Erasmus+ 2028–2034: Parliament Votes for €47.39 Billion. What It Would Change, and What Happens Next

On 22 October 2026 the European Parliament adopted its position on the next Erasmus+ programme, the one that will run from 2028 to 2034. The vote was 454 in favour, 34 against and 93 abstentions. The headline is the budget: MEPs want €47.39 billion, against the €40.8 billion the Commission proposed in July 2025.

It is a position, not a law. Here is what it asks for, where the other side of the negotiation stands, and what it means for a school planning its next projects.

What Parliament is asking for

According to Parliament’s press release, the mandate asks for:

• A bigger budget: €47.39 billion in current prices, instead of €40.8 billion.
• Fixed shares by field: 74.6% of the programme for education and learning, 15% for youth and volunteering, and 4.1% for sport.
• Grants that follow real costs: mobility grants adapted to differences in living costs, housing and inflation between host countries, regions and cities, with higher support for people travelling to or from distant places, and funding levels updated periodically.
• One programme for solidarity too: the European Solidarity Corps and the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps brought into Erasmus+.
• New groups of participants: athletes in grassroots sport, and learners, teachers and trainers in vocational education and training (VET), linked to the EU’s upcoming teachers and trainers agenda.
• A wider door: faster access for candidate countries, and stronger ties with the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

The rapporteur, Bogdan Zdrojewski (EPP, Poland), said the proposals would “almost double” the programme’s funding.

Where the Council stands

Laws like this are agreed between Parliament and the member states in the Council. The Council adopted its own position on 11 May 2026, but only a partial one. It covers how the programme works: governance, the place of the Solidarity Corps, and the visibility of education, youth and sport. It leaves out the budget and the programme’s duration. Those depend on the negotiations over the EU’s whole 2028–2034 budget, the multiannual financial framework.

So the €47.39 billion figure has no counter-figure yet. Parliament says it is ready to negotiate once member states have adopted their full mandate, including the overall funding levels for the EU’s long-term budget.

What it would change for teachers and schools

Very little changes yet, and nothing changes for 2027. Three points are worth keeping in view.

Grants that reflect where you’re going. Today’s grants are set by country groups. Parliament wants them to reflect living costs, housing and inflation down to the level of the host city. If that survives the negotiation, a week in a capital and a week in a smaller city could be funded differently. How that would be calculated is not in any text yet.

VET teachers and trainers named. Vocational staff can already take part in Erasmus+, but Parliament wants them named as a group the programme actively reaches, alongside the forthcoming EU agenda for teachers and trainers. For VET schools that is a signal about priorities, not a new budget line.

A simpler programme still on the table. Parliament’s vote doesn’t undo the Commission’s simplification proposals, which we covered in Fewer National Agencies, Simpler Grants. The structure of the next programme is described in our overview, What’s Actually Being Proposed for the Next Programme.

What it doesn’t change

• 2027 runs on today’s rules. The Commission’s 2027 annual work programme is financed and run under the 2021–2027 regulation. The Commission’s plan is for the new regulation to apply from 1 January 2028.
• Your accreditation and your current projects keep running under the rules they were granted under.
• No new grant amounts exist yet. Anyone quoting a 2028 daily rate or a 2028 course fee is guessing.

What a coordinator can do now

1. Plan 2027 on the 2027 rules. The 2027 call and Programme Guide follow the work programme; our Programme Guide page points to the current edition.
2. Keep cost evidence. If grants move towards real costs, records of what accommodation and travel actually cost your participants will be useful in later reporting and planning.
3. Watch two dates, not one. The Erasmus+ budget will be settled with the EU’s long-term budget, so the programme’s final size depends on both negotiations.

We’ll update this article when the Council adopts its budget position or when Parliament and Council reach an agreement.

Planning a course week for 2027? See the confirmed course dates.