The promotion of lifelong learning and active citizenship is important for the performance of the European economy and democracy. In this study CEPS Associate Fellow Christoph Meyer examines the cost-effectiveness of EU programmes and actions in the fields of education and citizenship during the period 2000-2005. He found that most actions were ‘value for money’, but that more can be done to maximise synergies between different programmes, ease overly burdensome administrative requirements, and to become more innovative in targeting community support.