DiscoverEU initiative supports young people to travel to festivals in Europe

DiscoverEU is an initiative of the European Union to give 20,000 young people the opportunity to travel around Europe in the year they turn 18, in the hope to enable them to better understand Europe's diversity, enjoy its cultural richness, make new friends and get a sense of their European identity.

The European Festivals Association (EFA) was approached to activate its members to invite some young travellers to attend their festivals. Many EFA members are engaged to welcome them, such as Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Edinburgh International Festival, Utrecht Early Music Festival and many more.

The first 15,000 recipients are now on the road. They are travelling, either alone or in groups of a maximum of five people, for up to 30 days, visiting between one and four European destinations outside their home country. All trips will start between 9 July and 30 September 2018. As a general rule, the young people will be travelling by rail, with alternative modes of transport used in exceptional cases. A second round of applications will open in autumn 2018.

The European Commission would like to hear from the young travelers and will encourage them to share their experiences and adventures as ambassadors of the initiative. You can follow them on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter under the hashtag #DiscoverEU and on the European Youth website.

Background

With a budget of €12 million in 2018, DiscoverEU is expected to give at least 20,000 young people the opportunity to travel around Europe this year. Every EU Member State has been allocated a number of travel passes, based on the share of its country's population compared to the overall population of the European Union. The first application round, launched tomorrow, will allow at least 15,000 recipients to explore their continent. A second application round with at least 5,000 tickets will take place in autumn 2018. The European Commission intends to develop the initiative and has therefore included it in its proposal for the next Erasmus programme. If the European Parliament and the Council agree to the proposal, an additional 1.5 million 18 year olds are expected to be able to travel between 2021 and 2027, supported by a budget of €700 million.

DiscoverEU is an EU initiative based on a proposal from the European Parliament, which secured its funding for 2018 through a Preparatory Action. The initiative focuses on young people turning 18, as this marks a major step to adulthood.