In the European negotiations on Erasmus+ for 2028–2034, Luxembourg is advocating for a minimum share of the budget to be allocated to youth and volunteering. The government wishes to ensure that sufficient funding is available for these areas, given the risk of competition between the various initiatives within the future programme, according to ministers Claude Meisch and Stéphanie Obertin.
An overall budget increase, but what about young people? As the European Union (EU) negotiates the future of Erasmus+ for 2028–2034, youth organisations fear competition between the programme’s various initiatives. Luxembourg is advocating for a minimum share of the budget to be allocated to youth and volunteering, explains the minister for National Education, Children and Youth, 
The European Commission’s proposal provides for the integration of the European Solidarity Corps’ activities into Erasmus+, without specifying a budgetary breakdown between the different areas of intervention. The government therefore supports setting a minimum percentage for youth and volunteering in order to “limit any situations in which these actions might be disadvantaged during budgetary trade-offs between the programme’s various components”.
A 50% increase under discussion
The Commission is proposing a budget of €40.8bn for 2028–2034, compared with a total of €27.2bn for Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps over the current period. This proposal represents a nominal increase of around 50%, but the final amount will depend on negotiations on the EU budget.
Luxembourg is calling for increased funding to “take account of rising costs, expand the opportunities available to young people and meet growing needs”. At the national level, the ministers point out that current funding is, on the whole, sufficient to meet funding requests, without prejudging future needs. The ministry of National Education is advocating this position within the Council of the EU and is conveying the concerns of youth organisations to Luxembourg’s Permanent Representation.
Making programmes more accessible
The government also supports the continuation of financial support and pre-funding schemes for young people with fewer opportunities, as well as support for them both before and after the projects. According to data from Anefore cited in the response, these young people will account for 31.27% of participants in Erasmus+ projects in the youth sector in Luxembourg in 2025, compared with an average of 27.75% across the programme countries. These figures relate solely to this sector.
In Luxembourg, Anefore supports organisations and young people with their applications, whilst the National Youth Service runs European voluntary schemes for young people with fewer resources.
