The report brings together the latest quantitative and qualitative data, recent technical reports and studies, plus policy documents and developments. While focused on empirical evidence, each section in the Monitor has clear policy messages for the Member States and it supports the implementation of the strategic framework “Education and Training 2020”.

The Education and Training Monitor 2014 is accompanied by twenty-eight country reports, as well as a visualisation tool to evaluate the performance and progress of the Member States in relation to the ET 2020 targets.

The European Court of Auditors published its annual report on the EU’s budget.
In its capacity as an independent auditor the Court validated the EU’s 2013 accounts but stressed that the budgetary system is still overly focused on the absolute will to spend funds instead of concentrating on performance.

Hence over the period 2007-2013 the report criticises the various budgets saying that they respond to a logic “use it or lose it” with a choice of projects benefiting from the EU’s funds based on the need to spend available funds, which are then dictated by the respect of rules and finally to a lesser degree according to performance.

Finally the Court of Auditors estimates the error rate at 4.7% in the 2013 budget – ie the amount of payments that should not have been included in the EU’s budgets because the amounts paid were not used in line with the Union’s rules. Most errors involve areas that come under the shared management of the Member States and the European Commission. The most affected spending areas are regional policy, transport, energy, rural development, fisheries and healthcare, states the report.

ECA - Annual report for 2013

There was a last minute change in the portfolio of the new EU commissioners with regard to citizenship. Mr Tibor Navracsics will keep the education portfolio, but Citizenship will be taken from his portfolio and moved to the portfolio of the Greek Commissioner Dimitris Avramapoulos, who is now the Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship.
The new portfolio of Mr Navracsics is now called “Education, Culture, Youth and Sport”.

The Call for proposals on Civil Society Cooperation under the Erasmus+ programme has been published. The call addresses the following topics:

• Key Action 3: Support for policy reform
• Civil Society Cooperation: Education and Training
• Civil Society Cooperation Youth

Call for proposals

Paul Collowald, who was notably the general manager for information at the European Commission and the director of the cabinet of the President of the European Parliament Pierre Pflimlin, has published “J’ai vu naître l’Europe”, with Nuée Bleue.
This book of interviews with Sophie Allaux-Izoard reviews the life of a pioneer of European integration. Prefaced by Jacques Delors the book recounts the small and great history of Europe as Paul Collowald has experienced it since 1948; it is a story marked by his meeting with Robert Schuman and his Declaration of 9th May 1950, which, for Paul Collowald, became the focus of a study and his passion.

Paul Collowald was guest speaker at our General Assembly 2011 in Metz.

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