The European Commission argues it was Europe’s students and young graduates who were most affected by Brexit’s mobility restrictions. The UK has reportedly responded cooly to the proposal.

The European Union is trying to improve mobility between its 27 member-states and the UK, particularly for people between the ages of 18 and 30. But whether such a proposal would be welcomed by London remains to be seen.

The EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, is trying to open bloc-wide talks with the UK on allowing youth from EU countries to study or work and live in Britain for up to four years, with the same arrangement for British youth.

The proposal would largely revert youth mobility to pre-Brexit times, when members of the then-28-member EU, including Britain, were allowed to work and study without visa requirements. The Commission’s new plan would involve a visa, but one whose fees would not be “excessive.”

  • Shard@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Everyday we are reminded of the damage that state-sponsored misinformation can do.

    The stupidest part about brexit was that it was a non-binding referendum. They could have just ignored it. But I guess sometimes you need your house to burn down before you realize why we need a publicly funded fire department.

    • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      It’s was only non-binding if they lost, like they had previously. Asshats like Farrage were just going to keep trying until they got the answer they wanted.

    • InformalTrifle@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Having a referendum then ignoring the result because it’s not what you wanted or expected might not have gone down so well. Especially when that referendum was the carrot used to get people to vote for Cameron

    • Azal
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      7 months ago

      But I guess sometimes you need your house to burn down before you realize why we need a publicly funded fire department.

      Question… were you bringing up the house out in Tennessee that burned down because the county didn’t have a publicly funded fire department? Because if so, that’s a hell of a deep cut.

    • marcos@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Brazilian here, from the country that shares the largest of the borders of France…

      The free movement of people have been nice, is there any chance the they would pressure Brazil into losing a bit of sovereignty and obey the EU’s Constitution?

    • PlexSheep@infosec.pub
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      7 months ago

      I’m all for it, but no weird extra right like the UK had. Also, would that perhaps be a problem with your monarchy?

      • pacmondo@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        While the governor general (rep of the crown) technically has to sign off on laws passed, they have never in the country’s history refused to sign. If they ever did, I think it might be enough for Canada to kick the “monarchy” part of the constitutional monarchy for good.

        • PlexSheep@infosec.pub
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          7 months ago

          Thats good then. I’ve heard today that he once refused the formation after an election, so they had to reelect.

          I feel like Canada would actually fit into the EU, besides not being in the continent of Europe.

  • maynarkh@feddit.nl
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    7 months ago

    As long as it’s mutual, so 18-30 year old EU citizens can live and work in the UK with little restriction, I’m all for this. I imagine there may be people in the UK who will take issue with that.

    • Mereo@lemmy.ca
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      7 months ago

      A lot of people were given false hope that Brexit would magically solve all their problems. People now regret it.

      • maynarkh@feddit.nl
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        7 months ago

        I’d love if the UK could again be part of the EU. Brexit was the most damaging blow Russia did to Europe in the past 3 decades at least.

        • Luvs2Spuj@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          There is a reasonable amount of damage being done in Ukraine by Russia just now, but I understand where you are coming from.

        • IWantToFuckSpez@kbin.social
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          7 months ago

          They won’t be allowed back under the same terms they had before the exit. For example every new member has to become part of the Eurozone and adopt the Euro. I definitely see this becoming a dealbreaker for British conservatives who love to have their master King on their currency

          • ADTJ@feddit.uk
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            7 months ago

            Definitely agree the UK wouldn’t get the same terms it had before but I think currency is probably something they could negotiate to keep.

            The UK was before and hypothetically would be again one of the biggest economies in the EU and the politicians know what the symbolism of giving up currency would mean to the British.

            I really just couldn’t see them letting that stand in the way.

            Having said all that, UK isn’t going to be trying to join the EU for a while yet, if ever.

        • RBG@discuss.tchncs.de
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          7 months ago

          The thing is, that won’t work well either. The UK had a very special position previously in the EU, like not adopting the Euro as currency and many other extra “perks” or whatever you want to call it. If they go back in they will likely not get any of those since otherwise it will look really bad for other countries that recently joined. Then people will be unhappy about joining again because it is not what they remembered. So, no, there is no winning with this one, damage is done.

          • Suzune@ani.social
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            7 months ago

            The best was the discounted membership. UK paid less than Italy. Populists have easy way with fools.

        • khannie@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          100% agree. C’mon back lads. I’ll buy the first round.

          Surely a vote is warranted at this point. Maybe after the Tories get hoofed out.

          • maynarkh@feddit.nl
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            7 months ago

            To be honest, cleaning Russian influence out of politics would do most of Europe, not just the UK, a favour.

            • khannie@lemmy.world
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              7 months ago

              I often wonder how a country with the economy the size of Italy can have so many fingers in so many pies. Those pesky Russians seem to be everywhere.

              • bassomitron@lemmy.world
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                7 months ago

                Because they only have to start the fire, the native population does the rest. All Russia does is exploit historical cultural tensions within a country and fan the flames online. I’ve always said in the past that some of the research psychologists and sociologists have done over the last century or so was the equivalent of developing WMDs when it comes to psyops. Once a competent psyops department is equipped with how to manipulate people en masse, they can do crazy damage without firing a shot. The US and other countries have done the same thing to great effect.

                Edit: I should point out that this form of psyops is most effective in countries with minimal censorship and liberal freedom of speech laws, i.e. most Western countries. That’s why it isn’t as effective when westerners attempt to do the same to countries like China, Russia, Iran, etc.

          • then_three_more@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            It’s too raw and toxic for anyone to go near it. Labour will probably tinker around with the deals, maybe pull back on some of the super hard more insane stuff.

            Once they’ve had a go and proved that neither party can make it work the conversation can start properly.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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        7 months ago

        What’s crazy is that it was revealed that the leave campaign was all intentionally lies and that it wasn’t what people actually wanted and the government just said “too bad.”

      • procesd@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        I see this as the EU moving pieces to influence the UK people to revert brexit in a generation (Bregret? Breback?). It benefits the demographic that was already against brexit and keeps the idea od Europe in their minds.

        I doubt is for cheap labor. I work in London and in a team of 20 we have a single British, and the few in the company tend to have an easier path for leadership, so why leave? That has been similar in all my previous jobs.

      • maynarkh@feddit.nl
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        7 months ago

        Sunak already killed this, so it doesn’t matter really. If it passed, it would have been a step towards re-establishing free movement for everyone.

    • Schal330@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Unfortunately it excludes a great deal of gen x and millennials as well who may have voted remain.

      • bamboo@lemm.ee
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        7 months ago

        Also certainly those 18-30 year olds will continue to age until they no longer qualify…

      • wahming@monyet.cc
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        7 months ago

        I would make the argument that wishing people would hurry up and die of old age is not actually advocating violence per se

          • taanegl@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            Can’t even for the life of me remember exactly what I wrote, but it was probably edgy and dark.

            It’s a fair cop? I don’t know.

            Edit: yeah, that last line might’ve been too much. Could’ve instead used the classic “sink in to the tar pit, you old dinosaur”, but that’s a tad cliché - and honestly? It’s the Tories we’re talking about, the people who destroyed England. Violent animosity towards them is understandable.

            Have a nice day (unless you’re a Tori - in which case, you can get ****** with a metal rake - is that okay to say? I even sensored the swear word…)

  • Chainweasel@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    If I remember correctly, France was one of the first ones to cut them off after they left and they cut them off hard.

    I wonder how willing they’ll be to let them come crawling back.

    And how does EU membership work?
    Does it need to be a unanimous decision from the current member states to admit/readmit a country or is it a majority/supermajority decision?

    • ForgotAboutDre@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      The EU has members elect politicians - MEPs (Members of European Parliament). These politicians vote on issues similar to how most other parliaments would. Many issues are agreed upon this way.

      MEPs are grouped by political alignment not nationality.

      The EU council is the other legislative body in the EU. The EU parliament can send legislation that it doesn’t have the authority to pass itself here for consideration. This type of legislation is still supposed to be developed and debated in parliament. The EU council is a collections of ministers from each member state. These ministers represent their government, not the people (directly at least). This council can approve and amend legislation passed by the parliament. This is where the vetos can happen.

      The council is important to maintain the sovereignty of individual nations. Despite what Brexit campaigns say, the EU parliament is and isn’t going to be sovereign. The council enables each sovereign state to stop legislation they don’t want. This often means the EU passes very boring and very agreeable legislation. But it legislation that makes the rules within multiple nations consistent so commerce is easier and less bureaucratic. Once you comply with the EU rules, you’ve complied with all the countries within it.

      • schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de
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        7 months ago

        While this is broadly right for legislation, the question above was about admission of new member states.

        Admission of new member states requires unanimity among existing member states. That is because EU membership is based on international treaties. For every member state there is a treaty like this one that regulates their entry into the EU; you can see that it’s a treaty between literally all (existing and new) member states which had to agree to it.

  • mindlight@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    The UK already has its own Youth Mobility scheme, where it had already struck deals with 13 countries.

    If I’m correct, the countries are:

    • Australia
    • Canada
    • New Zealand
    • South Korea
    • Andorra
    • Iceland
    • Japan
    • Monaco
    • San Marino
    • Uruguay
    • Hong Kong
    • Taiwan
    • India

    If this is what the UK leadership see as the better choice for British citizens, then it’s up to the citizens of Great Britain to do something about it in the next election.

    • brewery@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Surely, they are not mutually exclusive and some form of this scheme has been in place for some countries (albeit mainly white commonwealth countries) for many years, even when the UK was in the EU.

      Holy shit though, I just looked up the UK’s scheme and you have to pay almost a grand in fees (mostly NHS surcharge) and have over £2,500 in savings. I don’t want rich a-holes coming over for an extended holiday instead of normal people from more different cultures. Let’s vote for better and fairer immigration polices

    • SomeoneElse@lemmy.ca
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      7 months ago

      I get the sentiment but you’re glossing over two important things; 48.11% of people voted to remain and there hasn’t been a second referendum.

      Half the country wanted to remain, the other half are racists and/or idiots that believed the outright lies peddled by the leave campaign. Latest polls suggest 60% would vote to remain today but we’re not being offered the chance to vote on that. Voting labour in general elections doesn’t mean we get to rejoin the EU.

      • mindlight@lemm.ee
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        7 months ago

        Voting isn’t the only way to get things to change. Politics doesn’t start at the Parliament. It starts with you actually putting in time and effort making sure that local changes happens.

        If your engagement doesn’t stretch further than a like on Facebook you’re actually getting what you want…

      • mindlight@lemm.ee
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        7 months ago

        No one has said it’s the same. The Brits are however saying they’re happy with the existing agreements.

  • Squizzy@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    I say no to this, they wanted out so they got it. This would be another concession made to the brits and remove an incentive for the younger generation to get involved and get their voice heard. Leave them outside until they learn.