PM Theresa May offers hope for European Union citizens, wins guarded praise. But,EU leaders reject it and say its a good start.
Initial plans set out by Prime Minister Theresa May on the future of 3 million-odd EU citizens in the UK – including thousands of people with Portuguese passports – were dismissed on Friday as “insufficient and vague”, setting the stage for protracted talks in Brussels.
The future of European Union citizens is at the heart of the Brexit talks - EU leaders want Britain to guarantee their stay and rights in perpetuity, including for their current and future family members. These rights are to be overseen by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), not by courts in the UK.
The settled status is intended for EU citizens who have lived in the UK for five years – a provision similar to that currently applicable to Indians and other non-EU citizens. No date or cut-off date has been mentioned so far for this five-year qualifying period.
EU leaders dismissed May’s initial offer, while Labour said it was “too little, too late”. Labour and Liberal Democrats want EU citizens to be given unconditional guarantees of continued stay in the UK, while May links it to the future of 1.2 million UK citizens in EU countries.
Campaign groups representing EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in EU also criticised May’s offer. Key issues include whether children of EU citizens in the UK living elsewhere in the Europe could continue to get the same financial benefits currently available.
Also, May’s offer is silent on bringing non-EU spouses of EU citizens to the UK, which they are currently able to do. UK not accepting ECJ’s jurisdiction on issues related to EU citizens in the UK after Brexit is also expected to figure high in the negotiations.
According to May, her offer was “fair and generous”, while campaigners said there were now “more questions than answers”. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the offer was "a good start" but European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said it was a "first step but this step is not sufficient".
European leaders had warned there would be no debate at the summit on the plan for citizens' rights, as the Brexit negotiations are being conducted separately.
But both sides have expressed their desire to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
"As citizens are the EU 27's priority number one, it is a positive step that the UK will come with a detailed proposal on how to secure citizens' rights," an EU source said.
"It remains to be seen if the UK offer will be as generous as the one the EU 27 set out in detail in the negotiating directives. At this stage there are, frankly speaking, some doubts."
Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern said: "It's a good first proposal, which I appreciate, but it's clear that we have to invest much more work."
May's proposal drew a derisory response at home, with a campaign group for EU nationals in Britain, called "the3million", declaring it "pathetic".
London Mayor Sadiq Khan, a member of the opposition Labour party, said it "does not come close to fully guaranteeing the rights of EU nationals living in the UK".
"It is unacceptable for the prime minister to be treating EU citizens living here and contributing to our economy and society as bargaining chips," he said.
Since the expected date of Brexit is March 30, 2019, analysts rolled back the five-year qualifying period for EU citizens acquiring settled status to 2014, with EU citizens arriving until March 30, 2019 being able to build up the qualifying period beyond the Brexit date.
On the opening day of the two-day leader’s summit, the EU announced agreements on extending sanctions against Russia and on fighting climate change.
After a string of small-scale terrorist attacks in European capitals this week, the EU leaders also agreed to join efforts seeking to curb online extremism and crack down on Europeans who go abroad to fight jihad. They also agreed to jointly develop or purchase military equipment like drones.
