On May 11, in Glasgow’s Merchant Square, people and organisations from all over Europe will gather for a day of family fun, food from many countries, dance, music and song. There are some 67,000 EU citizens living in the city. Many of them will be there to celebrate Europe Day. Everyone is welcome. I’ll be there, working on the European Movement in Scotland (EMiS) stand.
Much to my sadness, I lost my EU citizenship when the UK Government decided on the hardest possible Brexit. The loss still hurts, but I grieve more for what Brexit has done to the young of the UK and the EU. It robbed them of the freedom to live, work, study and love in any EU country.
No longer could youthful bricklayers pack a bag and take off for Europe to ply their trade. The vineyards of France were effectively closed to those who wanted to spend an idyllic summer picking grapes and storing up a lifetime of memories. Out went the Erasmus programme that had opened the door to experiencing European life to countless Scottish students.
In February, while on the EMiS stand at the Labour conference in Glasgow, I met a young woman from a West of Scotland working-class home. Bright at school, she’d won a place at Glasgow University. She was rightly proud of that. But it was her six months in Sweden on an Erasmus placing that she said had changed her life, finding the experience exciting, confidence-building and eye-opening. Her Erasmus cohort was the last one before Brexit slammed the door.
But things took a turn for the better on April 18 this year when the European Commission invited the UK to open talks aimed at producing a new agreement making it easier for young EU and UK citizens to study, work and live in the UK and the EU respectively. It is a dramatic move and includes the proposal “that both EU and UK citizens aged between 18 to 30 years would be able to stay for up to four years in the destination country.”
The Conservative Party’s current weakness in the opinion polls predictably led to the UK Government rejecting the Commission’s imitative. It wasn't a proposal it was ever going to take seriously. It must though be taken extremely seriously by the Labour Party. In January, a poll by the Daily Mirror found that 71% of 18- to 30-year-olds intend to vote at the General Election. Fifty-four per cent supported rejoining the EU. The young see Europe as the future. Labour would be wise to take heed and send only the most positive signals to the Commission, so it knows it is talking to a constructive Labour government about a potentially highly beneficial advance for the young of the UK and the EU.
Martin Roche is a member of the Executive of the European Movement in Scotland
Agenda is a column for outside contributors. Contact: agenda@theherald.co.uk
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