2023/2018(INI) Implementation of the current European Solidarity Corps 2021-2027
Lead committee dossier:
Progress: Procedure completed
| Role | Committee | Rapporteur | Shadows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | CULT |
ŠOJDROVÁ Michaela ( EPP)
|
RUIZ DEVESA Domènec ( S&D),
JOVEVA Irena ( Renew),
RIBA I GINER Diana ( Verts/ALE),
KRUK Elżbieta ( ECR),
MAUREL Emmanuel ( GUE/NGL)
|
| Committee Opinion | DEVE |
KEMPA Beata ( ECR)
|
Rosa ESTARÀS FERRAGUT ( PPE),
Charles GOERENS ( RE),
Patrizia TOIA ( S&D),
Antoni COMÍN I OLIVERES ( NA)
|
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
RoP 54, RoP 57
Legal Basis:
RoP 54, RoP 57Subjects
Events
2023/11/21
EP - Text adopted by Parliament, single reading
Documents
2023/11/21
EP - Decision by Parliament
Documents
2023/10/27
EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Details
The Committee on Culture and Education adopted an own-initiative report by Michaela ŠOJDROVÁ (EPP, CZ) on the implementation of the European Solidarity Corps programme 2021-2027.
Improving the programme's visibility
Members reminded the Commission, Member States, national agencies and volunteer organisations that they must implement and develop the ESC programme in line with the measures and activities defined for this purpose, while helping to simplify procedures and enhance the programme's visibility. The Commission and national agencies are invited to:
- strengthen regular exchanges of best practice, improve their common understanding of programme procedures, deepen cooperation and enhance the promotion of the programme;
- help raise awareness of the program and its individual strands, further develop its brand image and reach out to more youth organisations and young people, particularly the most disadvantaged in society.
The report highlights the need not only to step up communication and raise the profile of the programme, but also to increase the budget to cover new applicants and avoid a low success rate.
New forms of volunteering and bureaucratic simplification
Noting that young people's needs and social trends are evolving, Members called on the Commission to explore new forms of volunteering for the next programming period, such as part-time or mixed volunteering, and to allocate a sufficient budget to participants and organisations.
The Commission is also asked to :
- lower the age limit and the mandatory minimum number of five participants per solidarity project for in-country activities in the next programming period;
- strengthen the ESC's capacity for European civic mobility and transnational volunteering;
- strengthen the specific supporting role of participating organisations, providing them with financial incentives and making their involvement mandatory in volunteering actions;
- implement the inclusion and diversity strategy with the utmost care, in particular to help organisations reach out to more participants with fewer opportunities;
- adopt a more flexible approach to individual volunteering, enabling participants to mix and match countries, areas of activity and experiences;
- develop specific initiatives for EU volunteers to contribute to the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine;
- ensure that the digital tools and systems currently used to manage and implement the programme function properly, and that their full potential is exploited;
- deepen the solidarity experience by encouraging visits by volunteers to sites of memory in the host country, particularly to sites of special significance for the history of the EU;
- simplify and shorten the application process for the new quality label;
- support the extension of mutual recognition of learning outcomes from volunteering activities, including soft and professional skills.
European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps
Members welcomed the high number of young people interested in the humanitarian aid strand, with over 42 000 expressions of interests received by May 2023. They called on Commission to maintain the importance of adequate training, security and protection of volunteers , which should be subject to regular information sharing and risk assessment, particularly in areas considered to be unstable.
Members are concerned about the lengthy volunteer selection procedure , in particular with regard to waiting times for mandatory in-person training, which could lead to candidates dropping out and losing interest. They stressed that volunteers should be able to complete their mandatory training at the beginning of their deployment so that they can become operational faster.
Noting that around two thirds of the selected projects for 2023 are development-centred, the report called for a more balanced humanitarian-centred approach for future selections. It called on the Commission to consider the possibility of revising the regulation to allow volunteering in safe zones of conflict-affected countries, subject to clear security and safety protocols and appropriate training. It insisted that the deployment of volunteers be focused on pre-disaster preparedness and post-disaster recovery settings.
Budget
The Commission and the Member States are called on to provide the ESC with an adequate budget that will be able to accommodate increasing interest in the programme, and to allow more flexibility in the budget’s allocation between the project strands so that the programme can address unexpected challenges, such as rising inflation and higher living costs.
Members called, in this regard, for the budget of the ESC to be at least doubled in the next multiannual financial framework (2028-2034).
Documents
2023/10/24
EP - Vote in committee
2023/09/25
EP - Committee opinion
Documents
2023/09/20
EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2023/07/13
EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2023/03/02
EP - KEMPA Beata (ECR) appointed as rapporteur in DEVE
2023/02/16
EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament
2023/02/16
EP - Referral to associated committees announced in Parliament
2023/01/24
EP - ŠOJDROVÁ Michaela (EPP) appointed as rapporteur in CULT
Documents
- Text adopted by Parliament, single reading: T9-0410/2023
- Decision by Parliament: T9-0410/2023
- Committee report tabled for plenary: A9-0308/2023
- Committee opinion: PE749.019
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE753.563
- Committee draft report: PE751.652
- Committee draft report: PE751.652
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE753.563
- Committee opinion: PE749.019
- Text adopted by Parliament, single reading: T9-0410/2023
Activities
- Michaela ŠOJDROVÁ
Plenary Speeches (1)
Votes
Implementation of the European Solidarity Corps programme 2021-2027 – A9-0308/2023 – Michaela Šojdrová – Motion for a resolution #
2023/11/21 Outcome: +: 499, -: 56, 0: 52
The Left
ID| Amendments | Dossier |
| 121 |
2023/2018(INI)
2023/06/30
DEVE
42 amendments...
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion Recital A A. whereas the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps, the humanitarian strand of the European Solidarity Corps (ESC), offers young people opportunities to gain
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Welcomes the high number of young people interested in the humanitarian aid strand, with over 42 000 expressions of interests received by May 2023; strongly supports as effectively as possible the efforts to increase engagement among young people, notably those most disadvantaged in society, including those with disabilities and with fewer opportunities; calls for concrete action to ensure these young people are included in a meaningful way,
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Welcomes the high number of young people interested in the humanitarian aid strand, with over 42 000 expressions of interests received by May 2023; strongly supports the efforts to increase engagement among young people with fewer opportunities; calls for concrete action to ensure these young people are included in a meaningful way, such as targeted communication campaigns to create more awareness and the appropriate design of compulsory training programmes including capacity building to reinforce the impact of the programme
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Welcomes the high number of young people interested in the humanitarian aid strand, with over 42 000 expressions of interests received by May 2023; strongly supports the efforts to increase engagement among vulnerable young people
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Welcomes the high number of young people interested in the
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Welcomes the high number of young people interested in the humanitarian aid strand, with over 42 000 expressions of interests received by May 2023; strongly supports the efforts to increase engagement among young people with fewer opportunities, especially those from modest backgrounds and rural areas; calls for concrete action to be investigated to ensure these young people are included in a meaningful way,
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 a (new) 2a. notes that the last publicly available ESC annual report refers to the period 2018-2019; recalls the importance of data collection and reporting in order to assess and communicate the impact of the programme; encourages the Commission to publish annual reports for the current programme, including but not limited to gender-disaggregated data on participants and types of organisations engaging with the programme, also in view of assessing its inclusivity;
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 a (new) 2a. Recalls that as defined in the Grand Bargain, EU volunteering programmes in humanitarian contexts must work in line with the localisation agenda and therefore calls for providing humanitarian aid as much local as possible;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 a (new) 2a. Calls on the Commission to maintain the importance of adequate training, security and protection of volunteers which should be subject to regular information sharing and risk assessment especially in areas considered to be unstable;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 a (new) 2a. Emphasises the need to increase the resources for long-term support and capacity-building when engaging vulnerable volunteers;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Is concerned about the lengthy volunteer selection procedure, in particular with regard to waiting times for mandatory in-person training, which could lead to candidates dropping out and losing interest;
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion Recital A A. whereas the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps, the humanitarian strand of the European Solidarity Corps (ESC), offers young people opportunities to gain and develop skills while fostering innovation, resilience, solidarity and livelihoods across societies globally; whereas principled humanitarianism underpins humanitarian volunteering;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Is concerned about the lengthy volunteer selection procedure, in particular with regard to waiting times for mandatory in-person training, which could lead to candidates dropping out and losing interest; underlines that the selection procedure shall be carried out respecting the principles of non-discrimination, gender equality and equal opportunities; underlines that humanitarian operations require an adequate
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Is concerned about the lengthy volunteer selection procedure, in particular with regard to waiting times for mandatory in-person training, which could lead to candidates dropping out and losing interest; underlines that humanitarian operations require adequate training
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Is concerned about the lengthy volunteer selection procedure, in particular with regard to waiting times for mandatory in-person training, which could lead to candidates dropping out and losing interest; underlines that humanitarian operations require adequate training that is tailored to the hosting context;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Is concerned about the lengthy volunteer selection procedure, in particular with regard to waiting times for mandatory in-person training, which could lead to candidates dropping out and losing interest; underlines however that humanitarian operations require adequate training;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 a (new) 3a. Stresses that volunteers taking part in the humanitarian strand of the ESC should be recruited for specific knowledge and skills that may not be readily available in the country of deployment, nor the host organisation; underlines the value of local staff and volunteers to ensure continuity of the work in the organisations; insists that volunteers in the humanitarian aid strand should not replace or duplicate national staff in host organisations or roles that could be filled by local volunteers, but rather strengthen them;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 a (new) 3a. Calls on the Commission to allow organisations already holding a label certified under the EU Aid Volunteers initiative and signatories to a framework partnership agreement (FPA) between NGOs and DG ECHO at the Commission may be eligible for a simplified procedure for obtaining the label required by the new project;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 b (new) 3b. Stresses the importance of enhancing the capacity building and training dimensions of the programme to the benefit of both volunteers and hosting organizations, especially on humanitarian and core EU principles;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 c (new) 3c. Underlines the need to facilitate the administrative procedure for obtaining the Quality Label giving access to the ESC programme to host organisations, in particular smaller organisations and organisations that have not yet handled European programmes;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4. Notes that most applicants are between 19 and 23 years old; invites the Commission to re
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4. Notes that most applicants are between 19 and 23 years old;
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4. Notes that most applicants are between 19 and 23 years old;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4. Notes that most applicants are between 19 and 23 years old; invites the Commission to remove the age limit to allow
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4. Notes that most applicants are between 19 and 23 years old; invites the Commission to remove the age limit to allow more experienced candidates to participate without significantly affecting youth engagement in humanitarian operations; insists that the initiative should be accessible for any EU citizen or long-term resident of 18 years or over with proven skills and experience in the field of humanitarian aid, including for local volunteers from third countries;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Notes that around two thirds of the selected projects for 2023 are development-centred;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Notes that around two thirds of the selected projects for 2023 are development-centred; calls for a more balanced humanitarian-centred approach for future selections; calls on the Commission to
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Notes that around two thirds of the selected projects for 2023 are development-centred; calls for a more balanced humanitarian-centred approach for future selections; calls on the Commission to consider the possibility of revising the regulation to allow volunteering in safe zones of conflict- affected countries, subject to clear security and safety protocols and the fulfilment of the duty of care for volunteers
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Notes that around two thirds of the selected projects for 2023 are development-centred; calls for a more balanced humanitarian-centred approach for future selections of projects addressing specific challenges for the benefit of individuals or communities in need of solidarity efforts from society; calls on the Commission to consider the possibility of revising the regulation to allow volunteering in safe zones of conflict- affected countries, subject to clear security and safety protocols and background checks or other measures with a view to ensure volunteers’ safety and the fulfilment of the duty of care for volunteers during all stages of the solidarity experience.
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Notes that around two thirds of the selected projects for 2023 are development-centred; calls for a more balanced humanitarian-centred approach for future selections; calls on the Commission to consider the possibility of revising the regulation to allow volunteering in safe zones of conflict- affected countries, subject to clear security and safety protocols and the fulfilment of the duty of care for volunteers. The deployment of these actions must be guided by the principles of neutrality and impartiality and must not, under any circumstances, involve warlike interference and must not be linked to a defense and security budget.
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 a (new) 5a. recognises the need to carefully and properly check the organisations taking part in the programme, both for the safety of participants and the provision of quality skills training; takes note of the complexity of the Quality Label application, in particular for the Humanitarian Strand and for organisations not familiar with EU funding programmes; calls on the Commission to issue further detailed guidance and technical assistance for applicants, in view of not discouraging organizations from engaging with the programme.
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1. Emphasises the importance of volunteering in humanitarian aid operations in promoting
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 a (new) 5a. Stresses that, as regards humanitarian action, volunteers must be made aware of the laws of the eventual host third country where they are to volunteer, as well as of possible cultural aspects that are relevant to the requirements of the planned humanitarian action, including in relation to interactions with the local population.
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 b (new) 5b. Stresses that in the event that the Commission comes to authorise volunteering activities in safe zones of conflict-affected countries, such activities would only be authorised under strict conditions set out in legislation and other relevant directives or guidance from the third country where the aforementioned humanitarian action is to take place.
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 c (new) 5c. Stresses that the eventual deployment of volunteers as part of the European Solidarity Corps for humanitarian action, especially in third countries outside the EU, must be limited in accordance with the needs expressed by reference humanitarian organisations working in the relevant countries, the authorities of those countries or by any other actors of reference, so that such deployments do not pose risks to security.
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1. Emphasises the importance of volunteering in humanitarian aid operations
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1. Emphasises the importance of volunteering in humanitarian aid operations in promoting European values, along with the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence, as well as with the ‘do no harm’ approach;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1. Emphasises the importance of volunteering in humanitarian aid operations in promoting European values, along with the fundamental humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 a (new) 1a. Welcomes the improvements compared to the EU Aid Volunteers initiative, especially on simplified financial reporting and duration of projects available;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Welcomes the high number of young people interested in the humanitarian aid strand, with over 42 000 expressions of interests received by May 2023; strongly supports
source: 750.235
2023/09/20
CULT
79 amendments...
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution Citation 22 a (new) – Having regard to its resolution of 8 March 2022 on the role of culture, education, media and sport in the fight against racism (P9_TA(2022)0057)
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution Recital F F. whereas the visibility of the programme is still relatively low, particularly among regional or local youth organisations; whereas the European Year of Youth in 2022 proved to be a unique opportunity to enhance the programme’s visibility;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution Recital F a (new) Fa. Notes that the COVID-19 pandemic showed that means should be found to make the programme more resilient in anticipation of force majeure by, among others, evaluating the consequences of the interrupted traineeships and the follow up with the participants affected;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution Recital F a (new) Fa. Whereas youth work and the education of youth workers are not recognised in all Member States, which results in discrepancies in the ESC and other youth programmes;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution Recital F b (new) Fb. Whereas recognising youth work and the education of youth workers will ensure a minimum harmonisation of the young people’s realities across the Union and could impact positively the quality of the projects in the ESC programme;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution Recital G a (new) Ga. Whereas the ESC bears great potential to develop a European common sense of belonging, providing learning opportunities for volunteers to become active citizens, contributing to build better societies, fostering cohesion, advancing peace and preventing violence;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution Recital G b (new) Gb. Gb. whereas a very limited number of actions dealt directly with citizenship education1a; _________________ 1a Report on the implementation of EU citizenship education actions
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution Recital H H. whereas one of the main policy priorities is including young people with fewer opportunities; whereas in 2021-2022, a total of 14 060 participants belonged to this category, of whom 8 622 were awarded places as individual volunteers and 5 438 were awarded places on volunteering teams; whereas inclusivity, taking also into consideration rural areas, should remain a high priority of the programme, and more efforts should be devoted to ensure geographical balance in the participation of people from disadvantaged backgrounds across the Union;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution Recital H H. whereas one of the main policy priorities is including young people with fewer opportunities; whereas in 2021-2022, a total of 14 060 participants belonged to this category, of whom 8 622 were awarded places as individual volunteers and 5 438 were awarded places on volunteering teams; expects continued efforts to reach out to youth with fewer opportunities and provide them the support needed;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution Recital H a (new) Ha. Whereas the term “people with fewer opportunities” remains widely hard to define and quantify, and the absence of practical and effective ways to assess the inclusivity of the projects can potentially jeopardize the capacity to reach those with the most dire needs;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution Recital H b (new) Hb. Whereas the EU Youth Strategy affirms that evidence-based youth policy- making and knowledge building is pivotal. Moreover, data-driven observations serve as a contribution to the larger public debate, fostering accountability through activists, civil society, and researchers;
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution Recital A a (new) Aa. whereas ‘solidarity project’ means an unpaid solidarity activity that takes place for a period of up to 12 months and that is carried out by groups of at least five participants with a view to addressing key challenges within their communities while presenting a clear European added value;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution Recital H c (new) Hc. Whereas the dashboard created for the Youth Strategy and the datasets available on Eurostat are fragmented or non-comparable, and not easily accessible for young people and youth organisations;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution Recital H d (new) Hd. Whereas, age-disaggregated or gender-disaggregated data is key to fostering understanding of the needs of different groups of young people,
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution Recital I a (new) Ia. Whereas young migrants and refugees face structural barriers to participation in the program, particularly due to their administrative status;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution Recital I b (new) Ib. Whereas there is no fixed and structured process involving civil society organisations in the design and implementation of the programme;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution Recital J J. whereas the overall budget of EUR 1.033 billion for 2021-2027 has a flat-rate profile and cannot cope with the high demand, the rising costs of living, inflation rates and other challenges; whereas the budget constraints may damage the quality and inclusivity of the projects and may make the programme less financially viable for youth organisations;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 1. Reminds the Commission, the Member States, national agencies (NAs) and volunteering organisations to implement and develop the European Solidarity Corps programme in line with the measures and activities identified for it, while helping to simplify procedures, ensuring the intelligibility and accessibility of application portals, and enhancing visibility;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 a (new) 1a. Stresses the importance of volunteering in humanitarian aid operations in promoting the humanitarian principles of humanism, neutrality, impartiality and independence;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 a (new) 1a. Insists that volunteering within the ESC must include learning and training components; and shall not be a substitute for traineeships or jobs, nor be equated with employment;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 b (new) 1b. Believes that proper training and proven skills of volunteers should be required to be entitled to have direct contacts with vulnerable people, in particular children with special needs, so as to guarantee child protection and not be detrimental to the wellbeing of children;
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution Recital B B. whereas solidarity activities should present potential European added value, benefit communities and foster participants’ personal, educational, social, civic and professional development; whereas volunteering, both within and beyond the Union, is an enriching experience in a non-formal and informal learning context, while promoting solidarity, European values and equal opportunities;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 2. Calls on the Commission and NAs to strengthen the regular exchange of best practices, to enhance common understanding of programme procedures, deepen cooperation and improve the promotion of the programme; stresses that all relevant stakeholders
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 2. Calls on the Commission and NAs to strengthen the regular exchange of best practices, enhance common understanding of programme procedures, deepen cooperation and improve the promotion of the programme; stresses that all relevant stakeholders should be involved in regular consultation on matters falling within their competence; recommends to re-establish and convene an Advisory Council of knowledgeable and experienced stakeholders on a regular basis coordinated by the ESC Resource Centre;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 a (new) 2a. Affirms that volunteering on the ground allows for meaningful interactions that cannot be substituted by virtual or blended volunteering without diminishing the quality of the experience; points out that blended or virtual volunteering deprives much needed resources from other actions of the programme;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 a (new) 2a. Requests the Commission to assess options for a more integrated approach towards Youth activities across EU programmes;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 3. Calls on the Commission, the Member States, NAs and engaged organisations to help raise awareness about the programme and its individual strands, to further build its brand and to reach out to more young people, particularly those with fewer opportunities; calls on NAs to strengthen their support to applicants, particularly the most disadvantaged young people, by providing them with accurate and detailed information and assistance on the application process and opportunities offered by the programme;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 3. Calls on the Commission, the Member States, NAs and engaged organisations to help raise awareness about the programme and its individual strands, to further build its brand and to reach out to more young people, particularly those with fewer opportunities; calls on the Commission to provide support to NAs and provide expertise and guidance to promote the programme;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 3. Calls on the Commission, the Member States, NAs and engaged organisations to help raise awareness about the programme and its individual strands, to further build its brand and to reach out to more young people, particularly those with fewer opportunities; effective communication and targeted supportive measures play an important role in this sense;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 3. Calls on the Commission, the Member States, NAs and engaged organisations to help raise awareness about the programme and its individual strands, to further build its brand and to reach out to more young people, particularly those with fewer opportunities; effective communication and targeted supportive measures play an important role in this sense;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 3. Calls on the Commission, the Member States, NAs and engaged organisations to help raise awareness about the programme and its individual strands, to further build its brand and to reach out to more youth organisations and young people, particularly those with fewer opportunities;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 3.
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution Recital B B. whereas solidarity activities should present
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 a (new) 3a. Calls on the NAs to develop and implement more tailor-made communication activities to reach out to young people and to utilise the potential of youth organisations specially those led by/working with youth with fewer opportunities; calls on the NAs to deliver more capacity building for youth organisations to engage with ESC, like the appetiser training1a course; _________________ 1a https://www.salto-youth.net/rc/training- and-cooperation/tc-rc- nanetworktcs/appetiser/
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 a (new) 3a. Expresses its concern about the lengthy recruitment procedure for volunteers, in particular with regard to the waiting time for mandatory face-to- face training, which may lead to resignations and loss of interest on the part of applicants; stresses that humanitarian operations require adequate training;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 a (new) 3a. Highlights that increased communication and higher awareness about the programme must be complemented by an increased budget to cover new applicants and avoid a low success rate;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 4 4. Believes the programme’s upcoming 10th anniversary in 2026 and the possibility of designating 2025 the European Year of Volunteers should further improve the visibility of volunteering and of opportunities for active youth engagement as creating a year of volunteers is particularly important following the multiple crises Europe has been through where the value of volunteers and their work was immense;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 5 5. Notes that solidarity projects attract less interest and are less visible, resulting in uneven budget distribution; calls on the Commission, NAs and volunteering organisations to promote short-term activities and calls for more flexibility in the budget allocation between the project strands;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 6. Notes that young people’s needs and social trends are changing; invites the Commission to explore and develop new volunteering formats for the next programming period
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 6. Notes that young people’s needs and social trends are changing; invites the Commission to explore and develop new volunteering formats for the next programming period, such as part-time
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 7 7. Believes that in-country activities are
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 7 a (new) 7a. Urges the European Commission and Member States to strengthen the European civic mobility or transnational volunteering capabilities of the European Solidarity Corps; thereby acting as a driving force for cooperation and recognition between national volunteering schemes or civic services that earmark European mobility experiences;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 8. Recognises th
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution Recital B a (new) Ba. whereas ‘solidarity activity’ means a high-quality, inclusive activity that addresses important societal challenges, that contributes to the achievement of the Programme objectives, that takes the form of volunteering, a solidarity project or a networking activity in various fields, including in the field of humanitarian aid, that ensures European added value and that complies with occupational health and safety regulations and relevant security rules;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 a (new) 8a. Believes the sending organisations should have the option of conducting preparatory seminars for their volunteers themselves and that organisations should be able to choose whether their volunteers take part in seminars organised by the organisations or national agencies;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 9. Welcomes the programme’s inclusive nature and the implementation guidelines for its inclusion and diversity strategy; encourages to strengthen the focus of the programme on the opportunities it can provide to the most disadvantaged young people and to enhance support for organisations working with these target groups, for example by setting up an information campaign specifically addressed to this audience; calls on the Commission to consider adopting a more flexible and inclusive approach to individual volunteering, enabling participants to mix and match countries, areas of activity and experiences in order to make the programme more inclusive;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 9. Welcomes the programme’s inclusive nature and the implementation guidelines for its inclusion and diversity strategy; calls on the Commission to consider adopting a more flexible and inclusive approach to individual volunteering, enabling participants to mix and match countries, areas of activity and experiences in order to make the programme more inclusive; and notes the inadequacy of the current search and match tools on the platform which do not allow to use the potential of the platform sufficiently;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 9. Welcomes the programme’s inclusive
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 a (new) 9a. Calls on the Commission and the NAs to develop mechanisms and tools to ensure real and meaningful inclusion of people with fewer opportunities, as well as the appropriate use of support measures to achieve this goal;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 a (new) 9a. Calls on the Commission to consider adopting a more flexible approach to individual volunteering, enabling participants to mix and match countries, areas of activity and experiences;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 a (new) 9a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to include specific initiatives for EU volunteers to contribute to the post-war rebuilding of Ukraine;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 b (new) 9b. Calls on the Commission and the NAs to develop more checks, mechanisms and tools to ensure the quality of the projects supported by the programme taking into account the beneficiary organisation's stated goal beyond its participation in the ESC programme itself; urges to ensure a fair distribution among the applicant organisations in order to ensure a widely distribution of resources;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 10. Urges the Commission to ensure that the digital tools and systems currently used to manage and implement the programme are working properly and to their full potential and invites it to tackle, without delay, the persistent serious issues with the European Solidarity Corps IT tools, which are a significant obstacle not only to the participation of smaller organisations and of young people with fewer opportunities, but also to the participation of all kinds of beneficiaries; calls on the Commission to simplify the process for the IT tools and make it accessible to all groups, more user friendly, and to test IT tools on a sufficiently large scale before they are rolled out further; notes that Erasmus+ and other EU-funded programmes have encountered similar issues with IT tools;
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 a (new) 10a. Calls to reinforce the knowledge of volunteers on the European Union through their initial training, by including a mandatory module on European citizenship education, in order to reinforce the EU added value of the programme;
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution Recital B b (new) Bb. whereas ‘volunteering’ means a solidarity activity that takes place, for a period of up to 12 months, as a voluntary unpaid activity that contributes to the achievement of the common good;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 b (new) 10b. Calls on the Commission to deepen the solidarity experience by fostering visits of volunteers to sites of memory in the host country, in particular, sites of special significance for the history of the Union, such as concentration and death camps;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 11. Urges the Commission to improve the quality and quantity of online linguistic support for participants, including in regional and minority languages where relevant, to integrate better sorting and filtering tools into the placement administration and support system, to simplify and shorten the application process for the new quality label, to set more frequent re-accreditation deadlines and to reduce the time and administrative burden involved in re-
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 11. Urges the Commission to improve the quality and quantity of online linguistic support for participants, by making the information available in all EU languages, to integrate better sorting and filtering tools into the placement administration and support system, to simplify and shorten the application process for the new quality label, to set more frequent re-accreditation deadlines and to reduce the time and administrative burden involved in re-
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 a (new) 11a. Asks the Commission to make available its data on the implementation of the programme, especially data disaggregated by relevant categories such as age group or gender;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to facilitate the expansion of mutual recognition of learning outcomes, notably soft skills, from volunteering activities by registering them in Europass and by encouraging higher and vocational education institutions to award credits under the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS credits) or micro-credentials for these activities;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to facilitate the expansion of mutual recognition of learning outcomes from volunteering activities by registering them in Europass and by encouraging higher education institutions to award credits under the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS credits) for these activities; calls for more cooperation with educational institutions in creating these synergies;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to facilitate the expansion of mutual recognition of learning outcomes from volunteering activities by registering them in Europass
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to facilitate the expansion of mutual recognition of learning outcomes and professional skills from volunteering activities by registering them in Europass and by encouraging higher education institutions to award credits under the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS credits) for these activities;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 a (new) 12a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to reinforce the recognition of youth work, education of youth workers, and non-formal education, to harmonise youth workers realities across the Union;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 13 13. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to introduce a special visa category for European Solidarity Corps participants from non-Schengen countries including young migrants and refugees, as host organisations cannot assist them in acquiring visas;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution Recital C C. whereas the effects of the COVID- 19 pandemic did
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 13 a (new) 13a. Calls on the Commission and NAs to ensure that participants’ lists can be signed by people with irregular status, and that the online registration system accepts other forms of IDs, to make the programme truly inclusive;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 14. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to provide the European Solidarity Corps with an adequate budget that will be able to accommodate increasing interest in the programme and allow it to address unexpected challenges, such as rising inflation and higher living costs; and inadequate amount of pocket money for participants who have no sufficient financial means to sustain themselves; calls in this regard to increase the budget of the European Solidarity Corps in the next MFF 2028 - 2034;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 14. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to provide the European Solidarity Corps with an adequate budget that will be able to accommodate increasing interest in the programme and allow it to address unexpected challenges, such as rising inflation and higher living costs; considers that the allowance for European Solidarity Corps volunteers should be adjusted to take account of inflation in the country in which the project is taking place;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 a (new) 14a. Believes that solidarity should be mainstreamed across EU programmes; praises therefore the synergies achieved with Horizon Europe; calls on the Commission to explore the development of synergies with the European Social Fund and with union actions on disaster relief; taking into account that young volunteers cannot substitute professional first responders;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 a (new) 14a. Calls on the Commission and all competent authorities and organisations to take account of the social and economic background of potential volunteers and adjust the extent to which costs are covered accordingly;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 a (new) 14a. Calls on the Commission to address grant funding delays and suggests creating a centralised platform where grant holders can upload contract amendments and avoid delays in the project implementations;
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 b (new) 14b. Considering the unfulfilled demand of the ESC, the increasing requests for solidarity after recurrent crises, its symbolic value to promote understanding and cohesion between Europeans, and the cost-effectiveness of actions to foster peace and prevent conflict; calls on the Member States and the Commission to, at a minimum, double the budget of the ESC in the next Multiannual Financial Framework;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 15 15. Calls on the Commission to address other budgetary issues, such as discrepancies between NAs in handling applications, by establishing specific centralised grants, managed by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency, for individual volunteering and solidarity projects for European organisations and networks, by recommending a minimum amount to be paid by host organisations to their partner/supporting organisations, by removing or increasing the current funding cap for coordination costs, indexing to inflation flat rates and lump sums, and by securing regular funding for quality label holders for long-term financial planning purposes; believes that these measures will help organisations and national agencies to provide more opportunities and fulfil the programme’s potential;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 15 a (new) 15a. Concludes that in view of the current high demand, showing the relevance of the programme among European youth, as well as the importance of its objectives, that of contributing to social cohesion, fostering understanding among Europeans and preventing conflict through solidarity, also in view of the increasing need for European support after recurrent crises, the ESC has proven its value as a self- standing programme and merits reinforced budget as to live up to its true potential;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 15 a (new) 15a. Calls on the Commission to facilitate creating more synergies with other EU programmes, notably Erasmus+, Horizon Europe and European Social Fund;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution Recital C C. whereas the effects of the COVID- 19 pandemic did not dim
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution Recital F F. whereas the visibility of the programme is still relatively low; whereas the European Year of Youth in 2022 proved to be a unique opportunity to enhance the programme’s visibility; highlights therefore the need to employ sufficient means to promote the programme more widely and create a recognizable brand;
source: 753.563
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History
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