Pressure continues to mount on the British Government to sort out the complicated and expensive EU touring situation as a group of MPs join the call for urgent action.
In a letter written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the MPs, who form the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Music (APPG), outline three key areas that require addressing. They ask for:
The Government to ramp up negotiations with EU nations that bar visa-free touring;
More steps to help U.K. artists touring overseas, such as the creation of a new music export office;
Minister to explore the idea of forging a new European agreement exempting cultural tours from immigration and transport red tape rules.
In addition to the letter, APPG plans to hold a cross-party inquiry into the costly barriers and delays for touring that musicians, particularly emerging artists, face. The first evidence session will take place later this month.
“Musicians and crew are facing an enormous and grave problem when it comes to touring the EU that is not going to go away,” said Senior Conservative MP and Chair of the APPG, David Warburton, who signed the letter. “We need the Government to ramp up negotiations with nations like Spain where costly visas are still in place and to look for swift solutions to both the visa and transport issues facing musicians and crew.”
Pressure continues to mount on the British Government to sort out the complicated and expensive EU touring situation as a group of MPs join the call for urgent action.
In a letter written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the MPs, who form the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Music (APPG), outline three key areas that require addressing. They ask for:
The Government to ramp up negotiations with EU nations that bar visa-free touring;
More steps to help U.K. artists touring overseas, such as the creation of a new music export office;
Minister to explore the idea of forging a new European agreement exempting cultural tours from immigration and transport red tape rules.
In addition to the letter, APPG plans to hold a cross-party inquiry into the costly barriers and delays for touring that musicians, particularly emerging artists, face. The first evidence session will take place later this month.
“Musicians and crew are facing an enormous and grave problem when it comes to touring the EU that is not going to go away,” said Senior Conservative MP and Chair of the APPG, David Warburton, who signed the letter. “We need the Government to ramp up negotiations with nations like Spain where costly visas are still in place and to look for swift solutions to both the visa and transport issues facing musicians and crew.”
