Agreement on the European Voluntary Service budget
After a successful conciliation procedure, the European Parliament and the Council have endorsed a proposal to grant the European Voluntary Service programme (EVS) a budget of ECU 47.5 million for 1998-1999. The EVS programme enables young people between the age of 18 and 25 to undertake a period of voluntary work for between six months to a year in another Member State of the EU. The adoption of the programme follows the successful pilot phase which began in 1996 and enabled more than 2,500 young people and over 1,000 organisations to participate. The new programme, as well as continuing the voluntary service exchange, also envisages: - Short term projects of between three weeks and three months, generally involving multinational groups of volunteers in a common project; - Small grants for returning volunteers allowing them to set up their own projects based on experiences gained; - Multilateral projects bringing together participants from at least four countries reinforcing cooperation and exchanges between partners through the mobility of volunteers; - Development of EVS projects with third countries.