The tussle over the rights of EU citizens in the UK is threatening to flare up and derail Brexit negotiations, with European Parliament leaders preparing to vote on demands that would dramatically reduce the British Government’s Brexit options.
Four political groupings representing 77% of Members of the European Parliament are drafting a parliamentary resolution for September which will warn that unless Theresa May shifts on the rights of EU citizens in the UK they are likely to refuse to endorse any final Brexit deal between Westminster and Brussels.
The increasingly angry MEPs say they will also reject any request by Britain for an extension of the March 2019 agreement deadline, even though several months of negotiating time have already been eaten up Theresa May’s snap election.
Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, has dismissed Prime Minister May’s offer to EU citizens living in the UK after Brexit as “far short of what citizens are entitled to”. Verhofstadt and the leaders of four of the main grouping of MEPs have signed a declaration saying that May’s proposal would create a situation of uncertainty for millions of people.
“The European Parliament will reserve its right to reject any agreement that treats EU citizens, regardless of their nationality, less favourably than they are at present. [It] is a question of the basic fundamental rights and values that are at the heart of the European project,” they said.
May’s proposal said that the 3 million EU citizens in the UK would be allowed to stay, and those who had lived in Britain for five years would be entitled to have access to education, health and other benefits.
However, the proposal would strip EU citizens of numerous existing rights, including the protection of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the right to bring family members to Britain. May also declared that EU citizens’ rights would depend on EU states guaranteeing the same rights for Britons living abroad.
“EU citizens should keep their current rights, rather than the government ‘inventing new status’, says Verhofstadt. “[May’s proposal] creates a type of second-class citizenship for European citizens in the UK [and] we don’t see why their rights should be diminished.”
May’s position contradicted promises made by the Leave campaign that EU citizens would be treated no less favourably after Brexit. Important “Vote Leave” campaigners including Cabinet secretaries Boris Johnson and Michael Gove reassured EU citizens during the campaign that they would be allowed to stay.
The leaders of the European Parliament’s pro-EU political groups, which account for three-quarter of all MEPs, warned that they could spike any final Brexit deal, which needs to be approved by their Parliament. The thrust of their warning will be turned into a parliamentary resolution that MEPs will vote on in September. “In early 2019, MEPs will have a final say on the Brexit deal,” their declaration said. “We will work closely with the EU negotiator and the 27 member states to help steer negotiations.”
Brexit Secretary David Davis and the rest of Britain’s negotiating team are already engaged in a struggle that is unlikely to satisfy either side. One of the most controversial points in the debate about EU citizens revolves around the European Court of Justice. EU negotiators want to safeguard the Luxembourg court’s role in resolving disputes over EU citizens’ rights but May has made it clear that is determined to leave the ECJ.
“Let’s state one thing loud and clear,” May told her party conference in Birmingham last autumn. “We are not leaving the EU only to give up control of immigration all over again. And we are not leaving only to return to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. That’s not going to happen.”
By Alessandro Mascellino
The post Brexit: PM’s Offers to EU Citizens Don’t Cut It appeared first on Felix Magazine.
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