The European Commission has proposed this Thursday that the Twenty-seven open negotiations with the United Kingdom jointly to once again make the mobility of the young population, up to the age of 30, easier from both sides of the English Channel. The measure would benefit millions of young people in the process of training who have seen the possibilities of traveling, studying or working between countries through which, until Brexit, they moved without hindrance, greatly reduced and difficult.
“The more young people who move on both sides of the Channel, the more we will increase the possibility and the probability that we will be able to maintain good friendly relations in the future, because the next generation will know each other very well and will work together very well too,” he said. at a press conference the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The idea is to “rebuild human bridges between young Europeans on both sides of the Channel,” said the vice-president of the European Commission, Maros Sefcovic, when announcing the proposal.
According to what the Commission proposes, mobility would be facilitated for young British and EU people between 18 and 30 years old, who would be allowed to stay up to four years in the chosen country, without being forced to set a criterion. for that mobility. That is to say, the Commission emphasizes, that the beneficiaries, who would not be charged entry fees, "should be able to carry out different activities during that period, such as studying, doing internships, working or traveling."
“The departure of the United Kingdom from the EU has hit young people in the Union and Britons who want to study, work and live abroad especially hard,” recalled Sefcovic, responsible for EU relations with London after Brexit. With the new proposal from Brussels, “we take the first step towards an ambitious, but realistic agreement, that would fix this issue,” the Slovak congratulated himself.
What the European Executive proposes to the leaders of the Twenty-Seven is not to fully open free movement after Brexit, not even for young people, but to create conditions that are simple and fluid enough to encourage vital exchanges for the training of new generations.
And also, although Brussels does not say this explicitly beyond the mention of “human bridges”, it seeks to see if it is possible to breathe something of the European spirit back into the British of the future. Europe has always opted for young people to encourage it (a good example is the success of the Erasmus exchange program) and is aware that if there is a way to one day rekindle the community flame on the other side of the Channel, its youngest population It is one of the best breeding grounds. In fact, when announcing the mobility initiative, Brussels says it is open to holding a “parallel discussion on a possible association of the United Kingdom to the Erasmus+ program.”
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Brussels considers that London has shown interest in the matter, since it has contacted, it indicates, some Member States individually to address the issue of youth mobility. “With this proposal, the Commission seeks to respond to this issue of shared concern at EU-wide level,” explains the Commission.
For Von der Leyen, since the Windsor framework agreement was concluded just over a year ago to close the most serious problems derived from the Northern Ireland Protocol, the last major pending issue of Brexit, the relationship has been “much more constructive”, or that allows us to think about closer steps such as youth mobility.
“We know that we share values and look at today's challenges with the same angle, so since the Windsor agreement it has been clear that we want to work together as much as possible to meet the challenges. And the issue of youth mobility is of interest to both parties,” said the president at the final press conference of the extraordinary European Council that brought together the 27 European heads of State and Government in Brussels.
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