Trasport, EU funding to connect the continent The EU budget for the coming seven years allocated 11.9 bln euro to the improvement of major European transport connections. Member States have until 26th February 2015 to submit their bids. Commission Vice President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport, Siim Kallas, remarked that the funding “will be attributed to the most competitive projects and focused on nine major transport corridors that together will form a core transport network and act as the economic life-blood of the Single Market”, thereby “removing bottlenecks, revolutionising East West connections and streamline cross border transport operations for businesses and citizens”. “Transport -Kallas pointed out- is fundamental to an efficient European economy, so investing in transport connections to fuel the economic recovery is more important than ever. Areas of Europe without good transport connections are not going to grow or prosper. Member States need to seize this opportunity to bid for funding”. The purpose of the Commission is to create a “central network” that is supposed to be created by 2030, connecting 94 main European ports with rail and road links; 38 key airports with rail connections into major cities; 15,000 km of railway line upgraded to high speed; 35 cross border projects to reduce “bottlenecks”. The core network corridors can be summarized as follows: North Sea-Baltic Corridor (it involves, with various projects, Finland, the Baltic States, Germany, The Netherlands, and Belgium); The Mediterranean Corridor (links the Iberian Peninsula with the Hungarian-Ukrainian border passing, inter alia, through France, Italy, Croatia and Hungary); the Orient/East-Med Corridor (connects the maritime interfaces of the North, Baltic, Black and Mediterranean Seas); the Scandinavian-Mediterranean Corridor (north-south axis from Sweden to Italian ports and Valletta); Rhine-Alpine Corridor (Central Europe); Atlantic corridor; North Sea-Mediterranean Corridor (from Ireland and the north of UK to the Mediterranean); Rhine-Danube Corridor. Erasmus, formation and work on a European scale It promotes vocational training and expands cultural preparation; is it a feature in CVs that helps find a job; it opens the doors to a career and a social life in another European Country. These are the findings of the Erasmus Impact Study, published September 22 by the EU Commission, the largest impact study conducted so far on the EU’s student-exchange programme with feedback from nearly 80 000 respondents including students and businesses. “Young people who study or train abroad not only gain knowledge in specific disciplines, but also strengthen key transversal skills which are highly valued by employers”, states the final report. “Graduates with international experience fare much better on the job market: they are half as likely to experience long-term unemployment compared with those who have not studied or trained abroad and, five years after graduation, their unemployment rate is 23% lower”. In the presentation of the survey, Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Youth and Employment, said: “”The findings of the Erasmus Impact study are extremely significant, given the context of unacceptably high levels of youth unemployment in the EU. The message is clear: if you study or train abroad, you are more likely to increase your job prospects”. The new Erasmus + programme (with EU funding for the period 2014-2020) “will offer EU grants to four million people”, “allowing them to experience life in another country through studies, training, teaching or volunteering”. The new study shows that 92% of employers are looking for “personality traits boosted by the programme such as tolerance, confidence, problem-solving skills”. Erasmus “Erasmus not only improves career prospects, it also offers students broader horizons and social links. 40% have changed their country of residence or work at least once since graduation, almost double the number of those who were not mobile during studies”. While 93% of students with international experience can imagine living abroad in the future, this is the case for only 73% of those who stay in the same country during their studies. 27% of Erasmus students meet their long-term partner while on Erasmus.
