Could the UK’s young people get freedom of movement in Europe?

Young people must be able to travel freely between the UK and the European Union, an official advisory body to the EU has said in a new report in the hope of lessening the effects Brexit has disproportionately had on younger generations.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) says the bloc should first encourage the UK to rejoin Erasmus+, a reciprocal programme which allows students to study abroad.

But it hints at going further, urging the EU to approach the UK government about “the possibility of negotiating an ambitious reciprocal youth mobility partnership.”

London mayor Sadiq Khan is among those advocating a bespoke scheme that would go beyond students and allow all people under 30 to live and work in European countries, with young EU citizens getting the right to do so in Britain in return.

The UK rejoining Erasmus+ seems a more likely first step. Despite Brexiteers’ pre-referendum promises that the scheme – which permitted over 200,000 UK students to study at European institutions at no extra cost – was safe, Britain pulled out as part of the Brexit deal in 2020. In his infamous Christmas Eve press conference, Boris Johnson said Erasmus+ it was “too expensive” and a “net loss for Britain”.

But the Turing scheme, created by Johnson’s government as a replacement, has been ridiculed by educational institutions and administrators as being plagued with bureaucratic issues, financial grey areas and its lack of reciprocity.

Maurizio Cuttin, the British Youth Council’s elected UK Young Ambassador to the European Youth Forum and the advisor for the EESC’s opinion report, told the New European that “the UK’s exit from the Erasmus+ scheme has resulted in a devastating loss of exchange and educational opportunities for young people on both sides of the Channel. The recent collapse of the British Youth Council – partly attributed to the gaping hole of funding left from our country’s exit from the Erasmus+ scheme – is further evidence of this.”

He added: “The UK government owes it to its young people to provide opportunities to unlock a brighter, skills-induced and prosperous future. Embracing Erasmus+ is undoubtedly the way forward. Students, apprentices and young volunteers deserve nothing less.”