“French Officials and politicians ... feel that the UK has a policy of withholding rights rather than granting rights.” - Kalba Meadows, British in France, describes the ‘feeling’ she is getting from French officials and politicians in Brexit limbo
British people working in continental Europe fear becoming ‘illegal’ in a no-deal Brexit scenario, MPs on the Exiting the EU Committee heard from campaign groups ‘British in Europe’ and ‘Eurocitizens’ yesterday.
They heard that British expats could be looking at a ‘postcode lottery’ in a post-Brexit EU, with rights maintained in some countries and not in others.
At one end of the scale, Germany has not drafted any ‘No-Deal’ law for British citizens except ‘emergency legislation’. Germany’s plan appears to campaigners to be that they will tackle that if it arises, e.g. ‘if Brexit happens’.
At the other end of the scale, France and Spain have set out in law what rights they would demand for their citizens in a no deal scenario.
As a result, while the UK stands rudderless, Brits living across the channel are in a painful state of uncertainty on what the next Prime Minister’s Brexit plan will be for them.
Kalba Meadows, a campaigner for ‘British in France’, told MPs that any failure of diplomacy for British ex-pats could mean that “we would become illegal.”
This stems from her perception that a lot of EU countries have zero ‘no-deal Brexit’ laws in place and no “grace period”, meaning, no set time frame in which anyone’s rights are protected.
In that scenario, Meadows explained: “the moment that the UK leaves without a deal the UK citizen has no rights”.
The French Government has legislated to say that UK citizens could retain a lot of their rights — but only if the same rights are guaranteed for French citizens living in the UK. Amidst all the Tory leadership candidates’ tough talk on Brexit, that question hangs in the balance.
Meadows can only assess the future based on a ‘feeling’ she is getting from EU sources, that EU citizens’ rights will need to be written into UK law before France, for example, will reciprocate.
The freedoms in France’s bucket list are far from trifling. Key rights at stake are:
- The right of British operators to operate on French soil
- The right of British operators to transit France carrying goods or passengers
- The right of British operators to transport between the UK and France.
Meadows distilled the risk to business that springs from this: “if the UK doesn’t reciprocate on citizens’ rights for French citizens, … transport of goods and people would also be suspended’.
In Spain, the difference is that there would be a ‘grace period’ of 21 months, after which UK rights would fall into question.
Fiona Godfrey, co-chair of British in Europe, communicated ex-pats’ sense of being side-lined and voiceless: “We are British citizens and so far we have been really badly let down. … We are losing a whole set of rights because of red lines laid down by the British Government”.
The question on all this for a new prime minister will be whether to draw up a new law to address guarantee EU citizens’ rights in the UK, as a form of guarantee for British ex-pats to have those same rights in Europe.
Meadows said: “The feeling that we are getting from talking to French officials and politicians is that they are not yet happy to say, ‘Yes, there is definitely reciprocity.’”
She elaborated: “They do not trust the UK. They feel that the UK has a policy of withholding rights rather than granting rights. They would really like to see EU citizens’ rights enshrined in primary legislation.”
ENDS.
Read more on BYLINE TIMES: https://bylinetimes.com/2019/07/04/campaigners-for-british-ex-pats-condemn-boris-johnsons-do-or-die-brexit-threat/
