Confusion and disappointment over ‘strange’ Erasmus+ cut

Reduction in budget allocation for flagship education programme at odds with stated ambitions, experts say

Politicians and academic leaders have expressed confusion and disappointment over the European Commission’s apparent reduction in its proposed 2021-27 budget for the EU’s academic mobility programme Erasmus+, which it presented as a budget increase.

Erasmus+ should get €24.6bn, the Commission proposed on 27 May, describing this as “an additional €3.4bn” even though it sought €26.4bn in a proposal it put forward in 2018, which was rejected by national leaders in the European Council.