Daily News 06 / 01 / 2022

DiscoverEU: more than 60,000 travel passes for young Europeans to explore Europe

The Commission announced today the results of its latest round of applications for DiscoverEU that was launched in October 2021: 60,950 young people will receive a free travel pass to visit our continent. Successful applicants will travel alone or in a group of up to five people between March 2022 and February 2023 for up to 30 days. In line with the Green Deal, participants will travel mainly by rail, with some exceptions to allow those living on islands to take part. Vice-President for the European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas, said: “The boom of mobility for young people that represents these 60,000 travel passes offers great opportunities for young people to get pass these difficult times. 2022 starts off to a flying start. This will be the year of young Europeans”. Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, said: “What a good way to start the European Year of Youth with the announcement of the results for DiscoverEU! We want this year to be a celebration of all young people. We will multiply opportunities for them throughout the year, for example by increasing the number of tickets for DiscoverEU in the next round that will take place in spring 2022.” The October application round was open to young Europeans born between 1 July 2001 and 31 December 2003. Exceptionally, 19 and 20 year-olds could also apply after their rounds were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the evolution of the pandemic remains unknown, all travellers will be offered flexible bookings through a new mobile travel pass. A live Q&A will take place on the European Youth Instagram account on 17 January 2022, where the participants will ask questions related to their future trip. The Commission launched DiscoverEU in June 2018, following a proposal from the European Parliament. It has been formally integrated into the new Erasmus+ programme 2021-2027. Since June 2018, the programme funded 130,000 travel passes. The next application round will take place in spring 2022. More information as well as a factsheet with the results per country are available online. (For more information: Sonya Gospodinova – Tel.: +32 229 66953; Célia Dejond – Tel.: +32 229 88199)

State aid: Commission approves 2022-2027 regional aid map for Greece

The European Commission has approved under EU State aid rules Greece's map for granting regional aid from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2027 within the framework of the revised Regional aid Guidelines (‘RAG'). The revised RAG, adopted by the Commission on 19 April 2021 and entering into force on 1 January 2022, enable Member States to support the least favoured European regions in catching up and to reduce disparities in terms of economic well-being, income and unemployment – cohesion objectives that are at the heart of the Union. They also provide increased possibilities for Member States to support regions facing transition or structural challenges such as depopulation, to contribute fully to the green and digital transitions. At the same time, the revised RAG maintain strong safeguards to prevent Member States from using public money to trigger the relocation of jobs from one EU Member State to another, which is essential for fair competition in the Single Market. Greece's regional map defines the Greek regions eligible for regional investment aid. The map also establishes the maximum aid intensities in the eligible regions. The aid intensity is the maximum amount of State aid that can be granted per beneficiary, expressed as a percentage of eligible investment costs. Under the revised RAG, regions covering 82.34% of the population of Greece will be eligible for regional investment aid. A press release is available online. (For more information: Arianna Podesta – Tel.: +32 229 87024; Giulia Astuti – Tel.: +32 229 55344)

ANNOUNCEMENTS

La présidente von der Leyen et le Collège à Paris pour l'inauguration de la présidence française du Conseil de l'UE

La présidente Ursula von der Leyen et le Collège des commissaires se rendront à Paris aujourd'hui et demain pour participer à l'inauguration de la présidence française du Conseil de l'Union européenne. Pour débuter la visite ce soir, la présidente et le Collège se rendront au Palais de l'Elysée, où ils seront accueillis par le président de la République, Emmanuel Macron, et son épouse, Brigitte Macron, pour un dîner de travail. Puis, demain matin, la présidente von der Leyen et le Collège des commissaires participeront à la cérémonie d'hommage à Jean Monnet et Simone Veil au Panthéon avec le président Macron et le Premier ministre, Jean Castex. Leur rencontre sera suivie par une entretien de la présidente von der Leyen et le président Macron, qui sera suivie par une conférence de presse à 11h15 retransmise en direct sur EbS+. La présidente et le Collège des commissaires rencontreront ensuite le Premier ministre et des membres du gouvernements français pour un déjeuner informel. Puis, la présidente von der Leyen et le Collège des commissaires rencontreront les présidents des groupes politiques de l'Assemblée nationale. La visite du Collège s'achèvera par la réunion du Collège avec la Conférence des présidents du Sénat français. La présidente rencontrera par la suite le président du Sénat, Gérard Larcher. (Pour plus d'informations : Eric Mamer – Tél.: +32 229 94073; Dana Spinant – Tél.: +32 229 90150)

Conference on the Future of Europe: Citizens finalise their deliberations on climate change, environment and health

This weekend, randomly selected Europeans will continue deliberations on the key subjects of climate change, environment and health in a European Citizens' Panel of the Conference on the Future of Europe. On 7-9 January, some 200 citizens from all Member States, of varying ages and diverse backgrounds will meet to finalise their recommendations for the future of Europe in the European Citizens' Panel on Climate change, environment / Health. The third session of the Panel will take place at the campus of the College of Europe in Natolin (Warsaw, Poland) and its plenary meetings on Friday and Sunday at the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw. The meeting will be held in full respect of applicable health measures, with the possibility for participants who are not able to travel to connect remotely. Panellists will build on the work of their previous sessions – in Strasbourg on 1-3 October and online on 19-21 November, which focused on the following topics: better ways of living; protecting our environment and our health; redirecting our economy and consumption; sustainable society; and caring for all. Now, they will draft and adopt their recommendations which will be presented and discussed at the next Conference Plenary meeting planned for 21-22 January 2022. Four European Citizens' Panels are organised in the context of the Conference on the Future of Europe. From these, 80 representatives – of which at least one third is aged between 16 and 25 years – participate in the Conference Plenaries, to present the outcomes of their respective Panel discussions. The European Citizens' Panel on ‘European democracy/Values and rights, rule of law, security' already delivered its recommendations during the meeting in Florence in December 2021. Two further Panels will take place in early 2022 in Maastricht (on ‘EU in the world / Migration') and in Dublin (on ‘A stronger economy, social justice and jobs / Education, culture, youth and sport / Digital transformation'). The Friday and Sunday morning sessions of the upcoming European Citizens' Panel will be livestreamed on the Conference's Multilingual Digital Platform. All Europeans can continue to share their ideas on how to shape our common future on the Platform. The latest overview and analysis of the contributions are available in the third interim report. (For more information: Daniel Ferrie – Tel.: +32 229 86500; Sinéad Meehan-van Druten – Tel.: +32 229 84094)

Tentative agendas for forthcoming Commission meetings

Note that these items can be subject to changes.

Upcoming events of the European Commission

Eurostat press releases

The Spokesperson's Service has re-opened the Berlaymont press room to a limited number of journalists. For more information, please see here.