Press Release: European personalities urge EU leaders to back Erasmus

More than 100 European personalities from the worlds of education, art, literature, economics, philosophy and sport have signed an open letter to EU Heads of State and Government in support of the threatened Erasmus student exchange programme.

The signatories come from every Member State of the EU and include the Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar, the president of FC Barcelona Sandro Rosell, Nobel Prize winner Professor Christopher Pissarides and several Olympic champions. They are responding to concerns that student places on the scheme, as well as grants, may have to be severely reduced due to wrangling over the 2012 and 2013 EU budgets.

The programme already faces a €90 million shortfall this year and it is feared the situation will worsen in 2013. Over the past 25 years, Erasmus has enabled nearly three million young Europeans to study abroad. More recently, it has also supported job placements in companies abroad. A whole generation has learned what it means to live and work alongside people from another culture, and to develop the skills and versatility which are vital for the modern labour market.

European Commission: Memo/12/904: Education Council: Vassiliou welcomes widespread support for future Erasmus for All programme http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-12-904_en.htm

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