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It felt right when the EU proposed post-Brexit freedom of movement for 18- to 30-year-olds, but the idea was rejected by our Government
April 26, 2024 9:03 am(Updated 9:13 am)
I was a 20-year old student when I first moved to France in 2013. Life was simple. Fortunately, for me – the administrative procedures that now leave me tearing out my hair, aged 31 and fluent in French, would have floored me then.
I lived and worked in Paris, the Mediterranean and the Haute-Loire. There was no stamp or visa in my passport, no battle to open a French bank account. When I needed to see the dentist, I simply made an appointment and off I went.
The EU’s free movement deal has always been particularly advantageous to young people. As a language student, I benefited from it more than most; my spoken French improved more during my year abroad than in three years of studies. Opting to work rather than study helped me to avoid surrounding myself with English-speaking international students.
Before Brexit, jobs such as au pairing, working ski seasons or wine harvests used to be the mainstay of young people looking to go abroad and improve their language skills. Now that employers are obliged to apply for work permits for young Britons who want to take up these posts, it is only natural that they’ll take the easier route and hire locals or young people from countries within the EU.
Recently I met a British undergraduate student studying Italian, whose year abroad had been completely botched when the paperwork didn’t go through to allow him to take up his job. He is now limited to spending no longer than 90 days in Italy – not nearly enough time to learn to speak the language with any degree of fluency.
Most of my French friends have worked or studied abroad, many – pre-Brexit – in the UK. Brexit hasn’t penalised them nor their Continental neighbours by curtailing their movements – only our own. The rest of Europe continues enjoying Erasmus years studying in Slovenia, WWOOFing in Hungary and Interrailing across the Continent for as long as their budget will hold.
When the European Commission proposed the idea of reintroducing free movement to 18- to 30-year-olds from the EU to the UK, it felt right, because it is young people that stand to lose most from the lack of freedom of mobility.
It would likely have worked both ways, and young Britons (a cohort that didn’t vote for Brexit, even those who were legally able to) would not have been so penalised by the decisions of much older voters.
Rishi Sunak’s rejection of the proposal is just another example of how young people are paying the heaviest price for decisions they’ve had little to no say in.
I moved to France for a second time aged 28, in an ongoing administrative battle which means that there is not a day I’m not nostalgic for the simplicity of my first move. And yet, not once have I regretted the decision to leave the UK, which, with every visit home, seems to become a little more dysfunctional.
I’m not blinded by la vie en rose – France has its fair share of problems. But there is a wealth in moving to a country with a different language as a young adult. I finally consider myself bilingual.
