📢THREAD

Last week the Government announced, for the first time, that the EU rejected the UK’s proposals for ‘an ambitious agreement with the EU on the temporary movement of business travellers’ that would have ‘covered musicians and others’. 1/18

This is the first time the Government let it be known that they would not be able to make good on the assurances they had given the music sector regarding future travelling and working in the EU. 2/18

In February 2020 the Government stated that its objective was to negotiate a Canada-style trade agreement with the EU, similar to the free trade agreements the EU has previously struck with other friendly countries… 3/18

… and through its negotiations on mobility it was exploring how it could provide greater certainty for the music industry via reciprocal provisions based on ‘best precedent’. 4/18

But there was no precedent to this. A ‘Canada-style’ deal does little if anything for services. For example, Canadian musicians are treated as third-country nationals when travelling to the EU for work. It wasn't in the best interest of the music sector to seek this deal. 5/18