The EU and UK agree: Relations between the bloc and its former member need to be strengthened.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. It was the first time Starmer visited the EU capital since taking office in July.
Of many topics to discuss, one might stand out — especially to young people on both sides of the English Channel. The bloc is pushing for a youth mobility deal. It would make it easier for adults under 30 to live, work or study in the UK or EU — rights that were lost when Brexit went into effect.
When asked about the plan, though, the British prime minister reiterated to reporters on Wednesday that “free movement is a red line” — a framing the Commission has pushed back on.
“A red line is as if the EU was asking for something. We are not asking for anything,” a Commission spokesperson told reporters on Thursday.
As the EU executive sees it, the youth mobility proposal on the table is a “reaction to the UK request to some of our member states.”
What is the EU-UK youth mobility scheme?
What the UK was offering to some EU members at a bilateral level the Commission wants for the entire bloc. That’s what it proposed in April: A post-Brexit deal to allow people between 18- and 30-years-old to stay for up to four years in the UK — and vice versa for UK citizens in the EU. There would be no quota system limiting participation.
“Our aim is to rebuild human bridges between young Europeans on both sides of the Channel,” Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič said at the time.
Despite the freedom of movement the proposed agreement would reestablish, taking advantage of it would still require a visa. The proposal foresees caps on visa fees to ensure they are neither “disproportionate nor excessive."
A student visa in the UK currently costs £490 (€585). Visas in the EU vary by member state. In Sweden, for example, international students need to pay €132 for their permit.
In addition to the visa, participants would need to prove they have health insurance and sufficient financial resources. Additionally, the program would outline grounds for application rejections, such as risks to security or public health.
If the EU gets its way, EU students studying in the UK under the scheme would no longer be subject to international tuition fees, which hit them as a result of Brexit. Those can be as high as £38,000 (€ 45,372) per year.
British universities oppose a tuition waiver.
Why does the EU want a youth mobility scheme with the UK?
Such a scheme was already in the cards in 2020, when both sides signed the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The UK rejected the idea at the time, which has “always been something that the EU regretted,” Jannike Wachowiak, a researcher at the London-based think tank, UK in a Changing Europe, told The Parliament.
Though the UK is “determined to put the Brexit years behind us,” as Starmer said ahead of his visit, the two sides remain far apart on priorities.
Starmer is interested in a broad security pact with the EU, a veterinary deal to make agricultural trade easier and mutual recognition of professional qualifications. The EU may be willing to play ball on those issues, but wants a youth mobility deal done.
“From the EU's point of view, this is much more a broader political issue aimed at, in the long run, undermining the perception that free movement is some sort of immigration threat to the UK,” Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Brussels-based economics think tank, Bruegel, told The Parliament.
UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has already expressed concerns that such a scheme could impact immigration data, which anti-migration groups could spin into a political controversy that could hurt Labour.
The UK needs workers, however, and youth mobility could help pick up the slack. As of October 2023, around 9.7 percent of UK businesses reported facing worker shortages. Over a quarter of businesses in the hospitality sector reported staffing gaps, the highest of any industry.
The soft-power benefits of "cultural exchange, bringing young people together” are also at play, Wachowiak said.
Why is the UK resistant?
As Downing Street sees it, Wachowiak said, free movement for young people is a slippery slope back to pre-Brexit days.
"They've boxed themselves into a corner by publicly equating freedom of movement and mobility,” she added.
The Commission’s timing didn’t help. Its bloc-wide proposal came as Labour was gearing up for the election, making any perception of backtracking on Brexit a political liability.
“Labour felt like they almost had no choice but to reject that proposal at the time,” the analyst said.
What could be the next steps?
It's unclear exactly. Starmer and Von der Leyen have agreed to reconvene this autumn and conduct regular EU-UK summits. Although their joint statement that followed Wednesday's meeting in Brussels made no explicit mention of the scheme, Starmer has good reason work on it with the EU.
“At the end of the day, it is more important for the UK than it is for the EU to have this relationship reset and grow into something more constructive,” Bruegel's Kirkegaard said.