Travel, Study, Work and Place

Chapter 8 looked at the Union at the till. This chapter follows people out of the shop and onto journeys, into classrooms and workplaces, and through the places where they live. Much of the Union's effect here is indirect: a cheaper flight, a hospital that accepts a card, a new road with a blue-and-yellow sign beside it, a beach that passes a water test. It is also where the effects of Brexit are most often felt. As elsewhere, the chapter separates what is documented from what is repeated. Rules, dates and figures are given from general knowledge and flagged where they should be checked.

Travel

Cheap flights

One of the biggest changes in how Europeans travel came from the single market programme (Chapter 4). In the 1990s the Union opened its airline market in stages: any airline from a member state could fly any route within the Union, and governments could no longer fix fares or protect national carriers in the same way (check the dates). Low-cost airlines grew quickly in the new environment, and routes and fares that would have been impossible under the old system became ordinary. Supporters point to this as a clear gain to travellers. Critics point to the environmental cost of the growth in flying, and to the pressure on wages and conditions in the industry.

Health cover when travelling

The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) lets a visitor to another EU country, and a few non-members, receive state-provided healthcare during a temporary stay on the same terms as people insured in that country (check the list of countries). It is not a replacement for travel insurance: it does not cover private treatment or repatriation, and the care available depends on that country's system. Since Brexit, UK residents use a UK-issued Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC), which provides similar cover in the EU (check the details).

Passenger rights

Passengers have rights if a flight is cancelled, badly delayed or overbooked. Under an EU regulation of 2004, passengers on most flights within the Union, and on flights leaving it, can be entitled to compensation of a fixed amount depending on distance, as well as assistance such as meals and a hotel when held up (check the amounts and conditions, which have been disputed in the courts). Similar, though different, rights exist for rail and bus travellers. After Brexit the UK kept a version of the air rules in its own law, which may now diverge (check).

Study: Erasmus in Practice

Chapter 5 introduced Erasmus. In practice it works like this: a student enrols at their home university, spends a term or a year at a partner university in another country, pays no tuition fees there, and receives a grant towards extra living costs, and the credits count towards the home degree (check the details). The programme was widened over time into Erasmus+, covering vocational training, school staff, youth exchanges and sport (check). The total budget for 2021 to 2027 was agreed at around €26 billion (check the figure).

• The benefits claimed. Language skills, independence, friendships across borders, and a boost to employment prospects (check the studies, which are mostly produced by those running the programme).
• The criticisms. Grants can be too small to cover costs, so participants tend to come from better-off families, and some places are heavily over-subscribed.
• The UK. The UK left Erasmus+ after Brexit and set up its own Turing Scheme from 2021, which supports outward study only (check). Discussions about a UK return to Erasmus+ have been reported more recently (check the current position).

Work

• Working abroad. EU citizens can take a job in another member state without a work permit, and the employer cannot discriminate on grounds of nationality (Chapter 5).
• Qualifications. Rules on mutual recognition let a person who is qualified as a nurse, architect or teacher in one country apply to practise in another (check the professions covered and the process).
• Social security. Pension and insurance contributions made in different countries can be added together (check).
• Workers' rights. The Union sets minimum standards in some areas, such as working time and equal treatment, which national law can exceed (check).
• Commuters and posted workers. People who live in one country and work in another, and employees sent temporarily by their firm to work abroad, have their own set of rules, which have been contested (check).

Place: The Signs on the Road

Anyone who has travelled in a newer member state, or in a poorer region of an older one, may have seen a blue board with the EU flag beside a new road, a tram line, a school or a hospital extension. That is the visible sign of the Union's regional policy, also called cohesion policy.

• The idea. Narrow the gaps between richer and poorer regions, which became a larger concern as the Union took in poorer members (Chapters 3 and 6).
• The money. Several funds, including a regional development fund, a social fund and a cohesion fund, together account for about a third of the Union's budget (check the share). The money goes mostly to regions below an income threshold, and is usually matched by national funding (check).
• The recipients. Poland has been the largest recipient in recent periods (check). Before 2020, parts of the UK including Scotland and Wales also received funds; since Brexit the UK has used its own replacement scheme (check).

Environmental Rules People Notice

The Union makes a large share of the environmental law that applies in its members, because pollution crosses borders.

• Bathing water. Beaches and lakes designated for swimming are tested against EU standards, and results are published each year in a classification (check the details). The familiar Blue Flag award is a separate scheme run by a non-governmental body, not by the Union (check).
• Drinking water and sewage. Common standards for water quality and the treatment of sewage before it is discharged.
• Air quality. Limits on pollutants, with legal action against states that exceed them (check).
• Plastics and waste. Targets for recycling and rules on single-use plastics, including bans on some items such as plastic straws and cutlery, and a rule that caps stay attached to drinks bottles (check the dates).
• Nature. Networks of protected sites for habitats and species, under two nature directives (check).

Supporters note that these rules have improved things like beach water quality in many places. Critics, among them some farmers, builders and business groups, say that the compliance costs are heavy and that rules are sometimes badly designed. Farming is a special case, since the farm policy of Chapter 3 now carries environmental conditions that have caused protests (check).

Exercises

Next chapter: Capstone: What Is the Union For?, which brings the course together and tests the claims of earlier chapters.