Brexit LIVE: MEPs could demand last-minute change to UK deal – final ultimatum before vote
Netherlands: Erasmus to attract 'more EU students' post-Brexit
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The agreement is currently being scrutinised by both the trade committee and the committee on foreign affairs, and the Parliament could vote as early as February 23 – although it still has to option to ask for an extension. Erasmus is a European Union student exchange programme which was established in 1987.
Speaking in December, Mr Johnson announced the UK would instead set up its own scheme, to be named after UK computing pioneer Alan Turing, with “the best universities in the world”.
However, MEPs are pushing for last-minute changes, with Terry Reintke, a member of the Green Party from the Netherlands, tweeting: “Together with 144 colleagues – I have sent this letter to the Commission:
“To explore ways for Scotland and Wales to stay in Erasmus.
“For me, it is also a tribute to all the wonderful people who made me feel welcome and at home in Edinburgh during my own Erasmus year.”
In a separate comment piece posted on the EU Observer website, Markus Gastinger, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at Austria’s University of Salzburg, argued the assembly should go even further.
He wrote: “There is one last chance to save Erasmus. The European Parliament still has to give its assent to the deal. It could make this assent conditional on the UK’s full participation in Erasmus.”
He added: “It would be perfectly within its gift to demand that Erasmus continues uninterrupted for all EU and British students.
“It would not be the first time that the EP requires changes to an agreement already negotiated by the Commission and Erasmus really should not be sacrificed on the altar of Brexit.”
At present, the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement is subject to “provisional application”. The original cut-off point for approval is set at February 28 – but this could be pushed back, with insiders telling Express.co.uk’s Brussels correspondent Joe Barnes Brussels needs more time to translate the trade and security treaty into the EU’s 24 official languages.
(This is a liveblog. Scroll down for regular updates)
7.45am update: MEPs unveil Erasmus plot
MEPs are plotting to drive a wedge between Scotland and the rest of the UK with a last-gasp push to allow students north of the border to retain access to its Erasmus exchange programme in a move certain to test the patience of Boris Johnson.
The agreement is currently being scrutinised by both the trade committee and the committee on foreign affairs, and the Parliament could vote as early as February 23 – although it still has to option to ask for an extension. Erasmus is a European Union student exchange programme which was established in 1987.
Terry Reintke, a member of the Green Party from the Netherlands, tweeting: “Together with 144 colleagues – I have sent this letter to the Commission:
“To explore ways for Scotland and Wales to stay in Erasmus.
“For me, it is also a tribute to all the wonderful people who made me feel welcome and at home in Edinburgh during my own Erasmus year.”
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