Lead MEP on Erasmus+ says scheme needs earmarking to ensure minimum guaranteed funding

Andrzej Zdrojewski, the MEP in charge of the EP's report on the next Erasmus+ programme, has called for earmarking to ensure funding for specific areas, criticising the Commission's proposal for leaving out this approach.

In his draft report, published on 18/05/2026, Zdrojewski, a centre-right Polish MEP, argued that earmarking within Erasmus+ was necessary to guarantee minimum funding levels for agreed policy priorities and to provide beneficiaries with greater funding predictability.

In his draft report, he reintroduces fixed sectoral allocations to ensure predictability and fairness among beneficiaries, with 73.4% of the total budget dedicated to education and training, including 34.6% for higher education. It also allocated 14.2% to youth and volunteering, 4.1% to sport, 2.3% to the operational costs of national agencies, 1% to programme support and 5% to an overall flexibility margin.

Whereas the Commission proposed a budget of €40.8 billion, the report considered this insufficient in light of the programme’s needs and ambitions and therefore called for €47.39bn, an increase of…