According to the EU, the withdrawal of the UK from the EU following a referendum in 2016 has damaged mobility between the two areas.
“This situation has particularly affected the opportunities for young people to experience life on the other side of the Channel and to benefit from youth, cultural, educational, research and training exchanges,” the Commission said.
When the UK was still a member of the economic and political bloc, its nationals had the right to live and work freely in the EU, with reciprocity for EU nationals in the UK. Under the agreement proposed by the EU’s executive arm, EU and UK citizens between 18 and 30 years old would be eligible to stay up to four years in the destination country.
However, since the UK left the EU, Britons are considered third party nationals and therefore can only spend a maximum period of 90 in the EU at any one time.
This has not only complicated life for second homes owners, or would be investors, but also young people who used to enjoy seasonal jobs in resorts, be they in the sun or in the snow.
And this in turn has made it difficult for tour operators to employ British nationals to work the holiday seasons in EU resorts.
However, Rishi Sunak has rejected an EU offer to strike a post-Brexit deal to allow young Britons to live, study or work in the bloc for up to four years, but it may not be his decision to make in the end.
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The EU offered the UK to rejoin the Erasmus scheme as a partner country. The UK refused, going its own way with its Turing scheme. A poor alternative with only an average placement of 100 days, so no better than the 90 day rule limit anyway. I doubt the Europeans will continue any more offers until the UK has a change of Government.
The European Union looks for somewhere to employ its surplus young.
Interesting that according to MDB this initiative is coming from the EU to the UK. As I have previously predicted on these pages, and despite much heckling from fellow commentators, I believe there will be an exception made for British nationals when staying longer term within the EU. Time will tell.