Resolution of UNEL and JEF Luxembourg on Investment in Education, Research and Youth in the Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034 

Luxembourg, 13^th of September 2026

The Multiannual Financial Framework is a seven-year budgetary plan that sets priorities for the European Union spending across all policy areas, including research, mobility, and youth. It is the main instrument the European Union uses to turn its political ambitions into concrete, predictable investments. Negotiations for the 2028-2034 framework are currently underway.

On June 11^th, 2026, the Cypriot Presidency of the Council presented its Negotiating Box, proposing an overall reduction of approximately 2% to the European Union budget compared to the European Commission’s proposal, and a reduction of approximately 3.9% for areas like competitiveness, research, innovation, and education, which include Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe.^[1] This would lower the Erasmus+ budget to €34.7 billion, below the European Commission’s proposal of €36.19 billion and the European Parliament’s call for €47.39 billion. Horizon Europe would similarly be reduced to €148.579 billion, compared to €154.88 billion proposed by the European Commission and €177.01 billion supported by the European Parliament. Although the proposed Erasmus+ budget is nominally higher than in 2021-2027, inflation and the integration of the European Solidarity Corps into the Erasmus+ programme for 2028-2034 mean that this increase is not as significant. The programme will now also need to finance volunteering and solidarity actions in addition to its current mobility and cooperation missions.

On June 17^th, 2026, UNEL and JEF Luxembourg sent a joint letter to the Prime Minister, Mr. Luc Frieden, the Minister of Finance, Mr. Gilles Roth, and the Minister of Research and Higher Education, Ms. Stéphanie Obertin, warning about the risks the ongoing negotiations pose to the Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe programmes. To date, the Luxembourg Government has not responded or communicated its intended positions in these negotiations.

On August 11^th, 2026, after our joint initiative, the Jugendrot sent an open letter on the broad impacts and demands of the MFF regarding the Luxembourgish youth^[2] to the Prime Minister, Mr. Luc Frieden, the Minister of Finance, Mr. Gilles Roth, the Minister for Education, Children and Youth, Mr. Claude Meisch, and the Minister of Research and Higher Education, Ms. Stéphanie Obertin, which also remains unanswered to this day.

The European Union’s future competitiveness relies on sustained investment in the skills and mobility of its young people. The report “The Future of European Competitiveness”, authored by Mario Draghi for the European Commission, finds that Erasmus+ currently reaches only 15% of the European Union’s youth. The report states that funding would need to increase five-fold over the 2028-2034 period to reach every young person.^[3] This would imply a budget of €131 billion for 2028-2034, calculated based on the current budget of €26.2 billion as stated on the European Commission’s website.^[4] Investment in education, mobility, research, and youth is a strategic, long-term commitment to Europe’s competitiveness, as the Draghi report itself underlines.^[5] Such investment also strengthens Europe’s democratic resilience and social cohesion. Erasmus+ has, since its creation, supported millions of young Europeans and is widely recognised as one of the European Union’s most successful and cost-effective programmes, and as a driving force for greater European unity, contributing to building a shared European identity and a genuine union of peoples.^[6]

A coalition of 17 European higher education, research, and student organisations has jointly called for a minimum Erasmus+ budget of €60 billion for 2028-2034. This request is based on the European Parliament’s earlier call to triple the current budget to €78.6 billion.^[7] It is reinforced by the evidence set out in the Draghi report on the scale of underinvestment in European education and skills.^[8] The European Parliament has recently called for an Erasmus+ budget of at least €47.39 billion.^[9] While €60 billion is below the level implied by the Draghi report’s five-fold recommendation, it is a measured, realistic, and achievable target that reflects the European Parliament’s ambition and can be credibly defended in the current budgetary context.

Young people across Europe already face multiple, compounding crises: economic precarity, rising housing and living costs, an uncertain and automating labour market, climate change, global instability, and growing threats to Europe’s democratic institutions and civic space. Europe’s ambitions for democracy, cohesion, competitiveness, and the ecological and digital transitions will only be credible if supported by genuine investment in those who must carry them forward, and if a failure of ambition today does not transfer the cost of choices not made to younger generations. The choices made in these negotiations will, for years to come, determine whether young Europeans can study, move, connect, and build their lives across a Union that genuinely invests in them.

A failure of ambition now would be a failure passed on to the very generation meant to carry Europe’s future forward.

A reduction in Erasmus+ funding would result in fewer opportunities for students to study, train, and gain experience abroad, thereby weakening the pipeline of skills, mobility, and cross-border experience on which Europe’s competitiveness depends. It would further risk limiting access for students facing socio-economic barriers, thereby weakening inclusion policies and making European mobility less accessible to those who need it most at a time when Erasmus+ already exceeds available places, grants, and support, particularly among young people facing socio-economic barriers.

Therefore, UNEL and JEF Luxembourg demand:

1. The firm rejection, during the ongoing Council negotiations, of the proposed reductions to the Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe presented by the Cypriot Presidency of the Council;

2. An Erasmus+ budget of at least €60 billion for 2028-2034, and in no case below the €47.39 billion, the level supported by the European Parliament;

3. An equally ambitious budget for Horizon Europe, rejecting any reduction below the European Commission’s proposal of €154.88 billion, and supporting the European Parliament’s call for €177.01 billion;

4. An increase of the AgoraEU budget to €12 billion, including its CERV+ strand supporting civil society organisations, to strengthen the support for youth and civic participation;

5. The continued maintenance and reinforcement of operating grants for European youth networks;

6. Legally guaranteed minimum budget shares across sectors (earmarking), including a dedicated and clearly visible funding line for youth activities, to be maintained at no less than their current levels;

7. That the CERV+ strand supporting civil society and democracy remain under direct European Union management, and not be delegated to Member States;

8. That Erasmus+ grant amounts be brought in line with the real cost of living;

9. Dedicated support for students with fewer opportunities before, during, and after their mobility period, and encouragement of participation for underrepresented groups;

10. The automatic and full mutual recognition of learning periods undertaken abroad across all Member States

11. The formal recognition and validation of competences gained through non-formal education, youth exchanges, and volunteering, including support for alums to document and make these outcomes visible;

12. The simplification of applications and reporting procedures for small civil society organisations and grassroots movements;

13. That the Government of Luxembourg make public, without any delay, the position it intends to defend in the ongoing MFF negotiations and to remain open to further exchanges with UNEL and JEF Luxembourg on this matter.

^[1] Cyprus Presidency Council of the European Union, ‘The Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU presents a mature and revised Negotiating Box for the new MFF’ (11 June 2026) https://cyprus-presidency.consilium.europa.eu/en/news/the-cyprus-presidency-of-the-council-of-the-eu-presents-a-mature-and-revised-negotiating-box-for-the-new-mff/.

^[2] Lettre ouverte du Jugendrot : Le prochain budget européen à la hauteur des défis rencontrés par les jeunes et les organisations de jeunesse (11 August 2026) Jugendrot-Lettre-MFF-et-les-jeunes-CA.pdf.

^[3] Mario Draghi, The Future of European Competitiveness: In-depth analysis and recommendations (Part 5) (European Commission, September 2024) p. 268.

^[4] European Commission, ‘Erasmus+ Funding Programme’ (europa.eu) https://commission.europa.eu/education/set-projects-education-and-training/erasmus-funding-programme_en.

^[5] Mario Draghi, The Future of European Competitiveness: In-depth analysis and recommendations (Part 5) (European Commission, September 2024) p. 270.

^[6] See Krisztina Binder, Evaluation of Erasmus+ by the European Commission, 2014-2023 (European Parliamentary Research Service, Briefing, PE 777.966, October 2025) p. 1-3.

^[7] European Parliament resolution of 16 January 2024 on the implementation of the Erasmus+ programme 2021–2027 (2023/2002(INI)), P9_TA(2024)0007, para. 121.

^[8] A Stronger Europe Needs a Properly Funded Erasmus+, (Joint Statement, Brussels, 7 January 2026) https://www.cesaer.org/news/a-stronger-europe-needs-a-properly-funded-erasmus-2099/.

^[9] European Parliament, Interim Report on the proposal for a Council regulation laying down the Multiannual Financial Framework for the years 2028–2034 (COM(2025)0571 – C10-0000/2025 – 2025/0571R(APP)), A10-0105/2026, Committee on Budgets, Co-Rapporteurs Siegfried Mureșan and Carla Tavares, adopted by the European Parliament on 28 April 2026, para. 53.