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 3.5mn citizens from other member states in the UK and about 1.2mn 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 Council’s president, Donald Tusk, has said.
The UK government has 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 June 19, 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 has already generated ill feeling. Claims by Prime Minister 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 UK’s position?
On June 22, May travelled to Brussels to unveil the outline of what she called a “fair and serious” offer to guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in Britain. She said the UK was willing to agree to a “cut-off point” between March 29 this year, when article 50 was triggered, and March 2019, as preferred by the European Commission.
EU citizens already in the UK and those who arrive lawfully during a subsequent “grace period”, expected to be up to two years, will be able to build up five years’ worth of residence, which could start at any point up to the date of Brexit and would allow EU citizens time to regularise their status.
That would entitle them to a special category of “settled status”, conferring the same rights to work, pensions, NHS care and other public services as British citizens, which they will maintain for life. The offer will be set out in detail in a paper to be published today.
* What is the EU’s position?
The UK’s offer falls well short of the EU’s demands. EU leaders have criticised it as “not sufficient”, “vague” and “a first step” that does not cover the situations of many EU citizens in the UK. Expats have also condemned it as “pathetic”.
In a detailed position document handed to the UK’s EU ambassador on June 12, the EU27 demanded “effective, enforceable, non-discriminatory and comprehensive” reciprocal guarantees “to safeguard the status and rights derived from EU law at the date of withdrawal”.
These proposed rights include the right for all EU citizens living legally in the UK (and vice versa) on March 29, 2019 – Brexit day – to be deemed legally resident, the right to permanent residency after five years, and to full equal treatment with nationals as regards jobs and benefits.
Among the rights Britons on the continent have said – and the EU has accepted – must also be secured are those to acquire citizenship, study, have academic and professional qualifications recognised, work, run a business, settle in other EU member states, and receive healthcare, pensions and other social benefits.
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 UK’s membership of the EU.
The EU 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.
* What are the potential stumbling blocks?
Will an immigration-focused Conservative government be ready to sign up to open-ended access to residence, and particularly benefits, including for family members who may arrive after Brexit and may not necessarily be economically active? Experts foresee three key stumbling blocks:
Start date: The EU wants all the rights of EU nationals in the UK and British nationals on the continent protected in perpetuity, providing they arrived before the UK leaves the bloc at midnight on March 29, 2019. Britain has offered to negotiate a cut-off date between March 29, 2017 (when article 50 was triggered) and that date.
Extent of rights:
The UK has offered only to give qualifying EU citizens resident in the UK the same rights as UK nationals, potentially leaving them with fewer rights than they have today.
For example, it is currently easier for EU citizens to bring even non-EU spouses and other immediate family to live with them in the UK than it is for UK citizens, thanks to strict minimum earnings requirements introduced in 2012.
It might be difficult for the UK government to accept a situation after Brexit in which, say, the Brazilian spouse of a Portuguese citizen in the UK was able to join them even in a decade’s time – but not the Brazilian spouse of a British citizen.
Monitoring mechanisms: Another significant bone of contention is likely to be the EU’s insistence that EU citizens’ rights be monitored by the European Commission and enforced by the ECJ or an equivalent body following ECJ rules.
This would mean that EU citizens living in the UK would be able to appeal to the ECJ (or another ECJ-approved external body) if they thought the Home Office or UK courts were not respecting their EU rights.
Britain wants the rights to be enforced by the UK justice system. Accepting the ECJ’s jurisdiction would represent a big climbdown by the UK government, which has repeatedly said that “taking back control” of British laws means it is determined that Brexit must mean leaving the jurisdiction of the ECJ. – Guardian News and Media
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