Good news. The uk has secured visa free tours for musicians in 19 eU countries

It’s sad that anyone from the U.K. needs a visa to work in the EU, and we are wasting time and money negotiating all these exclusions. Elton John’s views on Brexit should be noted.

If I remember correctly it was offered by the EU in the original negotiations and turned down by the UK.

“Our ministers are Philistines” - Elton John

It was something we had of right until Brexit!

Brexit lovers will be pleased to note this is a win-win for the EU. It does not change the regulations for all the crew, equipment etc that artists need. They will hire vans, drivers locally in the EU as its cheaper than getting visas, customs clearances for all their own staff and equipment. It's all down to the laziness/lack of foresight of the UK government who were so keen to get Brexit at any price they did not include musicians, who earn billions for the treasury, in the original treaty .

Is this good news then? Yesterday I listened to Eddie Mair discussing this issue with people in the performing arts industry; people with experience and insight. Nobody had a good word to say and their frustration was obvious. This particular industry is worth more than our fishing business. We all remember how important fishing became during the referendum. For their sake we had to ”get Brexit done”!

Somebody will soon come along and say that ”there are plenty of countries outside the EU to perform in/they can still perform in the EU, they just need to prepare a bit more. It's not insurmountable”. I guess we should just tell them to be positive.

Extracts from the article below:

^”The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) this week released a statement headlined “Visa-free short-term touring allowed in 19 member states”. It said that following discussions with every EU member state it could confirm that performers did not need visas or work permits for short-term tours in 19 countries.

It was interpreted by some as a step forward. But David Martin, the chief executive of the Featured Artists Coalition, said it had changed nothing. “We knew all this in January. The idea that the government has done something fantastic or that it has won some concessions is not correct. The announcement is not new information to the music industry.
The difficulties involved in touring remained, he said, with the rules differing in each of those 19 countries. Also, he said, visas and work permits were only one issue causing enormous problems because of Brexit.”^

www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/aug/05/uk-musicians-to-be-able-to-tour-visa-free-in-19-eu-countries-brexit

Someone will come on and say “what’s wrong with touring in the UK ?”