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1. How Youth policy is funded

2. What is funded

3. Financial accountability

4. Use of EU Funds

How Youth policy is funded

The funding of youth public policies is set within the framework of the annual Finance Act, which determines “the nature, amount and allocation of the State’s resources and expenditures”, as well as the resulting budgetary and financial balance (Organic Law on Finance Acts of 1 August 2001). Finance Acts are adopted annually by Parliament.

Youth policies are based on an interministerial and cross-cutting approach, involving several ministries and public operators. This dimension is also reflected in their financing. In order to provide an overview of the State’s overall budgetary effort in certain cross-cutting policy areas, Cross-cutting Policy Documents (Documents de politique transversale – DPT) are annexed to Draft Finance Bills (see Section 1.3 “National youth strategy”).

Among these programmes is Programme 163 “Youth and Voluntary organisations” (Programme 163 « Jeunesse et vie associative »), which constitutes the main budgetary programme dedicated to policies implemented by the Directorate for Youth, Popular Education and Associative Life (Direction de la jeunesse, de l’éducation populaire et de la vie associative – DJEPVA). It brings together part of the appropriations allocated to youth, popular education and support for associative life.

The Cross-cutting Policy Document is an informative annex to the Draft Finance Bill and does not have a mandatory status. Therefore, a DPT dedicated to youth was published in 2024 and 2025, but was not presented in 2023.

For 2026, the appropriations allocated to Programme 163 “Youth and Associative Life” amount to €626.6 million.

What is funded

The 2026 Annual Performance Plan (Projet annuel de performance – PAP) for the “Sport, Youth and Associative Life” mission (Mission « Sport, jeunesse et vie associative ») specifies the purposes of the funding allocated under Programme 163 “Youth and Associative Life” (Programme 163 « Jeunesse et vie associative »). It is structured around three main priorities:

1. Development of associative life: €48,260,543
2. Actions in favour of youth and popular education: €113,380,006
3. Development of Civic Service: €465,000,000

Financial accountability

In the field of youth policies, the usual mechanisms governing financial responsibility and control over the management of public funds apply. Regarding the allocation of subsidies to associations, the following rules are in place:

• In the area of youth and non-formal education measures, the Government has simplified the interactions of associations and foundations with public authorities (Order of 23 July 2015 bearing on simplification of the system for associations and foundations). This Order introduced changes to the rules governing the funding of associations.
• The allocation of subsidies must now comply with both national law and European standards.

Local authorities and public institutions are also required to provide the State with lists of all subsidies allocated to associations, as well as to foundations registered as charities.

Use of EU Funds

France receives European funding through the European Structural and Investment Funds and within the framework of the European programmes European Solidarity Corps and Erasmus+ (2021–2027), both under the Education and Training strand and the Youth and Sport strand, which falls under the responsibility of the Ministry for Sports, Youth and Associative Life (Ministère des Sports, de la Jeunesse et de la Vie associative).

The Erasmus+ Programme and its Youth strand

The Youth strand of the programme is managed by the French National Agency for Erasmus+ Youth and Sport (Agence Erasmus+ France Jeunesse & Sport). In 2025, the budget allocated to the Erasmus+ France Youth and Sport Agency by the European Commission amounts to €34.4 million.

European Solidarity Corps

Within the European Solidarity Corps, the Erasmus+ France Youth and Sport Agency implements two strands: volunteering and solidarity projects. Managed by the Erasmus+ Youth and Sport Agency, the European Solidarity Corps (Corps européen de solidarité – CES) receives €12.9 million in European funding for France in 2025.

European Structural and Investment Funds

France also benefits from European Structural and Investment Funds under the framework of the European Strategy (2021–2027).

As part of the economic, social and territorial cohesion policy, three European funds are mobilised, representing a total of €21.32 billion:

• European Regional Development Fund: approximately €11.075 billion;
• European Social Fund Plus: whose scope has been expanded to incorporate the areas previously covered by the 2014–2020 European Social Fund, the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) and the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD). France receives €6.7 billion from the ESF+ for the 2021–2027 period. These funds support, among other actions, the implementation of the national programme “Employment, Inclusion, Youth and Skills” (programme national « Emploi, inclusion, jeunesse et compétences »), which aims to promote integration, career guidance and the fight against poverty and social exclusion among young people;
• Just Transition Fund: €1.086 billion.

These three funds are not specifically dedicated to financing youth policies. However, their objectives relating to social inclusion, labour market integration and the reduction of socio-economic difficulties can contribute to financing projects that also benefit young people.