One of the most embarrassing moments of my life took place at a book launch around eight years ago. There was a panel discussion featuring a British MP, a former Italian government minister, Peter Mandelson, who needs no introduction and… well, for some reason: me. The debate was about the future of Europe, and young Europeans. It was, as you may have guessed, one of the many, many events organised in the aftermath of the Brexit vote.
I was asked to make an opening statement and mentioned the Erasmus scheme at some point, lightly joking about it being quite a libidinous pursuit. “Libidinous?” – Peter Mandelson cut me off mid-sentence, in that ice-cold tone he sometimes has, and he asked me to explain myself. Mortified, I blushed and stammered, then explained that it was a reference to something I’d once heard Jean-Claude Juncker say.
His exact words at the conference I’d attended are now lost to time, but he gave a similar speech at a different gathering in 2017, when he talked about the “libido part” of the scheme, which allows students from across the EU (and a few other countries in the region) to study abroad for a year. “Because, out of the Erasmus programme, some estimates say that 1.1 million babies were born. That is the greatest success the European Commission ever had,” its then president said.
My L-word had been related to this and, once I recovered my footing on that stage, I did manage to explain my thinking. Much of what had been discussed both before and after the referendum had been about economics and hard numbers, I argued, but there had to be a human dimension too. If we were to talk about the future of the UK and the EU, then we had to come up with ways for people to keep moving and meeting one another.
I made that argument in a number of places, both before and after that panel. To say it fell on deaf ears would be an understatement. For years, Erasmus disappeared, and seemingly not a minute of parliamentary time was spent talking about the real, human impact of Brexit for young Europeans, on either side of the Channel.
Even after Labour got elected a year and a half ago, it took some time for rumours to become briefings, briefings to become tentative pieces, and tentative pieces to finally – finally! – become news. Earlier this month, the government announced that Britain would be rejoining Erasmus+ as soon as 2027.
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On top of benefiting university students, this version of the scheme will also apply to people studying in further education colleges, as well as adult learners and people doing apprenticeships. Soon, all of them will be able to apply to spend a year in one of the participating countries. Crucially, they will also have access to grants helping them with their cost of living.
To call this decision brilliant would still barely touch the sides. It may be a silly admission to make in public, but I actually got a bit teary when the news broke. I never did Erasmus myself, as I moved countries of my own volition, but I know so many people who did.
Not all of them had a perfect time – one close friend memorably spent her year in Madrid discovering the joys of clinical depression – but I don’t believe any of them regretted it even slightly. Everyone who came back did so as a changed person; someone richer and more complex. Deciding to become a permanent migrant is something I did and have not lived to regret for even one moment, but I recognise it isn’t for everyone.
Instead, getting a taste of how the rest of the world lives at a time when your mind is still so fully open to experiences – and your body much better at recuperating from hangovers – can be a complete and utter game-changer. We worry a lot about the effects that the pandemic and AI have had on younger people, and though this won’t solve everything, there are a lot of kids out there who are about to have the experience of a lifetime.
Flung far out of their comfort zone and forced to sink or swim, we can only hope that they’ll finally start leaving the screens behind, and live a better, more offline and social life. It should also go without saying that receiving thousands and thousands of European students will only change Britain for the better.
I once wrote in this column about a lunch I had with my little brother and his friends. It’d made me sad that none of those curious, clever, entertaining people had even considered moving to the UK even for a bit, as Brexit happened when they were still children or teenagers. It’s too late for them, sadly, but what a joy it is to think of the generation after them, currently growing up on the continent and plotting their adventures on our side of the Channel. What a way to end the year!
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