Over 100,000 could benefit from scheme in 2027<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Keir Starmer. Photo: PA<\/p>\n
The UK and the European Union agreed yesterday to allow British students to rejoin the bloc\u2019s popular student exchange programme Erasmus+ from 2027, a small but symbolic sign of improved relations after Brexit.<\/p>\n
The UK contribution for the 2027\/28 academic year will be \u00a3570m (\u20ac649m), its government said, adding that the deal included a 30pc discount compared with the default terms under the current trade deal with the EU.<\/p>\n
The two sides have also agreed to start negotiations on electricity market integration and have set a deadline to finalise a food-and-drink trade deal and carbon markets linkage next year, the statement said.<\/p>\n
UK prime minister Keir Starmer hailed a \u201cnew era\u201d in the EU relationship in May when the two sides agreed the most significant reset of defence and trade ties since the country\u2019s departure from the bloc in 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s agreements prove that our new partnership with the EU is working,\u201d EU relations minister Nick Thomas-\u00adSymonds said, calling the Erasmus+ deal \u201ca huge win for our young people\u201d.<\/p>\n
More than 100,000 people in the UK could benefit from the scheme in the first year, the government said.<\/p>\n
Mr Starmer has sought a different approach from the often-tense relations between previous Conservative governments and the EU during the Brexit negotiations.<\/p>\n
\nA huge step forward in our relationship with the EU<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said the deal would open the door for new shared experiences for young people and marked a further step in the renewed partnership with the UK.<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether, we are committed to continue delivering on our common agenda in time for our next EU-UK Summit,\u201d Ms von der Leyen said in a post on X. The next summit is expected next year.<\/p>\n
The UK\u2019s return to the Erasmus+ scheme, which allows hundreds of thousands of EU students each year to study in another country in the bloc for up to a year, has long been a key EU demand for strengthening ties between the two sides.<\/p>\n
The UK previously left the programme following Brexit and the Conservatives said the government had caved in to the EU without getting anything back for the money.<\/p>\n
But pressure group European Movement UK welcomed the deal as a \u201cconcrete example of thawing relationships\u201d, as did universities.<\/p>\n
Vivienne Stern, chief executive of advocacy group Universities UK, said the agreement was \u201ca huge step forward in our relationship with the EU and will offer life-changing opportunities for thousands of students\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over 100,000 could benefit from scheme in 2027 Keir Starmer. Photo: PA The UK and the European Union…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,2557,1699,4884,807,16,15,1220,79651],"class_list":{"0":"post-639883","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-commission","14":"tag-european-union","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-keir-starmer","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-ursula-von-der-leyen","20":"tag-x-formerly-twitter"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115739678517800666","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}