Theresa May’s proposal to protect the rights of EU citizens after Brexit is so poor, it will badly damage the rights of Britons living in Europe, campaign groups have told the European commission.
In an official response to the EU Brexit negotiating team, British in Europe and the3million have said that if May’s proposal is adopted it would represent a “severe reduction of the current rights” enjoyed by Britons in Europe.
Last week they expressed fears that Britons would be the “sacrifical lambs” in the Conservatives’ mission to reduce immigration.
The groups say May’s offer looks to curtail citizens’ rights to pensions and to move around the EU to work. They say that, if adopted, the UK proposal could also prevent them from returning to Britain for work or retirement with their EU spouses or to have an elderly parent move in with them in Europe.
British in Europe, which represents 11 grassroots campaign groups in France, Germany, Spain and elsewhere in the block, met Michel Barnier’s article 50 task force last Thursday to express its disappointment and anger over May’s proposal.
It says last year’s referendum said nothing about removing the rights of EU citizens currently in the country or Britons settled in Europe, yet May’s proposal would do just that.
“The choice made in the referendum was about our arrangements going forward, not about unravelling previous commitments,” says the 15-page joint response to the UK’s proposal.
The EU scheme, delivered to Downing Street on 12 June, would extend European laws for all EU citizens post-Brexit, allowing them to continue to live, work and move around the bloc without hindrance for life.
“It is therefore surprising that, instead of taking the framework that exists under EU law as regards the rights of EU citizens in the UK and proposing to incorporate it into UK law as part of the great repeal bill, the UK proposal in fact sets out to unravel previous commitments and replace them with a UK law-based immigration status,” the response paper says.
“It is very difficult to understand how the UK envisages the application of the principle of reciprocity in this case,” says the paper. “Given the mismatch between an EU law proposal to guarantee almost all the rights of both groups and a UK proposal primarily addressing the immigration status post-Brexit of EU citizens in the UK, simply referring to reciprocity does not remedy this omission.”
The main plank of May’s offer is to allow EU citizens who have been in the country for five years to exchange the rights they have under EU law for new rights under UK immigration law.
UK citizens living in Europe have condemned the British government’s decision not to guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in the UK, despite plans to maintain reciprocal healthcare rights and the ‘triple lock’ on pensions.
A 15-page policy paper published by the government on Monday, said prime minister Theresa May is seeking to maintain existing healthcare arrangements with the EU as well as guaranteeing the triple lock on pensions for the 472,000 UK citizens retired in the EU.
May also unveiled a new “settled status” for EU citizens living in the UK that will give applicants the same “indefinite leave to remain” status as many non-European nationals who have also lived in Britain for five years.
EU citizens resident in Britain will have to apply for an identity card after Brexit under Home Office proposals on their future rights.
British citizens settled in Europe have expressed concern that prime minister Theresa May is willing to sacrifice some of their rights post-Brexit to cement immigration limits on EU citizens coming to the UK.
They have renewed calls on the UK to reciprocate the proposals made by the EU rather than continue with the plan unveiled by Ms May in the House of Commons on Monday.
“If May wants to be ‘fair and serious’, she should just agree quickly to everything the EU has already proposed. We are merely asking to maintain the status quo, with no degradation of our rights – it’s not a matter of generosity but of justice,” said Sue Wilson, chair of Bremain in Spain, which is campaigning on behalf of an estimated 300,000 Britons living in the country.
“If she is proposing to limit rights and freedoms in any way, then we deserve to know which of those rights she is prepared to sacrifice,” added Wilson.
British in Europe, a coalition representing 11 UK citizens groups across Europe, said it was worried that British citizens in Europe were being ignored in the rush for new immigration rules for EU citizens coming to the UK.
“We believe the UK government must do a lot more to show that it takes seriously its duty of care and protection to 1.2 million UK citizens in Europe. Otherwise we run the risk of being the sacrificial lambs of Brexit,” said Jane Golding, chair of British in Europe.
‘Putting rights at risk’
“Most of [Ms May’s proposal] is dealing with the immigration status of EU citizens in the UK, yet we represent by far the largest national group of people who will be impacted by the citizens’ rights deal. The government strategy is clearly putting our future rights at risk,” she added.
BRITISH expat campaigners in Spain have slammed Theresa May’s offer on retaining current citizens’ rights.
Expats living in the EU are concerned the prime minister will sacrifice some of their rights during discussions.
Sue Wilson of Bremain In Spain urged May to accept the EU’s proposals rather than the 15-page plan she unveiled in the House Of Commons this week.
Wilson said: “If May wants to be ‘fair and serious’, she should just agree quickly to everything the EU has already proposed. We are merely asking to maintain the status quo, with no degradation of our rights – it’s not a matter of generosity but of justice.”
She added: “If she is proposing to limit rights and freedoms in any way, then we deserve to know which of those rights she is prepared to sacrifice.”
BRITONS living in Europe have expressed disgust after UK government releases detailed plans for EU citizens in Britain post-Brexit.
The government paper released last week includes vast amounts of information on how EU citizens living in the UK will be allowed to stay, what rights they will have and how to achieve the settled status.
It comes a fortnight after the EU submitted a four-page proposal that the rights of all EU citizens who stand to be affected by Brexit be guaranteed for life.
Instead, the UK plans to allow citizens who have had five years residency to be granted the settled status immediately following the exit from the EU whilst those who arrived before the triggering of Article 50 but do not have 5 years residency will be given the chance to build up to this status.
The UK government has in this paper however, not provided details on how it expects UK citizens in Europe to be treated by simply repeating that it expects the EU to reciprocate the same rights. Sue Wilson of Bremain in Spain, a group representing about 30,000 people, told the Guardian that expats are “simply asking to maintain the status quo, with no degradation of our rights” and that to do this requires the UK government to reciprocate the previous EU document which provides lifetime security of their rights to healthcare, job security, residency and access to a full pension.
The government negotiating strategy seems to be to offer less than is already available which could leave UK citizens in Europe with less than they could have had.
Britons are the largest national expat group at risk of feeling the effects of Brexit yet seem to have the least focus in a government strategy which is making them feel most vulnerable.
Some of the most damaging proposals are plans to end the right for citizens to bring elderly parents, sick relatives or EU partners into the UK. This is a plan which, if reciprocated as the UK Government expects, would mean UK settlers in the EU would have to move back home to care for loved ones. It would also mean Britons living in Europe and married to EU citizens and would not have the automatic right to return home with their spouse.
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