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A UK proposal to cap the number of places on a youth mobility scheme at 50,000 a year is a “non-starter” as it would give smaller member states just a handful of visas, EU diplomats have warned.
The scheme to enable 18 to 30-year-olds to live and work in each other’s countries is a pivotal part of the UK’s “reset” negotiations with the EU. But EU member states have complained about the UK’s desire to cap the number of places it is offering EU citizens at 50,000 a year.
Although the numbers have not been finalised, the UK proposal would leave smaller EU countries, including UK security allies such as Estonia and Cyprus, with fewer than 200 visas if they were given in proportion to their share of the EU population.
“Our share would fit into a London double-decker bus,” complained one senior member state diplomat. “This is a non-starter and many other countries feel the same.”
They pointed out that their share would be less than the tiny states of San Marino and Monaco, which have separate deals with the UK allowing 1,000 young citizens to move to the UK annually.
EU diplomats said the size of any scheme remained a key sticking point in negotiations between London and Brussels, with major gaps to bridge ahead of a summit to reset post-Brexit relations expected this autumn.
“The issue of quotas is one of the remaining open issues,” said a second EU diplomat.
They added that smaller member states were also seeking a larger share of any total from the European Commission. One idea is a minimum number per member state regardless of size.
The UK and EU are due to continue closed-door negotiations on Tuesday and Thursday this week.
A summit planned for this month was postponed following the resignation of Sir Keir Starmer as UK prime minister. His successor Andy Burnham, who is due to take power on July 20, has promised to build on the “reset” process.
The UK is seeking a deal to remove border checks on plant and animal products and re-link the EU and UK carbon markets, but EU diplomats say that differences over a proposed “youth experience scheme” for 18 to 30-year-olds must be resolved first.
Other areas of disagreement on the mobility programme include whether EU applicants should have to pay the £776 NHS surcharge and whether EU students should be able to pay “home fees” when applying to UK universities, as was the case before Brexit.
Throughout the negotiations, the UK has insisted that any agreement should closely replicate existing youth mobility schemes that Britain has with 11 other countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Japan.
These non-EU schemes all have quotas applied, ranging from 38,500 places for Australia to just 100 places for Andorra, which has a population of 90,000.
If the UK capped its youth mobility scheme at 50,000 places a year, Germany, with 18.6 per cent of the EU population, would receive 9,300 places if they were shared out proportionally.
At the other end of the spectrum, Malta with 0.1 per cent of the EU’s population, would receive about 50 places, with Luxembourg and Cyprus fewer than 100, Estonia about 150, Latvia around 200 and Slovenia about 250 each.
The Cabinet Office said the UK government “would not provide a running commentary” on talks.
“We are working together with the EU to create a balanced and ambitious youth experience scheme which will create new opportunities for young people to live, work, study and travel. Any final scheme must be time-limited and capped,” a spokesperson added.
