\u201chome\u201d fees<\/a> for EU citizens, although it can argue that this was never a topic in the reset roadmap.<\/p>\nCatherine Barnard, a professor of EU law at the University of Cambridge, said in relation to negotiation on the youth mobility scheme: \u201cI fear that things are still very tricky. I have heard nothing to the contrary to suggest it was going any better than a month ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
The youth mobility scheme is the main priority in European capitals, allowing under-30s to travel to each other\u2019s jurisdictions to work, study, au pair or simply experience a foreign country.<\/p>\n
When reset talks opened a year ago, capping the scheme at 70,000 was mooted, but sources say the ballpark is now between 40,000 and 50,000, reflecting Labour\u2019s wider anxiety about immigration numbers.<\/p>\n
The government has refused to comment on the limit other than to say it would be in the \u201ctens of thousands\u201d.<\/p>\n
But behind the scenes there is some frustration in the EU at the UK\u2019s resistance to budge on what both sides agreed was a critical way of promoting better understanding of each other\u2019s countries.<\/p>\n
Ben Brindle, a researcher at the Migration Observatory, said: \u201cA 50,000 cap would be similar to the Australian YMS. However, whereas the Australian scheme is hugely undersubscribed (45,000 places in 2025, but only 8,200 visa grants), EU applications for youth mobility visas would be far more likely to hit the cap, because the young EU population is considerably larger than Australia\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brindle added that \u201cwhat really matters is the length of the EU YMS visa\u201d. The shorter it was, the less time EU citizens would have to find jobs eligible for work visas, or meet a British partner and switch to a family visa, he said.<\/p>\n
EU sources said the other elements of the reset, including the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement to reduce red tape for food and drink exports, were \u201call about\u201d accommodating UK interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are asking: what do we \u2013 the EU \u2013 get out of this?\u201d said one diplomat. \u201cThere will be no summit if there is no deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Donald Trump straining the transatlantic relationship, the political risk of closer ties with the EU with a temporary visa scheme is seen as the lowest it can be.<\/p>\n
The reset deal was originally expected by the end of this month but the timetable has slipped, with the next summit between the UK and the EU not expected to the end of June or early July.<\/p>\n
At the weekend Starmer indicated he would be pushing for further and faster collaboration with the EU, suggesting he wanted to close the gaps in talks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to be closer to Europe,\u201d he told the Observer. \u201cI want to be full-throated about this, not holding back, no half measures in what I\u2019m saying.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the thorniest issues is home tuition fees, which would allow EU citizens to study in the UK for the same fees as home students \u2013 and vice versa \u2013 instead of paying international rates that can, for example, range from \u00a332,000 to \u00a370,000 at the University of Cambridge.<\/p>\n
The UK argues that tuition fees were not part of the reset common understanding so it does not need to engage on the issue.<\/p>\n
In a blog post last month<\/a> examining the problems, Barnard said: \u201cWhile the UK and the EU share a vision on the breadth (and benefits of) the youth experience scheme, they have different substantive priorities.\u201d<\/p>\nShe said talks on SPS, energy and emissions trading would help to smooth issues arising out of the border created by Brexit between Great Britain and Northern Ireland but they were not really about a deeper relationship with the EU, something that would be achievable only by softening the UK\u2019s red lines on the single market and customs union.<\/p>\n
Barnard also noted that negotiations led by Brussels on youth mobility had proven tricky, as work visas remain the competence of national governments. There was nothing to stop France, for instance, setting its own cap at zero, she said.<\/p>\n
A UK government spokesperson said: \u201cWe will not give a running commentary on ongoing talks. We are working together with the EU to create a balanced youth experience scheme which will create new opportunities for young people to live, work, study and travel.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny final scheme must be time-limited, capped and will be based on our existing youth mobility schemes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Significant gaps remain in negotiations on the reset in relations between the UK and the EU despite Keir…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-579705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}