YOUTH

EU: 20 thousand 18-year-olds will discover Europe under DiscoverEU initiative

(Brussels) An additional 20 thousand 18-year-olds will be able to travel between 1 August 2019 and 31 January 2020 under the third edition of the DiscoverEU initiative. Sponsored by the EU Commission, the initiative gives young Europeans a chance to travel across the EU for up to 30 days to “learn about European cultural heritage and diversity, to connect with other young people and to explore their European identity”. Almost 95,000 applications were sent to Brussels by young people from all EU Member States. 20,000 were selected based on the award criteria and taking into account the quota set for each EU Member State. 275,000 young people have applied since the beginning of the programme. Of them, 50,000 were given a chance to travel. Another round of applications will open “before the end of the year when another 20,000 travel passes will be available”, a statement from Brussels explains. Also, the first DiscoverEU meet-up “will take place in Nijmegen (Netherlands) on 12 and 13 July with a focus on sustainability” for those youths in the region who took part in the experience. Other meet-ups will be taking place across Europe. DiscoverEU was launched in June 2018, following a proposal from the European Parliament, with a budget of €12 million in 2018 and €16 million in 2019. In May 2018, the Commission proposed €700 million for DiscoverEU as part of the future Erasmus programme under the EU’s next long-term budget for 2021-2027. This means an additional 1.5 million 18-year-olds will be able to travel over the next 7 years.