Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
The European Commission proposed to the Council, which includes member states, to open negotiations with the United Kingdom on an agreement to facilitate youth mobility. Such an agreement would make it easier for young EU and UK citizens to study, work and live in the UK and EU respectively.
The United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union a few years ago led to a decrease in movement between the European Union and the United Kingdom. This situation has particularly affected the opportunities available to young people to experience life on the other side and benefit from youth, cultural, educational, research and training exchanges.
The proposal seeks to innovatively address the key barriers to youth mobility today and create a right for young people to travel from the EU to the UK and vice versa more easily and for a longer period of time. The proposal sets out the conditions that must be met (age, maximum length of stay, eligibility requirements, rules for verifying compliance with them) to enable young people to move without being restricted by a purpose (i.e. permission to study, train or work), or quotas. For example, under the prospective agreement, EU and UK citizens between the ages of 18 and 30 will be able to stay for up to 4 years in the destination country.
The committee's recommendation will now be discussed in the Council. If the Council agrees, the Commission will be empowered to launch negotiations with the UK on youth mobility.
Since the UK's withdrawal from the EU, movement between the EU and the UK has been governed by the domestic (immigration) rules of the EU, its member states and the UK. This has led to a decline in the numbers of people moving between the EU and the UK. The Commission's proposal for an EU-UK agreement on youth mobility could be usefully supported by a parallel discussion on the UK's possible accession to Erasmus Plus.