Activities of Ernest MARAGALL related to 2015/2327(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the implementation of Regulation (EU) No 1288/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 establishing ‘Erasmus+’: the Union programme for education, training, youth and sport and repealing Decisions No 1719/2006/EC, No 1720/2006/EC and No 1298/2008/EC PDF (537 KB) DOC (110 KB)
Amendments (30)
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the European Commission has shown flexibility and took innovative steps to target new challenges, like a proposal for refugees, and to foster civic values within the incentives Erasmus+ develop towards a more active and participative intercultural dialogue;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Believes that the 12.7% increase in the total budget in 2017 compared to 2016 and further annual increases in the remaining programme years will result in higher success rates and greater satisfaction among applicants; welcomes the Commission’s intention to allocate an additional EUR 200 million for the remaining programme period; encourages the European Commission to analyse the programme key actions and sectors that are underfunded, such as KA1 Youth Workers Mobility, KA2, school education, adult education, youth, and those that could benefit the most from the budgetary increase;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Stresses also that a strong component for all participants in Erasmus+ is the development of their linguistic skills; welcomes therefore the on-line linguistic tools that are proposed by the Commission, but reminds that an accompanying (national, regional, local) framework has to be put into place to make their mobility a success, in particular for school-aged pupils, VET students, and also staff, to help their insertion into the different environments;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Notes that the Student Loan Guarantee Facility was only launched in February 2015 after signature of the delegation agreement with the European Investment Fund (EIF) in December 2014, and that to date there are only three banks in France and Spain participating in this finnovative tool; ancial scheme; another bank in UK will join, but it is clear that this financial tool is far from reaching the expected results, to date only 130 Master students are participating; calls for critical assessment of the Loan Guarantee Facility, considering purpose and accessibility throughout Europe and urges the Commission, in consultation with the European Parliament, to propose a strategy to re-allocate part of the budget line that more likely will not be used by 2020;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Regrets that organisations representing amateur sportspeople at local level are highly underrepresented as project participants in the implementation of grassroots sports projects; welcomes the introduction of Small Collaborative Partnerships with reduced administrative requirements as an important step in enabling smaller grassroots sports organisations to take part in the programmeWelcomes the particular involvement of the Erasmus+ programme in cooperation and activities in grassroots sport; encourages the European Commission to improve the accessibility and participation in the programme of grassroots actors such as sports clubs; invites the European Commission to enhance a cross-sectoral approach on grassroots sport across all relevant actions of Erasmus+ and to coordinate actions in this field in order to ensure their effectiveness and desired impact;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Asks the Commission to fully exploit the potential tolifelong learning dimension of the programme by fostering and encourageing cross-sectoral cooperation under Erasmus+, which is much higher than under the predecessor programmes, and to evaluate cross-sectoral cooperation in the programme’s midterm evaluation presented at the end of 2017 as foreseen initially in the programme by extending the possibility to submit cross-sectoral strategic partnerships under KA2 to NGOs while ensuring the evaluators have a broad understanding of educational areas including non-formal education;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Encourages further fostering of cooperation between the NAs and EACEA in order to promote centralised actions of the Erasmus+ programme, provide additional information about them to potential applicants and exchange feedback on improving their implementation process;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. Underlines the necessity of pursuing improvements in the programme, making it more user-friendly, taking into consideration the importance of differentiating among various sectors and groups of beneficiaries; encourages the European Commission to transform the programme guide and make it more user-orientated and sector-specific;
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 c (new)
Paragraph 14 c (new)
14c. Encourages the European Commission to work on improving programme attractiveness by simplifying administrative procedures and requirements, especially for schools and smaller-scale organisations, VET school, adult education, the youth sector and newcomers who often find the programme challenging to participate in;
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 d (new)
Paragraph 14 d (new)
14d. Welcomes the actions of the European Commission to simplify application procedures, project management, accounting and reporting; encourages further reduction of administrative burdens by streamlining forms, making them promptly available in all official languages, and providing clear indication regarding documents needed at each stage;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16a. Calls on the European Commission to strengthen the school education dimension of the programme, allowing for more mobility for pupils, school staff, for more school class exchanges, as well as simplification of funding and administrative procedures for schools and non-formal education providers, whereby taking advantage of the general intention of Erasmus+ to foster cross-sectorial cooperation, and with a view to encourage youth organisations or activities to involve partnerships with schools;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 b (new)
Paragraph 19 b (new)
19b. Notes the importance of strengthening the local dimension of the EVS; suggests providing the EVS volunteers with stronger support not only before departure, but also upon their return to their local communities in the forms of post-orientated and post- integrated trainings in order to help them to share their European expertise by promoting volunteering at the local level;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 b (new)
Paragraph 20 b (new)
20b. Underlines that grants to support the mobility of individuals within the Erasmus+ programme should be exempted from taxation and social levies;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20 d (new)
Paragraph 20 d (new)
20d. Suggests more flexibility in moving funds between KAs, and entrusts NAs in this process due to their familiarity with the potential funding gaps in their countries, thus allowing them to narrow these gaps;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Notes more demanding implementation work for NAs under the current programme; calls on the European Commission to provide NAs with sufficient resources and necessary assistance, thus enabling more efficient programme implementation and allowing NAs to tackle new challenges resulting from the budget increase;
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 b (new)
Paragraph 21 b (new)
21b. Calls on the European Commission to monitor the quality criteria used by the National Agencies in project evaluations and exchange best practises in this regard; encourages trainings for evaluators in order to continue their development, especially in cross-sector projects, and to allow them to provide quality feedback to all applicants in order to encourage the accomplishment of goals in future projects and to improve the performance of future applicants;
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 c (new)
Paragraph 21 c (new)
21c. Calls on the National Agencies to provide full transparency while evaluating projects by publishing the list of selected projects together with their ongoing progress and designated financial support;
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 d (new)
Paragraph 21 d (new)
21d. Stresses that although progress has been made in recognising study periods, credits, competences and skills through non-formal and informal learning gained abroad, these challenges remain; underlines that recognition of international qualifications is essential to mobility and forms the foundation for further cooperation in the European Higher Education Area; highlights the importance of making full use of all EU tools for the validation of knowledge, skills and competences essential to the recognition of qualifications;
Amendment 199 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 f (new)
Paragraph 21 f (new)
21f. Notes that despite the high quality of projects in KA2, many of them have been refused due to limited funding; encourages the European Commission to mark these projects in order to help them attract investments from other sources; encourages Member States to acknowledge “the marked projects” by giving them priority in accessing public funds for their realisation, if such funds are accessible;
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 g (new)
Paragraph 21 g (new)
21g. Calls on the European Commission to continue efforts to resolve the funding challenge for European organisations based in Brussels in order to further their contribution to the development of European policies in the fields of education, training, youth and sport;
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 i (new)
Paragraph 21 i (new)
21i. Encourages Member States to incorporate educational mobility as a part of higher or vocational education programmes in order to foster knowledge about learning, training, and youth work, improve the quality of higher education and the VET system, help individuals with upgrading their professional skills, competences and career development;
Amendment 203 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 j (new)
Paragraph 21 j (new)
21j. Encourages Member States, in order to foster the mobility of teachers, lecturers and non-academic staff, to acknowledge their participation in mobility programmes as an important part of their career progression, and if possible introduce a reward system linked to participation in mobility programmes; for example, in the form of financial benefits or reduction of workload;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 k (new)
Paragraph 21 k (new)
21k. Notes the decreasing number of individual mobility participants due to preferential treatment by European HEIs of an institutionalised mobility system; encourages the European Commission and national authorities to renew opportunities for individual candidates to participate in mobility;
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 l (new)
Paragraph 21 l (new)
21l. Encourages the European Commission to bolster the VET system by promoting VET mobility programmes among its new organisations and smaller institutions, in addition to providing them with assistance in applying for appropriate funding by offering further guidance, on-line trainings, and personalised support in preparing high quality applications for funding through contact with national agencies for the Erasmus+ programme;
Amendment 206 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 m (new)
Paragraph 21 m (new)
21m. Urges the Commission to identify current unequal participation of VET institutions in the EU mobility programmes in countries and regions in order to diminish these differences through improved collaboration and exchange of information among national agencies for Erasmus+, supporting teamwork among VET institutions by connecting experienced VET institutions with other institutions, offering policy support measures and specific suggestions to VET institutions, and improving VET institution support systems already in place;
Amendment 216 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Recommends that Erasmus+ further develops cross-sector mobility of individuals within KA 1, so that learners, teachers, educators, trainers, apprentices, workers and youth may engage fully in cross-sector mobility;
Amendment 217 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 b (new)
Paragraph 22 b (new)
22b. Asks the Commission to introduce and support a structured learning component on educational mobility, that should become part of any higher or vocational education programme, in order to ease and strengthen awareness of mobility competences in all targeted sectors;
Amendment 218 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 c (new)
Paragraph 22 c (new)
22c. Suggests greater involvement of National Agencies in education, training, youth and sport policy developments by strengthening the links to and among the European Commission, Member States and the National Agencies' network;
Amendment 230 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24a. Stays in a constant dialogue with the European Commission in order to monitor the practices of autocratic governments relative to the selection of individuals for mobility;
Amendment 235 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25a. Indicates that disadvantaged groups are only specifically targeted in the youth sector; suggests the extension of the Inclusion and Diversity Strategy to all programme sectors in order to promote social inclusion and the participation of people with special needs or with fewer opportunities in the Erasmus+ programme;