Like many frequent travelers moving between the United Kingdom and the European Union, I often find myself in conversations about how the everyday relationship between Britain and Europe has changed since Brexit. The arrival of the European Travel Information and Authorisation System, known as ETIAS, offers a small but revealing example of how those changes are beginning to reshape ordinary life.

At New Europeans, we work closely with civil society organisations and policymakers on both sides of the Channel in an effort to sustain the people-to-people connections that once felt routine. In these conversations, questions about mobility surface again and again. They are not abstract concerns. They touch on the practical realities of studying, working, traveling, and building lives across borders.

On paper, ETIAS appears to be a modest administrative measure. Travelers will complete a short online application, pay a relatively small fee, and receive a travel authorisation valid for several years. Nothing especially dramatic. Comparable systems already operate in other parts of the world.

But politics is rarely only about what policies technically do. It is also about what those policies signify.

For British travelers, ETIAS quietly reinforces a new reality: we are now visitors to a European space that many of us once moved through freely. In Brussels, the people I speak with are well aware of that shift. For young people in particular, the new requirement underscores a lingering sense that something meaningful has been lost.

Before Brexit, mobility between the UK and the rest of Europe was often taken for granted. Students studied abroad through Erasmus. Young professionals spent time working in other countries. Musicians, artists, researchers, and volunteers crossed borders with little more than curiosity and a passport.

That is why I welcome the UK government’s decision to seek reentry into the Erasmus+ programme. Rejoining Erasmus would reopen an important channel for educational exchange. Yet Erasmus alone cannot restore the broader ecosystem of youth mobility that once existed between Britain and the European Union.

Today, the landscape looks markedly different. Opportunities have not disappeared, but they have become more complicated, more bureaucratic, and often more expensive.

A Danish citizen of the European Union who now lives in the United Kingdom recently described to us how these changes are unfolding in practice. While traveling from Denmark back to Britain, she discovered that airline check-in systems struggled to accommodate her dual nationality. She had booked a return ticket using her Danish passport. On the return journey, however, switching to her British passport was not straightforward because the airline’s system expected an Electronic Travel Authorisation. What followed was confusion at check-in and the uncomfortable realization that the system had not fully anticipated the everyday reality of dual nationals and residents whose lives stretch across both sides of the Channel.

Stories like this are becoming increasingly common. They show how even relatively minor administrative changes can generate unexpected obstacles for people whose personal and professional lives span both the UK and the EU.

These issues were also raised at an event organised by New Europeans at Europe House in London last May, in collaboration with the European Parliament Liaison Office in the UK. Participants from civil society groups, youth organisations, and policy circles shared similar experiences about the practical challenges people now face when traveling, studying, or working across borders. One attendee later described the gathering as “one of the most memorable highlights of the year,” not least because it brought together individuals determined to rebuild opportunities for mobility between Britain and Europe.

The issue matters not only for young people in Britain, but also for young Europeans. For decades, the United Kingdom served as one of the most popular destinations for students, trainees, and young professionals from across the EU. Universities, research institutes, cultural organisations, and businesses developed networks that benefited both sides of the Channel.

In other words, youth mobility was never a one-way street. It formed part of the broader fabric of European cooperation. For many young Europeans, Britain represented an important thread within that fabric.

That is why the emerging discussion around a UK–EU Youth Experience Scheme carries such significance. At the EU–UK Summit in May 2025, both sides agreed to explore the possibility of such a programme. In principle, it could allow young people to live, work, study, or volunteer in each other’s countries for a defined period of time.

New Europeans has been working closely with Maurizio Cuttin, spokesman for the British Youth Council and UK Young Ambassador to the European Youth Forum, to move this conversation forward. Together, we requested that the issue be discussed at the most recent meeting of the EU–UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly, the body created after Brexit to oversee the implementation of both the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

A discussion calling for an ambitious and inclusive Youth Experience Scheme was subsequently tabled. The proposal highlights a point that is often overlooked in political debate: mobility should not become a privilege reserved for the few. If such a programme is established, it must remain accessible to young people from all backgrounds.

This conversation is not confined to Britain. Across Europe, there is growing interest in rebuilding the connections that Brexit disrupted. Youth organisations, universities, and civil society groups increasingly view mobility not as a relic of the past but as an investment in Europe’s future.

In this sense, ETIAS represents a paradox. It is designed to make borders more orderly and more efficient. Yet at the same time, it reminds us how valuable it remains to create new opportunities for people, especially young people, to cross those borders.

If the United Kingdom and the European Union are truly serious about renewing their partnership, youth mobility would be a sensible place to begin.