Next year, over EUR 4 million will be made available for Hungarian youth programs within the Erasmus+ programme, Deputy State Minister for Family and Youth Affairs Tamás Schanda said on Saturday at the EVS Live event in Budapest.

According to the politician, in the 2014-2020 EU budgetary period a total of EUR 14.7 billion will be made available for the Erasmus+ program, 10 per-cent of which will be allocated for youth programmes, allowing 500,000 young professionals to gain international experience. Hungary will receive EUR 31 million in the course of this budgetary period, out of which 4.3 million will be allocated to sports and youth in 2014.

Schanda quoted data from the Erasmus coordination office of the National Institute for Social and Family Policy, according to which last year 40 per-cent of the applicants, accounting for a total of 168 organizations were awarded funding of a total of EUR 4 million.

In the framework of the European Voluntary Service, 50 organizations were granted a total of EUR 1.2 million funding. Last year 400 Hungarians spent time abroad as volunteers within the EVS programme, while Hungary received 300 volunteers. The most popular destinations last year were Germany, Spain and Turkey, while those volunteering in Hungary mostly came from Germany, Spain and Italy.

(Ministry of Human Capacities)