Clouds on horizon as EU members meet to discuss relationship with UK

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

62% : The scheme, known as YES, is strongly supported by EU countries.
58% : The EU wants a "youth experience scheme" that would give 18- to 30-year-olds in the UK and Europe reciprocal rights to study, live and work abroad for a few years.
55% : The government's ambitions are viewed by experts as modest: a veterinary agreement, easier access for touring artists to the EU and mutual recognition of qualifications for professionals.
54% : On the eve of his election victory the prime minister ruled out rejoining the EU or its single market and customs union in his lifetime.
53% : Making it easier for musicians to play gigs in Amsterdam or Berlin might seem straightforward, but work permits and customs declarations for instruments quickly run into EU sensitivities over its economic area.
53% : So far, none of these issues - foreign policy, fishing rights or youth exchanges - has had serious input from EU leaders.
52% : At an apparently warm meeting in Downing Street last week, Starmer accepted Costa's invitation to a retreat of EU leaders on 3 February to discuss defence and security.
45% : But the EU has ruled out special treatment for any sector when a country is outside its single market.
43% : First, the commission alleged failure to protect the rights of EU citizens living in the UK.
40% : Brief talks on 'mutually beneficial' relations will look at security and defence, but even modest ambitions will be difficult to agreeNearly five years after the Brexit divorce, the EU is thinking again about its estranged ex-member across the Channel.
40% : EU officials are deeply irritated by the characterisation of the scheme as "free movement" as it would be time- and age-limited.
38% : , the EU looks set to drive a hard bargain over the future.
35% : The talks, at an EU summit in Brussels, look set to be brief, forming part of a crowded lunch discussion on EU foreign policy covering issues such as the Middle East, China, Ukraine and the return of Donald Trump.
22% : While Starmer has been more open in his remarks about cultural exchange to EU leaders, the UK strongly opposes EU demands on the scheme to waive the NHS surcharge for foreigners and allow EU students to pay tuition fees at subsidised domestic rates.

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