

3. Notes that DG EAC’s and the EACEA’s overall risk at payment continued to be relatively low and their overall error rate remained below the 2 % materiality threshold in 2023;

4. Welcomes that EACEA has taken actions to remedy the previous years’ observations and reduced the rate of carry-overs from 12% in 2021 to 8% in 2023, thereby addressing an issue that the European Court of Auditors had flagged in two consecutive years;

5. Welcomes the frontloading of EUR 100 million from the 2027 budget of Erasmus+ to the 2023 budget of Erasmus+, which enabled continued support to pupils, students, teachers and qualified staff fleeing from Ukraine, and the extra EUR 20 million awarded to Erasmus+ in 2023 as a result of Parliament’s insistence; stresses that frontloading must remain an exception to rapid response to unforeseen acute crisis situations; underlines that any frontloading of Erasmus+ cannot result in cuts for the programme at the end of current MFF; emphasizes that every effort must be made to respond to such situations preferentially with additional funding;

6.Welcomes the fact that the Commission has adapted the grant amounts for individual support for learning mobility under Erasmus+ by 12,27 % in 2023 in order to mitigate the effects of inflation and the fact that similar adjustments have been made for the European Solidarity Corps; calls for the individual support grants to be increased and indexed to annual inflation in order to facilitate access to the Erasmus+ scheme, in particular for people in dual work programmes or apprenticeships or people with disabilities who need tailored support; notes with concern that, notwithstanding the increase in allowances for individual learning mobility support under Erasmus+ in 2023, disparities in access and exclusion of vulnerable groups have not been fully eradicated in the programme; notes further that the demand for Erasmus+ mobilities outweighed the availability in every sector of the programme;

7.Regrets the low uptake of adult learning and education (ALE) activities, despite their importance in achieving the target of 60% adult participation by 2030; calls on the Commission to reconsider its adult learning strategy in collaboration with National Agencies (NAs) and relevant stakeholders;

8.Regrets that 2023 budget for European Youth Together grants under Erasmus+ could not accommodate the significant increase in applications, effectively reducing success rates and access to funding;

9.Welcomes the Erasmus + Sport Staff Mobility program introduction in 2023 as an initiative promoting grassroots sports; underlines the role of sport as a vital component in promoting health and unity across Europe;

10. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the international dimension of Erasmus + programme in both candidate as well as countries preparing for future EU membership;

11.Emphasizes the need for strict oversight of the allocation of funds to prevent misuse within the Erasmus programme; asks the Commission to gather evidence to investigate any case of fraudulent or suspicious recipients, in accordance with its duties outlined in the Financial Regulation and Erasmus+ grant agreements; calls for adequate safeguarding of the programme from abuse by organizations whose activities are not aligned with the fundamental values of the European Union (human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, rule of law, human rights; recalls that the Commission is legally bound to ensure that programme beneficiaries commit to and ensure the respect of these values and do not commit professional misconduct;

12.Asks the Commission to hereinafter terminate the cooperation and recover the EU funds allocated to recipients if found in violation of the applicable legislation during the implementation of the project;

13.Welcomes the award of the Seal of Excellence, piloted in 2023, with the purpose of building synergies with other Union investment programmes, like the European Social Fund Plus, Horizon Europe and Digital Europe, with nine European Universities Alliances receiving a Seal of Excellence certificate;

14.Notes that interest in the European Solidarity Corps has grown significantly in recent years and that, due to the small budget allocation, an increasing number of applicants are being excluded from participation;

15.Notes that, after two years of frontloading of the Creative Europe budget to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the programme’s budget has returned to the regular profile of slow but steady growth until the end of the programming period; welcomes the reinforcement of its 2023 budget by EUR 7,5 million as a result of Parliament's insistence;

16.Notes that, in addition to its presence at film festivals, the Creative Europe budget financed a stand dedicated to MEDIA at Gamescom; welcomes this first initiative at a video games industry event, and the good results achieved, and encourages further efforts in this area;

17.Reiterates the importance of ensuring sufficient funds within programmes, especially for small-scale and voluntary organisations; urges the Commission to drastically simplify the application process for funding within programmes and to make it less time-consuming; particularly welcomes the lump sum approach as an effective simplification measure but expresses concerns about the burden of continuous reporting, especially for smaller organisations; underlines that these organisations should also be able to successfully participate in the programme and benefit from funding without significant additional effort;

18.Encourages DG EAC to complete the update of its Anti-Fraud Action Strategy and Action Plan speedily and ensure the implementation of the current Anti-Fraud Strategy, in particular the centralisation of the procedure to exclude organisations that fall under exclusion criteria;

19. Is pleased that the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) implemented the first Intra-Africa Academic Mobility V call of the current MFF with a total of 127 applications submitted, underscoring the interest of the African academic community;

20.Notes with concern that out of the Intra-ACP Budget within the European Development Fund implemented by EACEA (EUR 4.3 million) only 46% of payments were paid on time, as the result of delays in the transfer of budget to EACEA;

21.Notes with concern the persisting challenges in 2023 with the e-Grant tools for beneficiaries of calls managed by the EACEA; emphasizes the urgent need for technical improvements and user-centered design to ensure seamless application and reporting processes;

22.Welcomes the EACEA’s efforts to implement EMAS and encourages EACEA to increase its efforts by further implementing a sustainability plan and publishing the agency’s sustainability report transparently;

23.Calls on the Commission and Parliament to fundamentally revise the pre-assessment procedure for pilot projects and preparatory actions in order to make the whole process more transparent and comprehensible while significantly strengthening cooperation between all institutions regarding the will of the budgetary authority expressed in the proposals.