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A CULTURAL DEAL
Reviewed by ANDRE BEAUMONT
So the question of returning the Parthenon Sculptures arises again.
This is how we would solve it.
U.S. citizens can visit us for 6 months without a visa for tourism.
This allows families to unite across generations without anxiety and for gap year travellers to make it approximate to a year, in one direction at least.
U.K. citizens can only visit the EU for 3 months in any 6, for any reason including tourism, and vice versa for EU citizens.
This is one of the few shameful legacies of the lengthy then hurried Brexit negotiations.
Negotiations can do better.
Freedom of movement is a Single Market thing and we are not proposing rejoining it.
So for Single Market purposes - mainly employment - the limit can remain at 3 months.
We have a new PM and should a 6 months in any 12 deal for tourism be offered him without caveat, we should return the sculptures without caveat.
Should the EU quibble on Single Market grounds, it has to be said, it shows a neo-imperial attitude towards its neighbours, just as the taking of the sculptures was an imperial act by Britain.
Though a cultural deal should be about goodwill, there has to be some trade off because of public and bureaucratic sentiment.
Any bureaucratic obstacles to expanding non-visa travel have to be breached and national sentiment about returning something without visible benefit countered.
With small boat crossings falling, especially in the colder weather, this is the moment for the PM to seize. It may be the only EU related deal that he can wrap up fully before the end of the parliament.
EU citizens will also benefit from a 6 months in any 12 months deal to better reunite families across generations and allow English language gap year experience to its young.