The Erasmus+ exchange programme, soon to celebrate its 35th anniversary, is a success story for higher education. The "Erasmus generations" still include few apprentices. It is now necessary to remove the various obstacles that prevent many young people from benefiting from a European experience.

Europe has been responsive during the crisis, and effective in terms of vaccination and its economic response. It has also begun to develop its strategic thinking. To face the great changes of our time, it must assume and develop its power, and to do so, it must abandon many of its dogmas, writes Jean-Dominique Giuliani.

The German federal elections on 26 September will bring a new Chancellor to office, as Angela Merkel, Chancellor since 2005, is not standing for re-election. Beyond the person who will be chosen for this position, the question is to determine which government coalition can be negotiated and put in place. With three weeks to go before the election, several scenarios, with different political positions, and perhaps for the first time with three parties, are possible.

The Estonian Parliament elected Alar Karis as President of the country on 31 August in the second round of voting by 72 out of 101 deputies. He will take office on 11 October and succeed Kersti Kaljulaid.

On 26 September, Germans will vote to elect their MPs and indirectly choose who will succeed Angela Merkel after 16 years in the Chancellery. To understand what is at stake in these decisive elections for Germany and the European Union, you can find on this page the Foundation's publications and the debates we are organising around this election, as well as our interventions in the media and resources on the programmes of the main parties.

In order to respond to the economic and social consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, the European Union has set up a €672.5 billion recovery fund, known as the Recovery and Resilience Facility, to be used by member states in the form of grants and loans. The first plans were adopted in July. The Foundation provides you with an interactive map of the plans country by country, to find out more about the amounts, timetables and priorities.

The EU has extended sanctions against Belarus with sectoral measures, in particular on trade and financial services. EU leaders called once again for an end to repression, the release of political prisoners and the organisation of free elections. To follow the crisis since the rigged presidential election of August 2020, the Foundation offers you a chronology of events and links to European responses and initiatives.

From Belarus to China, the application of human rights is becoming increasingly difficult. Human rights, an inalienable value guaranteed by our constitutions and the European treaties, deserve a resolute commitment from Europe throughout the world, stresses Jean-Dominique Giuliani.

30/04/2021 The Robert Schuman Foundation has published a new edition of its Permanent Atlas of the European Union. The third edition of this unique book provides a comprehensive and easily accessible overview of the Union, the euro area and each of the 27 Member States. It summarises historical milestones and political and statistical realities of the Union and offers more than 50 physical and geopolitical maps of Europe.

14/09/2021 To follow the evolution of the situation, the Foundation offers you a complete map of the sanitary measures in place and the travel conditions across Europe. An essential resource that is regularly updated.

The Foundation published the following studies in June:
- Covid-19 crisis and European mobility: What lessons? What future? by Nicolas Blain
- "Engaging in politics is a source of risk for the Commission. But it has become inevitable." Interview with Frédéric Mérand
- Fit for 55: towards the achievement of an ambitious European political compromise for climate by Clémence Pèlegrin
- Boyko Borissov's "Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria" and Slavi Trifonov's "Such a People Exist" neck and neck after the parliamentary elections by Corinne Deloy
- Human Rights' Black Summer by Jean-Dominique Giuliani

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18/12/2020 Confronted by the first wave of epidemics that swept across Europe in March 2020, parliaments were forced to respond quickly. The relation with time that parliaments have developed in this regard is complex and largely conditioned by the urgency of the situation. This study aims to report on the impact of the pandemic on the leading democratic institution in our countries - the Parliament. The Robert Schuman Foundation, in partnership with this university network, has published a series of contributions on the developments in the functioning of the parliaments of twelve states European countries during this particular year as well as the European Parliament.