EVENTS

On December 10, 2025, the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) of the European Parliament invited EAS to participate in the key stakeholder consultation in preparation of the 2028-2034 ERASMUS+ programme. Mr. Bogdan Zdrojewski, Member of European Parliament, CULT Vice-President, and Rapporteur, welcomed the participants followed by the contributions of Mr. Vassos Koutsioundas, Chair of the Council Working Party on Sport of the Cyprus Presidency in 2026; Mr. Giorgio Guazzugli-Marini, Head of Unit for Sport, European Commission; and Mr. Stanislas Frossard, EPAS Secretary General, Council of Europe.

The short presentations by some Members of the Parliament and by representatives of the invited stakeholder organisations offered views to further develop the ERASMUS+Sport programme, stressing the need to ensure long-term funding to the ERASMUS+ programme for the sport and physical activity sector. In relation to dual career, the EAS President, Laura Capranica, recognized the crucial position of maintaining dual career among the priorities of the ERASMUS+Sport programme for further promoting a progressive improvement of dual career culture in the Member States. She envisaged the establishment of a European dual career observatory for the collection of harmonized data to monitor the actual dual career situation and to further progress in the full recognition of the right to combine sport and academic education for all the student populations; to support the professional figure of dual career tutor; and to promote the adoption of dual career policies and provisions for the employee-sportspersons in the labour sector.

On the second day, December 11, the EAS President attended the 2026 ERASMUS+Sport Info Day organized by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), in cooperation with the Sport Unit of the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (DG EAC). This yearly event is crucial to share information on the funding opportunities for collaborative partnerships and capacity building project proposals according to the 2026 ERASMUS+ Programme Guide (https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-programme-guide), as well as to provide network opportunities between potential partners.

After opening the event, Mrs. Sophie Beernaerts, EACEA Director, moderated the high-level round table on the future ERASMUS+ programme with the contribution of Mr. Glenn Micallef, European Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport; Mr. Bogdan Andrzej Zdrojewski, Member of the European Parliament; and Mr. Vassos Koutsioundas from the Cyprus Sport Organisation.

Two plenary sessions addressed the policy priorities and novelties of the 2026 call for projects, respectively. In particular, Mr. Giorgio Guazzugli-Marini, Head of Sport Unit at DG EAC, Mr. Peter Fischer, Mrs. Paola Ottonello and Mr. Stefano Pintus from the Sport Unit illustrated the sport priorities focused primarily on health, innovation, and green environment, whereas Mr. Theo Duivenvoorde, Head of Erasmus Mundus & Sport Unit at EACEA, Mrs. Gael Broze, Mrs. Helena Kamencikova, and Mrs. Izabela Pelczynska provided advice for preparing original proposals and successful partnerships.

Three parallel sessions were organized to address mobility opportunities for sport staff available at National Agencies; application templates, lump sum funding mechanisms and selection processes for successful projects; and the Capacity Building action and its characteristics, respectively.

During the last plenary session, Mr. Giorgio Guazzugli Marini, Mrs. Sacha Beck, Mr. Mads Lyngso Schou from the Sport Unit reported the preliminary results from the Public Consultation to shape the future of sports in Europe “A Strategic Vision for Sport in Europe: Reinforcing the European Sport Model”

Mr. Georg Hausler, Director for Culture, Creativity and Sport, at DG EAC summarized the main aspects of the day and provided the closing remarks. In the next days, presentations will be available at https://www.eacea.ec.europa.eu/news-events/events/info-session-erasmus-sport-2026-2025-12-11_en.

On the third day, December 12, EACEA, Mr. Giorgio Guazzugli Marini, Head of the Sport Unit at the European Commission, welcomed the representatives of National Coordinating Bodies, and official partners of the #BeActive campaign (including EAS) participating in the Debrief Seminar. The event aimed to stimulate ideas for future editions based on the reflection on the 10^th celebration of the European Week of Sport (EWoS).

Mrs. Violeta Birzniece reported that 15,107,722 participants joined the 79,420 #BeActive events across 39 European countries, highlighting a positive trend with respect to the previous EWoS editions. Mrs. Paola Ottonello reported that Instagram resulted one of the most active social media for sharing content of the events. She also anticipated the plans for 2026 and 2027, with the launch of the #BeActive Winter (February 1-7, 2027) to be officially announced during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. Mr. Miguel Romero presented key objectives, priorities, deadlines, submission arrangements, eligibility criteria of the 2026-2027 call, and reminded the participants of the concept of #BeActive Night to be held next September the 26-27, 2026 across Europe. Finally, Mr. Peter Fischer launched an interactive Q&A session to foresee possible opportunities and improvements.

Furthermore, Cypriot and Irish National good practices of the “Move more – Scroll less” 2025 campaign offered insights into successful national-level practices, whereas the first experiences of the new EWoS partners called for strengthening cross-sector collaboration.

Finally, based on the 2025 experience, participants shared their opinions for the implementation of the 2026 EWoS during a group work session. For further information on EWoS and the #BeActive campaign is available at sport.ec.europa.eu/european-week-of-sport