Though it was voted on in 2016, Brexit didn’t officially go into effect until January 2020. Among the variety of issues it would cause for English citizens, musicians from the UK were worried about the ability to travel between countries in the EU without a travel visa that had then essentially been stripped away. Of course, the COVID pandemic reared its ugly head just two months later and largely made the issue moot for a while and people forgot about it.
Good news now, however, as negotiations between the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and music industry officials have eased travel between 17 of the 27 EU member states.
A spokesperson for DCMS said, “We want to ensure that when Covid-19 restrictions are lifted, touring can resume and our world-leading creative and cultural artists can continue to travel widely, learning their craft, growing their audiences and showing the best of British creativity to the world.”
The countries included in the negotiations are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Sweden. Spain – including the Balaerics and Ibiza – have not currently agreed to visa-free touring for artists.
Artists will be able to travel for up to 3 months without a work visa before they have to return home, which should be plenty of time to tour within the EU.