The start of this year’s competition for the free travel pass to 35,000 young men and women aged 18 to explore Europe, announced the European Commission.

In order to obtain the travel pass, interested young people are invited to apply, by 29 March, on the European Youth Portal and answer multiple-choice questions.

Successful applicants born between 1 July 2004 and 30 June 2005 will be able to travel to Europe for up to 30 days during the travel period from 15 June 2023 to 30 September 2024.

The invitation is open to young men and women from the European Union and from third countries linked to the Erasmus+ program, such as Iceland, Liechtenstein, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia and Turkey.

This year, the young men and women who take part will be able to discover the route of the New European Bauhaus, which opens in January 2023.

Its aim is to inspire young men and women when choosing destinations and to raise even more awareness about the importance of the tripartite “aesthetics, sustainability, inclusiveness” for the European Union.

Also, those taking part, male and female, will continue to enjoy the benefits of the initiatives launched in 2022 during the European Year of Youth, such as the “Youth discover culture thanks to DiscoverEU in 2022» and the cultural route DiscoverEU.

The latter combines various destinations and aspects of culture, such as architecture, music, fine arts, theater, fashion, design and others.

Beneficiaries traveling thanks to DiscoverEU can visit Europe’s capitals of culture, destinations included in the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List or places that have been awarded the European Heritage Label.

They can also get to know the cities that have received the Accessible City Award. These are cities that have managed to make themselves more accessible to everyone, regardless of age, mobility or ability.

Participants will also receive a discount card that offers more than 40,000 discount possibilities on public transport, cultural visits, accommodation, food, sports and other services available in eligible countries.

National Erasmus+ organizations prepare young men and women for their trip with pre-departure information meetings. Part of the legacy of the European Year of Youth are the DiscoverEU Meet-ups organized by the national organizations and are an exciting cultural program lasting from one to three days. in all Erasmus+ countries.

As social inclusion is a top priority of the Erasmus+ programme, people with disabilities or health problems who participate will be supported on their journey.

In addition, in October 2022 Erasmus+ national organizations launched the DiscoverEU integration action, offering organizations working with young people with fewer opportunities, as well as informal groups of young people, the possibility to apply for a grant.

Participants in the DiscoverEU integration action will receive additional support, such as the possibility to travel with chaperones.

The Commission encourages rail travel.

However, special arrangements are made for young men and women from outermost regions, overseas countries and territories, remote areas and islands.

Since the DiscoverEU initiative was launched in 2018, around 916,000 young people have applied for 212,700 available travel passes.

According to the latest results of the post-trip survey, 72% of the young people who took part stated that they traveled by train for the first time outside their country of residence.

For many of them it was the first time they traveled without parents or adult companions and the majority reported that they became more independent.

The DiscoverEU experience gave them a better understanding of other cultures and European history and improved their foreign language skills.

More than two-thirds of people who took part said they would not have been able to afford the travel pass without DiscoverEU. Participants are invited to become DiscoverEU ambassadors and promote the initiative.

Selection will be made on the basis of nationality and/or country of residence, according to the number of travel passes allocated to each country. The quota per country will be published together with the selection results.