Brexit calls into question the participation of the United Kingdom in the EU programmes Erasmus +, Creative Europe and Europe for Citizens, as well the status of English as an official language, according to a document of the committee on education and culture of the European Parliament, dated 13 January.
Broadly, the UK's withdrawal should mean its withdrawal from the Europe for Citizen programmes, which aims to bring Europe closer to its citizens, and which has never gone down terribly well on that side of the English Channel. Parliament's document goes on to state that on the other hand, the British are likely to want to continue to participate in the programme's Erasmus + and Creative Europe: during the academic year 2013-2014, 43,000 students benefited from the exchange programme for higher education between the EU and the UK. Similarly, the British audio-visual sector received just over €100 million for the programming period 2007-2013 from the MEDIA programme (one of the planks of Creative Europe). However, British participation in these programmes in the future will depend largely on the position the country takes on the free movement of people. As to the future rules on audio-visual media services, currently under negotiation, chances are that the UK will no longer be a member of the EU when it is transposed.
Another issue discussed was the status of the English language. Although it is an official language in Malta and Ireland, it was not notified by either of these countries as the United Kingdom had already taken care of this. Failure to keep English as an official language would compromise the practical functioning of the European institutions. In light of these considerations, it would seem logical to act quickly to guarantee a pragmatic, legally clear approach to ensure the status of English after Brexit, the committee's report concludes.
See: http://bit.ly/2kuCVEL (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)