Europaudvalget 2017
KOM (2017) 0262
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EUROPEAN
COMMISSION
Brussels, 30.5.2017
SWD(2017) 167 final
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EX-ANTE EVALUATION
Accompanying the document
Proposal for a
REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
laying down the legal framework of the European Solidarity Corps and amending
Regulations (EU) No 1288/2013, (EU) No 1293/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No
1305/2013, (EU) No 1306/2013 and Decision No 1313/2013/EU
{COM(2017) 262 final}
{SWD(2017) 166 final}
{SWD(2017) 168 final}
EN
EN
kom (2017) 0262 - Ingen titel
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The EU is built on solidarity: solidarity between its citizens, solidarity across borders between
its Member States, and solidarity in its action inside and outside the Union. In response to the
political resolve to do more for young people, the Commission initiated the European
Solidarity Corps in December 2016; which is followed-up by the proposed Regulation. The
European Solidarity Corps aims to enhance the engagement of young people and
organisations in solidarity activities of high quality accessible to all young people as a means
to contribute to strengthening cohesion and solidarity in Europe, supporting communities and
responding to unmet societal needs.
The proposed legal base is accompanied by an ex-ante evaluation, which examines challenges
at two levels: focusing on young people and their opportunities to engage in solidarity
activities on the one hand and on broader societal, institutional and organisational needs on
the other.
The ex-ante evaluation indicated a need for the EU to address the following major challenges
in the framework of a European initiative for youth in the field of solidarity:
there is a need to overcome fragmentation and provide more opportunities to encourage
the engagement of young people and organisations in solidarity activities, namely by
bringing volunteering and occupational experiences under one umbrella with a shared
quality approach and developing a visible and broad validation of the learning experience
gained, regardless of the context in which it took place. There is also a need to ensure easy
and equal access through lean procedures, whilst foreseeing appropriate measures to
encourage the inclusion of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds;
there is a need to ensure that the placements and activities offered by a European initiative
for youth in the field of solidarity respond to unmet societal needs as well as shared
quality standards and a common understanding of the acquisition of the knowledge, skills
and competences to be validated across borders.
The ex-ante evaluation focused on two options: 1) to continue implementing the European
Solidarity Corps through various existing programmes as it has been the case during the first
phase launched in December 2016, whereby eight programmes
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have been funding solidarity
actions, each one through its own legal basis, objectives and budget; 2) to develop a new self-
standing initiative with strengthened focus on solidarity, which would build on the experience
of existing programmes but would have its own clear set of objectives and ensure more clarity
on the purpose and scope of the intervention.
The possibility of using the legal base of one of the existing programmes was discarded due to
the fact that this would result in a programme with a complex set of overlapping objectives
and limited visibility of solidarity actions in a broader frame. Furthermore, such an approach
would lead to the disengagement of stakeholders from the other programmes.
Thus, two options were identified, analysed and compared against the following criteria,
which are in line with stakeholders' suggestions during the consultations:
Accessibility (visibility and clarity for organisations, young people and other
stakeholders on how to participate and access funding for solidarity activities);
Quality (procedures and criteria ensuring quality and safety of placements);
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The Erasmus+ programme, the Employment and Social Innovation programme (EaSI), the LIFE programme,
the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the Health Programme, the Europe for Citizens programme, the
European Regional Development Fund (through Interreg) and the Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.
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Inclusiveness (measures to ensure the participation of disadvantaged young people);
Synergy (involvement of and synergies among organisations active in solidarity action
regardless of their local, regional, national or European scope);
Efficiency and simplicity of management provisions and low administrative costs.
Stakeholders during the consultation process welcomed the new opportunities on offer under
a self-standing initiative and new funding, whilst ensuring complementarity with other EU
and national schemes. Based on this multi-criteria analysis, option 2 (to develop a new self-
standing initiative with strengthened focus on solidarity) resulted as the option that would
deliver better results against all the considered criteria and was therefore retained as the
preferred option. This option will provide a clear and single access point for organisations and
young people and will make solidarity actions more visible. It will embed a more inclusive
approach through a dedicated inclusion strategy. It will provide overall quality of placements
and of preparedness of the young participants through a series of specific qualitative processes
and criteria (such as quality label for organisations, training, insurance, etc.). It will bring new
synergies between the activities and their recognition as it will put them in one common
framework and help create new networks between people and organisations with common
aspirations for solidarity. Option 2 will also allow simultaneously decreasing management
costs while reaching greater effects (more value for money).
Different delivery mechanisms were considered with respect to the preferred option: direct
management, indirect management or a combination of both. The analysis concluded that the
latter
a combination of direct and indirect management
would ensure the most cost-
effective implementation to reach the envisaged target of mobilising 100.000 young people by
2020. The ex-ante evaluation stresses that sufficient and consistent financial resources are
essential in reaching the envisaged
target. An overall budget of € 341, 5 million will be
required for the period 2018-2020,
of which € 294.2 million under Heading 1a being the
financial envelope of the Solidarity Corps and € 47.3 million of contributions coming from
other Headings and programmes.
The ex-ante evaluation also highlighted the expected positive social impact of the preferred
option both at individual level (e.g. improved knowledge, skills and competences for their
personal and professional development; increased sense of solidarity and citizenship for their
social and civic development) and at societal level (e.g. addressed needs in communities with
effects on social welfare and well-being; increased support to organisations committed to
solidarity with positive effects on their engagement and on the opportunities offered to young
people; contribution to other policy goals such as youth participation, civil protection, social
inclusion, cohesion, regional development, environmental protection; improved image of
youth on some national media).
Promoting youth participation and social capital is also closely connected with economic
growth. Increased participation and employability of young people can have positive
consequences for employment and macro-economic growth. However, considering the
relatively small size of the proposed intervention as well as the fact that its impact will be
spread out throughout Europe and not concentrated on one particular Member State or sector,
it was not possible to measure the real impact in macro-economic terms. Similarly, it was not
considered relevant to carry out an in-depth analysis of environmental impacts.
The areas of environmental protection and climate action are among the areas where various
solidarity activities particularly can make a tangible, positive societal contribution, not only
directly
such as through cleaner forests
but also indirectly through increased awareness
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and mobilisation for environmental challenges. This positive impact notwithstanding,
similarly to other mobility programmes, the European Solidarity Corps will in principle
generate an increased demand for transport, which in turn can potentially lead to the increased
emission of greenhouse gases. This impact was however considered negligible seen in the
context of overall mobility fluxes in Europe.
The ex-ante evaluation underlined that there are well-known close links and spill-overs
between many of the societal demands facing EU Member States. While for some areas of
unmet demands, such as environmental protection, EU action is prevalent, the responsibility
addressing demands in some other areas, such as social protection and education, rests
primarily with Member States and regions. In whichever case, however, the EU has a role to
play since the objective of the acitvities of the European Solidarity Corps is to strengthening
solidarity between Europeans. The European Solidarity Corps will enhance the European
dimension to solidarity, complementing existing policies, programmes and activities and will
not generate competition or substitution effects. This complementary effect will be ensured
especially since the European Solidarity Corps will address unmet societal needs.
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