On 2 May 2018, the European Commission adopted its proposals for a new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027. Under these proposals, the European Solidarity Corps programme will have a budget of EUR 1,260,000,000 over this period. This ex-ante evaluation reflects the decisions of the MFF proposals and focuses on the changes and policy choices which are specific to this instrument. It takes into account the lessons learned and the recommendations from the external evaluations for the relevant programmes, as well as the recent open public consultation. 1.1.1 Current state of play The European Union is built on solidarity, a shared value which is strongly felt throughout European society. Solidarity defines the European project and provides the necessary unity to cope with current and future crises by holding a strong moral ground. Solidarity provides a clear compass to guide the European youth in their aspirations for a better Union. In the Rome Declaration, at the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, the leaders of 27 Member States and of the European Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission reaffirmed their commitment to enhance unity and solidarity in order to increase the strength and resilience of the European Union . The State of the Union address of 14 September 2016 emphasised the need to invest in young people and announced the idea of a European Solidarity Corps to create opportunities for young people across the European Union to make a meaningful contribution to society, show solidarity and to develop their skills, "thus getting not only work but also invaluable human experience". The Bratislava Summit of 16 September 2016 called for reinforced political momentum to support young Europeans and to establish new EU programmes to improve opportunities for them. The Commission Communication “A European Solidarity Corps” of 7 December 2016 launched the first phase of the European Solidarity Corps. During this initial phase, eight different EU programmes have been mobilised to offer volunteering, traineeship or job opportunities to young people across the EU. There are many young people who want to engage in solidarity activities and, at the same time, there are many unmet needs in communities that could be better addressed thanks to the involvement of young people in solidarity activities. There is an untapped demand by many organisations for motivated young people to support them in their efforts ; if supported, these organisations could offer even more to communities. There are however, shortcomings in the matching of supply and demand and obstacles related to the availability of resources, to ensuring quality, as well as various legal aspects. The current European Solidarity Corps was created to merge several EU volunteering and solidarity traineeships/jobs schemes into one same programme. The proposal for a Regulation was accompanied by an ex-ante evaluation, which demonstrated the need for a single EU programme acting as a "one stop shop" for all solidarity related opportunities for young people . Despite the high demand from young people for solidarity opportunities , further development of activities can be attained, in particular with regards to an extension of the geographical scope, synergies with national frameworks, a larger community, and an inter-generational dimension of the programme. Furthermore, given the similarities between former programmes, the decision was taken to enlarge the scope of the European Solidarity Corps to include volunteering in humanitarian aid related projects. 1.1.2 Inclusion of humanitarian aid European solidarity knows no borders. It is not something that should be restricted within our borders, but rather expanded and open to countries outside the Union. The Treaty of the European Union highlights solidarity as one of the principles key to the European Union , which should be promoted not just within our borders, but also be one of the foundations of the EU's external action. Indeed, the first general provision governing the EU's external action is the objective to advance in the world the principles that are central to our Union: The Union's action on the international scene shall be guided by the principles which have inspired its own creation, development and enlargement, and which it seeks to advance in the wider world: […] the principles of equality and solidarity . This objective is what the extended European Solidarity Corps wants to achieve. The Council’s General Approach regarding the proposed Regulation for the European Solidarity Corps suggested that the geographical scope of participating countries should be extended for the volunteering strand . This extension included, amongst others, countries covered by the European neighbourhood policy and by the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance. The proposal which this ex-ante evaluation accompanies is in line with this desire for the extension of the geographical scope. Also, we must take into account the outermost regions of the European Union, which are included in the programme . Additional funding is foreseen for young people from these regions, in particular through increased travel contributions (as suggested by President Juncker ), as well as for participants taking part in placements in these regions. While challenges arise from the fact that these regions are far away from the European continent, this also represents more opportunities. The European Union’s neighbours are situated not only around the Mediterranean and to the East. They are also in the Caribbean, in West Africa, and the Indian Ocean. The outermost regions share maritime and land borders with several countries, some of them being part of the list of countries where EU Aid Volunteers can deploy volunteers. One of the key pillars of the EU’s outermost regions’ strategy is promoting regional cooperation and tightening the links with these neighbours, especially given their ties with Oversea Countries and Territories and with the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States . For instance, Caribbean countries share most of the same challenges as the French outermost regions in the Caribbean with regards to climate change and environment, two of the areas covered by the European Solidarity Corps . This ex-ante evaluation as well as the proposal for a Regulation it accompanies assumes continuity of the current European Solidarity Corps (in line with proposed regulation of May 2017), but reflects the consideration of extending the Corps to humanitarian aid deployments. In order to highlight the importance of humanitarian aid related activities, these are covered in the proposal under a separate chapter, to tailor for the particularities derived from the context in which these deployments will take place. Furthermore, as described in section 3 of this ex-ante evaluation, the programme structure includes a separate action for these activities. Finally, it must be noted that the extension of geographical scope does not affect the occupational strand (traineeship and job placements), as these will remain available only within the European Union. This is due to Union market regulations, which make it simpler and more transparent to have such placements in Member States. 1.1.3 Proposed programme The extended European Solidarity Corps provides a wide range of opportunities for young people (starting at 18 years old, but not older than 30 years old) to take part in solidarity activities. These should be aimed at addressing unmet societal needs, and developed in relation to different areas, such as education and training, employment, gender equality, environment and nature protection, climate action, disaster prevention, preparedness and recovery, social assistance and welfare, and cooperation across borders, to name a few. These activities can take place in the participant's country, in another EU Member State, in an third country associated to the programme, or in a partner country. The expected number of placements would depend on the budget assigned to the programme, and thus varies between 250,000 and 375,000 solidarity opportunities (see section 5.1 for more details). When compared with the ongoing programmes, the extended European Solidarity Corps has some additional features, such as an inter-generational component and an improved community. These changes aim mainly at tackling the challenges foreseen as described in section 2.1, as well as to address the feedback received from stakeholders on the design and implementation of the European Solidarity Corps . The extended European Solidarity Corps also addresses current trends and new challenges that are of special interest to the post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework. It directly contributes to reducing social divergences, as the projects contribute to address certain societal needs, while also providing an opportunity for young people to develop their skills, which will increase their employment prospects. In particular, skills and competences development is at the core of the specific objective of the programme (see below section 2.2), which is thus fully aligned with the way forward proposed in the Reflection Paper on the Social Dimension of Europe. Indeed, one of the key factors that determine the future of Europe is skills development . The development of skills is what empowers citizens to create strong societies .The European Solidarity Corps focuses on the participants' skills development, with a training and evaluation cycle that starts well before the deployment, and virtually never ends, thanks to the learning platform. The skills developed during the deployment are certified, which allows the participant to demonstrate its learning outcomes. The extension of the scope to include humanitarian aid will also contribute to the simplification principle, by combining two programmes that used to target the same population and in so doing will decrease confusion for potential participating young persons and organisations. It is also in line with the EU approach to the Youth, Peace and Security (as set out in UN Security Council Resolution 2250 of 2015), which highlights the importance of promoting active participation of young people in society, in particular through cross-border mobility . Lastly, the extension of the scope to include humanitarian aid related activities also addresses the idea of wider opportunities for young people as put forward by the New Narrative for Europe campaign . The proposed programme also follows the four principles key to the design of the future EU budget : EU added value: the EU added value of this proposal comes from: ·a common quality standard, by promoting placements according to shared standards for quality and a common understanding of the acquisition of skills and competences to be recognised across borders. ·solidarity, as a common European value, which ensures that the European Solidarity Corps complements, and does not compete with, existing public and private policies, programmes and activities, both at national and European level. This is fully in line with the subsidiarity principle, as the European Solidarity Corps will not replace similar actions by Member States, but will serve to complement and support them. ·economies of scale and scope, achieved as a consequence of acting at European level. Indeed, while national frameworks could achieve similar results, they would do so at a greater cost (double the cost), as put forward by the Mid-term evaluation of the Erasmus+ programme (2014-2020) . ·consistency, as by bringing different types of placements under one European Solidarity Corps brand, awareness about and visibility of the opportunities available to young people can be improved. Accountability: high degrees of both transparency and accountability are achieved through a thorough monitoring and evaluation framework, as well as through continuous coordination with the implementing institutions (the Commission, the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency and Erasmus National Agencies). More flexibility within a stable framework: this programme will use the delivery mechanisms already in use by the European Solidarity Corps (see below section 4). This guarantees a high degree of flexibility in the implementation of the programme, allowing for adjustments and reactivity to future, unforeseeable changes in the needs of participants, organisations, and society, while at the same time providing the stability derived from the use of the Erasmus network, which have proved so successful in the past, counting on the national experience and know-how from the Erasmus National Agencies. Simplified rules : this new programme provides for a simplification of procedures, which was recently highlighted as a barrier to participation . Further simplification can be sought to better cater for the needs of participants and organisations. In relation to the proposed programme, no similar existing programme has been identified. Nonetheless, mention must be made to the pilot project, ''Youth for Development'', which aims at sending young European volunteers to projects funded through EU development budget in order to contribute to EU development cooperation actions is under development. This would enable young EU citizens to improve their skills, competences and intercultural knowledge. An operational proposal prepared for this pilot recommends a collaboration with the European Solidarity Corps after 2020 . Should the pilot show the demand for and positive impact of such activities, it could be considered to include such activities under this programme.