PM says ‘no’ to joining EU youth mobility scheme – for now

The mood music between the United Kingdom and countries like Germany and France may have improved since the dark days of Boris Johnson’s Brexit withdrawal negotiations with the European Union, but Britain’s new Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer ruled out the UK joining an EU-wide youth mobility scheme during talks with the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the end of August.

However, more optimistic observers believe that despite Starmer’s insistence that he has no plans to agree to youth mobility between the EU and the UK for people aged between 18 and 30, he has left the door open for future negotiations – which could include talks about Britain re-joining the Erasmus+ student mobility programme.

The UK wants the European Commission to amend the Brexit withdrawal agreement to reduce EU border checks on UK food products and end the delays faced by British artists and musicians touring Europe at customs, as well as a returns agreement for failed asylum seekers.

But before any deal to reset the difficult EU-UK post-Brexit relations, the European Commission wants the British government to conclude an agreement making it easier for young EU citizens to travel, work and study in the UK, with reciprocity for young UK nationals in EU member states.

The Germans are among those pushing the hardest after the number of students from Germany enrolling at UK universities fell from just under 14,000 in 2018-19 (the year before the Brexit withdrawal agreement was signed) to just over 8,000 in 2022-23, according to data just published by the UK’s Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

The HESA student data shows the number of Italian higher education students enrolling in the UK fell from around 14,500 to just under 9,500 in the same period, while figures for France were down from 14,000 to around 10,500.

The number of Romanian students fell from around 10,000 to 6,000 while the number from Greece went down from 10,000 to around 5,500 between 2018-19 and 2022-23.

Only Ireland remained steady, falling slightly to around 9,500, but it has a common travel area with the UK enabling free movement.

EU-wide approach

A spokesperson for the European Commission told University World News: “The UK has shown interest in the issue by reaching out to a number of member states on youth mobility” during the final months of the Rishi Sunak Conservative government.

But the commission wants to “address this matter in an EU-wide manner” rather than let the UK pick and choose which countries within the EU it strikes any mobility agreement with.

The European Commission set out its proposals to open negotiations on EU-UK youth mobility in April, but these were rebuffed by both Sunak and Starmer who feared reigniting the divisive debate over ending the free movement of people between the EU and UK in the run-up to Britain’s general election.

The commission envisages an agreement to allow eligible people, aged between 18 to 30 to be “able to stay for up to four years in the destination country” with beneficiaries undertaking different activities during that period, such as studying, training, working or travelling.

It ruled out a quota system for numbers participating, which is understood to be one of a number of sticking points for the British. It denies that such an agreement would amount to reinstating free movement as applied while the UK was part of the European Union.

The commission said mobility would be time-limited and that valid travel documents, valid comprehensive sickness insurance and proof of sufficient means of subsistence would be required for participants.

Equal treatment sticking point

Another likely sticking point for the British government is the commission’s demand for “equal treatment [that is, non-discrimination] between EU and UK citizens in respect of higher education tuition fees”.

Since implementation of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, EU students are treated the same as other international students and charged double, and sometimes treble, the tuition fees paid by UK students studying at British universities.

Undergraduate international students studying in the UK can pay between £11,400 (US$15,000) and £38,000-per year, compared to £9,250 for UK students at universities in England.

“Tuition fees in EU public universities are generally not that high for international [non-EU] students,” the commission points out.

The commission also wants the UK to reduce visa-residence charges for EU young citizens participating in such a mobility scheme and remove the healthcare surcharge, which is usually £776 per year for international students coming to the UK to study.

As for Erasmus+, it noted that the last British government “has not expressed an interest in re-joining”, but the commission “remains open to look into this process” with the new Starmer government.

Negative headlines

Mujtaba Rahman, who worked at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs and at the UK Treasury before joining the Eurasia Group, which helps clients to navigate the macro-politics of Brussels and its interaction with EU member states, believes the negative headlines following Starmer ruling out joining the youth mobility scheme should be ignored.

He posted on X: “This is a negotiation. Youth Mobility has been taken off the table so that it can be put back on the table at a later stage.”

Rahman said Labour’s bilateral talks in Berlin and Paris are not designed to cut across the EU institutions and suggested Keir Starmer and his team “better understand and are more sensitive to the dynamic in the EU” than (Boris) Johnson and other Tory Brexit politicians ever were.

After his talks with the German leader, Starmer told the media he had no plans to agree a wider EU youth mobility scheme, pointing out that the bilateral talks about a new UK-Germany treaty would result in “deeper links on science, technology, development, people, business, culture” and “boost our trading relations”.

They were not a means to reverse Brexit or re-enter the single (European) market or the customs union, but they would mean a closer relationship on a number of fronts, including the economy and defence, Starmer told the media.

Observers who carefully monitor the ups and downs of EU-UK relations suggest despite Starmer’s insistence that the UK won’t make any concessions on a European Union youth mobility scheme, he realises it is probably key to improving the UK’s Brexit deal.

A ‘highly political’ issue

Anne Corbett, a political scientist and senior associate at LSE Consulting, told University World News the issue of a youth mobility programme is highly political.

“Practical details will only be possible when there is political agreement,” said Corbett, who vowed to continue “signing petitions in favour of an EU youth mobility scheme”.

She said: “It would be good for the young, who have lost out on education and work opportunities. It would be good for the economy – two issues Starmer can surely not be against!”

She suggested any deal would likely be in the first instance around musicians whose instruments have to go through EU customs and school trips where the EU and the UK want to make travel possible without individual passports being required by children.

“The most optimistic reading is that that the [UK] government would keep the youth mobility proposal up their sleeve as part of eventual negotiations with the EU over areas the UK most wants, such as a deal on veterinary issues,” he noted.

A big loss for students

Ruth Arnold, a higher education consultant and executive affairs director with Study Group who has long championed international student mobility, told University World News that it was a big loss for both UK and EU students that Britain was outside the Erasmus+ student mobility programme since Brexit and that she had not given up hope the UK would join a Europe-wide mobility scheme.

“Of course, there are challenges. The UK faces practical challenges around fees and is wary of any signals that will be interpreted as a change of policy on Brexit,” she noted.

“But while the wider geographic scope of the global Turing [UK alternative to Erasmus+] programme is admirable, a focus on outbound travel and challenges of cost mean it in no way replaces a programme which is a household name across Europe,” she explained.

“What would be wonderful to see would be some kind of association with Erasmus reinforcing a message of collaboration, respect and exchange.

“Without that – whether or not this is fair – the UK still appears to be in thrall to a mentality which puts a focus on sovereignty above the clear ambitions of young people to learn and make friendships across European boundaries, in the life-enhancing way so many of their parents took for granted,” she added.

Currently, the UK has its own youth mobility scheme visa which is open to applicants from a number of countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, Andorra, Iceland, Japan, Monaco, San Marino and Uruguay who want to live, study and work in the UK for up to two years and have savings of £2,530.

Some young people from Hong Kong and Taiwan can also apply as can British overseas citizens aged between 18 to 30. There is also a different scheme for Indian nationals called the India young professionals scheme visa.

Before the general election on 4 July Rishi Sunak, former British prime minister, tried to open talks with six EU countries, including France and Germany, for unilateral youth mobility schemes.

However, the EU insisted that it wanted any youth mobility agreement with the UK to include all European Union member states and the talks stalled.

Nic Mitchell is a UK-based freelance journalist and PR consultant specialising in European and international higher education. He blogs at www.delacourcommunications.com