Will Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe see their budgets slashed?

The two programmes could face significant budget cuts in 2025 if lawmakers in Brussels approve the proposal.

Transcript

00:00The EU's Erasmus Plus Exchange Programme and its Horizon Research and Innovation Programme

00:12could face budget cuts in 2025.

00:16The EU Council, representing national governments, has proposed a reduction of 295 million euros

00:23for Erasmus Plus.

00:26Now an Erasmus Plus ambassador, Maiva, studied for a semester in Colombia, with a monthly

00:31scholarship of 800 euros.

00:33According to her, a funding cut could prevent some students who would like to go on an exchange

00:37and make the selection process more competitive.

00:56The EU Council also proposes to allocate 400 million euros less than originally planned

01:08by the European Commission for the Horizon Research and Innovation Programme.

01:14Research stakeholders fear that the freeze on funding will have a negative impact on

01:18innovation in Europe and competitiveness in the EU.

01:24Europe has to have the place that it was in the real world.

01:31We have to be very demanding with competitiveness and innovation without competitiveness can

01:36be real.

01:40The Council wants to reduce these expenses to give priority to support for Ukraine or

01:45even to recoup expenses from the stimulus package set up to deal with the economic shock

01:50of the Covid-19 pandemic.

01:53The European Parliament is likely to fight to maintain the Erasmus and Horizon funds.

01:58It's something typical, the European Parliament always try to leverage the bad deals and the

02:04European Council always cuts.

02:06So for us it's a mistake.

02:09After a vote in plenary on Wednesday, MEPs will have to reach an agreement with the Council

02:14to finalise the budget before the end of the year.