How do citizens' rights affect Brexit negotiations? | Politics | The... https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/19/how-do-citizens...

Brexit explained

How do citizens' rights affect Brexit

negotiations?
Protections for 1.2m Britons on continent and 3.5m Europeans in UK should be easy to
settle in theory, but there are obstacles

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Tuesday 27 June 2017 12.15BST

What are citizens rights and why are

they important?
Citizens rights are the rights and protections offered to all EU citizens, including free
movement and residence, equal treatment and a wide range of other rights under EU
law regarding work, education, social security and health.

They are held by some 3.5 million citizens from other member states in the UK and
about 1.2 million British nationals on the continent, and are a key part of the article 50
negotiations that are taking Britain out of Europe.

For Brussels, citizens rights are the first priority of the article 50 divorce talks. We
need real guarantees for our people who live, work and study in the UK, and the same
goes for Brits, the European councils president, Donald Tusk, has said.

The UK government likewise stressed in its Brexit white paper that it wants to give
people the certainty they want ... at the earliest opportunity. It is the right and fair thing
to do.

In the opening session of article 50 talks on 19 June, the two sides confirmed they
would prioritise the question of citizens rights, on which Brexit secretary David Davis
said there was much common ground.

How did things stand before talks

began?
Agreeing a problem needs urgent resolution is not the same as agreeing on the answer.
Citizens rights are a far more complex area than many in Whitehall admit and could
prove a big stumbling block.

The issue generated early ill feeling. Claims by Theresa May that she tried to reach an
early deal on the issue but was rebuffed by member states drew a sharp EU reminder
that the topic could not be addressed outside the formal divorce talks.

After a succession of high-profile cases involving longstanding residents or their

children being denied permanent residency, the British government has also been
accused in Brussels of failing to treat EU nationals fairly and humanely.

What is the UKs position?

On 22 June, May travelled to Brussels to unveil the outline of what she called a fair and
serious offer to guarantee the rights of EU citizens in Britain. On 26 June, she told

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parliament the details and the government published a 15-page document.

The offer would confer on EU nationals who have been living in the UK for five years a
new settled status, allowing them to be treated like British citizens for residence and
entitlement to education, health care, benefits and pensions.

The policy paper said the UK was willing to agree to a cut-off point between 29 March
2017 when article 50 was triggered and Brexit day. All EU nationals in the UK
before that date will be able to build up five years worth of residence.

The UK promised to streamline the application process, drop the requirement for
comprehensive health insurance, index-link EU nationals pensions and allow them to
send welfare payments to children abroad.

But the offer still falls short of what the EU expects because it would see EU citizens
lose a number of rights they currently have. Several sticking points will have to be
resolved before a reciprocal agreement on citizens rights can be reached.

What is the EUs position?

EU leaders at a summit in Brussels criticised Mays initial outline as not sufficient,
vague and a first step, while expats condemned it as pathetic. The response to the
detailed offer was not much better.

Michel Barnier, the blocs chief Brexit negotiator, tweeted that its aim was the same
level of protection as in EU law and that more ambition, clarity and guarantees were
needed than the UKs opening position.

In a document handed to the UKs EU ambassador on 12 June, the EU27 demanded

effective, enforceable, non-discriminatory and comprehensive guarantees to
safeguard the status and rights derived from EU law at the date of withdrawal.

The EU27 wants these rights to apply in perpetuity, not just to EU citizens in the UK
and British citizens on the continent now, but to those who lived abroad at any time
during the UKs membership of the EU.

It also wants those rights to apply to current and future family members, no matter
their nationality, who decide to join the right-holder after Brexit, and to continue to
apply to family members after the divorce or death of the right-holder.

So what are the likely sticking points?

Start date The UKs preferred cut-off date is 29 March 2017, when article 50 was
triggered, whereas the EU wants it to be the day that Britain formally leaves.

Family union EU nationals who marry after March 2019 will lose their right to bring
family members to the UK unless they pass the minimum income test required of UK
citizens who want to bring in non-EU family members.

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Students There is no clarity on whether students allowed to finish courses will be able
to stay on to work after their studies.

Application process EU nationals who have already gone through the often
torturous and sometimes expensive process of attaining permanent UK residence will
have to go through another registration process.

Right to leave and come back Unless they meet certain requirements, EU nationals
with settled status in the UK risk losing it and therefore their right to return if they
leave Britain for more than two years.

Two classes of EU citizen The UK suggests that unlike those who arrive before the
yet-to-be-agreed cutoff date, EU nationals who arrive after it may stay for a temporary
period but should have no expectation of guaranteed settled status.

Voting rights The UK proposal makes no mention of whether EU nationals with

settled status will be able to vote in local elections.

Enforcement The UK insists British courts must enforce the agreement in the UK,
while the EU wants the European commission to monitor it and the European Court of
Justice or an equivalent body following ECJ rules to enforce it. The UK has
repeatedly said Brexit must mean leaving the jurisdiction of the ECJ.

Topics

Brexit explained

Article 50
European Union
Europe
Foreign policy
explainers

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