Considerations on COM(2024)169 -

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dossier COM(2024)169 - .
document COM(2024)169
date April 18, 2024
 
a name="_Hlk156221126">(1) The Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the other part (the ‘Trade and Cooperation Agreement’)29 applies since 1 January 2021. It is, next to the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (the ‘Withdrawal Agreement’)30, the cornerstone for bilateral relations between the European Union (the ‘Union’) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (‘the United Kingdom).

(2) While the Trade and Cooperation Agreement provides for social security coordination that supports mobility of persons under the domestic law of either Party, it does not address mobility per se, i.e. the possibility for a national of one Party to reside or stay in the territory of the other Party. The Trade and Cooperation Agreement also contains rules on the entry and temporary stay of natural persons for business purposes which, however, only address instances of temporary presence for a specific purpose (e.g. provision of services).

(3) Rather, mobility between the Union and the United Kingdom is now governed by the respective domestic (immigration) rules of the Union (and its Member States) and the United Kingdom. This has resulted in decreased numbers of persons exercising mobility between the Union and the United Kingdom. It has particularly affected the opportunities for young persons of the Union and the United Kingdom to gain experience abroad in each other’s territory and to benefit from youth, cultural and educational and research and training exchanges.

(4) In the course of 2023, the United Kingdom approached several (but not all) Member States with the intention to negotiate bilateral arrangements on youth mobility, modelled upon the United Kingdom’s youth mobility visa scheme. This would result in differential treatment of Union citizens. Moreover, this approach would not address the main barriers to mobility experienced by young people.

(5) Negotiations should therefore be opened with a view to concluding a supplementing agreement, within the meaning of Article 2 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the area of youth mobility.