Credit: Anefore

On Thursday 17 July 2025, Anefore, Luxembourg’s national agency for European programmes in education, training, youth and sport, held the sixth edition of its summer celebration at the eduPôle site in Walferdange, bringing together nearly 130 beneficiaries and supporters of the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programmes.

The event celebrated the European projects selected in 2024 and offered a convivial and festive occasion for participants.

In her welcome address, Anefore Director Christine Pegel highlighted the achievements of the Erasmus programme over the past 38 years, noting its evolution from a university exchange initiative into a broad-reaching platform supporting learning, training, teaching and volunteering across Europe and beyond. According to Anefore, since its launch in 1987, the programme has benefitted over 16.5 million individuals. It now offers opportunities “for people of all ages in all sectors of education” and continues to grow. The agency also reported that the European Commission has proposed a significant budget increase for Erasmus+ in the next Multiannual Financial Framework, from €26 billion to €40.8 billion, ensuring its continued role at the heart of the so-called ‘Union of Skills’, promoting “mobility, solidarity, inclusion and equitable access to opportunities for all.”

Anefore further noted that around seventy beneficiary organisations received either an Erasmus+ trophy or a European Solidarity Corps trophy in recognition of the quality of their projects selected under the 2024 calls for proposals.

The agency also marked 2025 as a year of milestones for several other European programmes in the fields of education and training.

Europass, now in its 20th year, has supported job seekers, employees, learners and volunteers across Europe in identifying and showcasing their skills and qualifications in a transparent way.

Meanwhile, the Eurodesk network, established in 1990, continues to provide information to young people and youth workers, supporting the development and implementation of mobility projects across Europe. According to Anefore, Eurodesk has served for 35 years as a “youth information service” active in 36 countries.

Launched by the European Commission ten years ago, Youth Wiki was also highlighted as a tool designed to support policy-makers by providing country-specific and comparative data on youth policy. Described as a “one-stop source” for information on structures, policies and national actions in support of young people, Youth Wiki currently covers 34 countries.

Anefore also drew attention to the impact of the eTwinning platform, which over the past two decades has enabled a generation of teachers to build lasting cross-border connections and carry out collaborative projects. Since its launch, eTwinning has brought together some 1.2 million teachers from 295,000 schools across 46 countries, resulting in more than 160,000 projects and involving over three million pupils. According to Anefore, the initiative goes “beyond the numbers”, fostering professional relationships, the exchange of innovative teaching practices, and the development of a dynamic European community of educators.

In this context, the Edward Steichen Secondary School in Clervaux received the “eTwinning School Label 2025-2026” - a distinction recognising the engagement and commitment of both its teaching staff and the institution as a whole.