The SOCRATES programme was an educational initiative of the European Commission; 31 countries took part. The initial Socrates programme ran from 1994 until 31 December 1999 when it was replaced by the Socrates II programme on 24 January 2000, which ran until 2006. This, in turn, was replaced by the Lifelong Learning Programme 2007–2013.
The Erasmus Programme is a European Union (EU) student exchange programme established in 1987. Erasmus+, or Erasmus Plus, is the new programme combining all the EU's current schemes for education, training, youth and sport, which was started in January 2014.
Ján Figeľ is a Slovak politician. Figeľ served as European Commissioner from 2004 to 2009, then as Slovak minister of Transports from 2010 to 2012. From 2016 to 2019 he was European Commission special envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion outside the EU.
European Union culture policies aim to address and promote the cultural dimension of European integration through relevant legislation and government funding. These policies support the development of cultural activity, education or research conducted by private companies, NGO's and individual initiatives based in the EU working in the fields of cinema and audiovisual, publishing, music and crafts.
In the European Union education is at the responsibility of its Member States and their Ministries of education that they have; in such, the European Union institutions play only a supporting and overseeing role. According to Art. 165 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Community
shall contribute to the development of quality education by encouraging cooperation between Member States, through actions such as promoting the mobility of citizens, designing joint study programmes, establishing networks, exchanging information or teaching languages of the European Union. The Treaty also contains a commitment to promote life-long learning for all citizens of the Union.
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission's science and knowledge service which employs scientists to carry out research in order to provide independent scientific advice and support to European Union (EU) policy.
The Directorate-General for Research and Innovation is a Directorate-General of the European Commission, located in Brussels, and responsible for the European Union's research and innovation policy and coordination of research and innovation activities. Until her resign in May 2023, DG RTD was headed by Commissioner Mariya Gabriel and Director-General Marc Lemaître.
The European Education and Culture Executive Agency, or EACEA, is an executive agency of the European Commission located in Brussels, Belgium. It manages parts of the European Commission's funding programmes in education, culture, media, sport, youth, citizenship and humanitarian aid. EACEA has been operational since January 2006.
Leonard Orban is a Romanian independent technocrat who served as the Commissioner for Multilingualism in the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union (EU). He was responsible for the EU language policy and was the first Romanian Commissioner and the first member of the Commission whose portfolio is exclusively multilingualism. His term of office began on 1 January 2007 and ended on 9 February 2010. With a background in engineering and economics, Orban has taken up various posts working for the accession of Romania to the European Union, most prominently as Deputy and later as Chief Negotiator for his country at the time of final negotiations with the European Union.
The Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture is a Directorate-General of the European Commission.
Intercultural dialogue has long been a principle supported by the European Union and its Institutions. The year 2008 was designated "European Year of Intercultural Dialogue" (EYID) by the European Parliament and the Member States of the European Union. It aimed to draw the attention of people in Europe to the importance of dialogue within diversity and between diverse cultures.
The Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation was a portfolio within the European Commission. In 2019, the portfolio was merged with the Commissioner for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture to form the role of European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, held by Mariya Gabriel.
The Commissioner for Justice is a post in the European Commission. The portfolios of Justice and Equality were previously combined as Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality under commissioner is Věra Jourová; however, the two portfolios were split in 2019. Didier Reynders currently serves as Justice Commissioner and Helena Dalli serves as Equality Commissioner.
Snežana Samardžić-Marković is a Serbian politician. She has been working as Director General of Democracy at the Council of Europe since April 2012. The Directorate General oversees 50 conventions, consists of over 700 staff members, it is composed of 4 Directorates, 10 Partial agreements, 32 intergovernmental structures and 7 monitoring mechanisms. The topics range from anti-discrimination, education, youth participation, good governance and gender equality, to sport, culture, work with civil society and the World Forum for Democracy. She served as the Minister of Youth and Sports in Serbian government from 2007 to 2012.
Tibor Navracsics is a Hungarian lawyer and politician, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade from June to September 2014. He previously served as Minister of Administration and Justice between 2010 and 2014. He is a member of the Fidesz and was the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport in the Juncker Commission. Since 2022, he has been the Minister of Regional Development of Hungary.
Johannes Hahn is an Austrian politician who has served as European Commissioner for Budget and Administration under Ursula von der Leyen since 1 December 2019.
Carlos Manuel Félix Moedas is a Portuguese civil engineer, economist and politician of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), who is the current Mayor of Lisbon.
The Juncker Commission was the European Commission in office from 1 November 2014 to 30 November 2019. Its president was Jean-Claude Juncker, who presided over 27 other commissioners. In July 2014, Juncker was officially elected to succeed José Manuel Barroso, who completed his second five-year term in that year.
Creative Europe–Armenia is the Armenian branch of the Creative Europe programme. Creative Europe–Armenia was founded in 2018, with the support of the European Commission, and is headquartered in Yerevan.
