Source: Schengen Visa Info
Nearly 754,000 people have applied to travel and visit Europe through DiscoverEU, the integrated program of Erasmus+, has revealed.
"The European Union is doing an amazing job in trying to connect young people from different countries by allowing them to travel with small expenses”
The EU initiative enables 18-year-olds from the EU and some third countries to travel to the bloc while meeting new people and getting familiar with the European cultures, and another 35,000 tickets will be available for the upcoming application round in October.
As the press release issued by DiscoverEU reveals, 165,000 travel passes were available over six application rounds from 2018 to 2022, with the majority of those being issued to German nationals.
The initiative offers tickets to young people to explore Europe by rail, provided that the EU aims to make the bloc greener, digital and more inclusive. By 2022, 70,000 tickets will be rewarded across the 27-nation-bloc and a few third countries.
More specifically, 7,096 applicants from Germany were awarded the travel passes out of 16,420 that have applied, marking the highest number of applications recorded. The second country to follow was Italy, with 7,013 applicants – 4,604 of those being accepted.
The number of approved applications depends on the total population of a specific country, as the organisation points out, also revealing that France has a total recognition rate of 100 per cent as 2,003 people applied, and all of those were accepted.
Furthermore, out of 68,800 applications, 35,010 or nearly 51 per cent, have been approved, with the majority of those being in school (75.1 per cent) and others being holders of higher education bachelor degrees (12.6 per cent).
Those engaged in vocational training account for 3.7 per cent of the total pass granted, while 3.2 per cent are having a gap year. Furthermore, 2.4 per cent are enrolled in higher education short study programs, 0.7 per cent are employed, and one per cent are volunteers. Unemployed applicants represent 0.2 per cent of all travel passes issued.
“People gladly stopped and spared some of their time to help or talk to us. I think people don’t know how easy it is to travel around Europe. The European Union is doing an amazing job in trying to connect young people from different countries by allowing them to travel with small expenses,” Maja from Slovenia, who travelled to Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland, said.
Her counterpart from Spain, Javier, also shared his experience noting it was very enriching for him, while Francesco from Italy pointed out how amazed he was with the beauty of the trains with which he travelled to Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
Considering the success DiscoverEU has showcased, it has been integrated into the Erasmus+ Programme, and it will continue to allow more young people to visit the EU in the upcoming six years. The expected budget for the next application rounds planned for April and October 2022 will be €29 million.
