Thread by @BritishInEurope

On #Article50 day here’s a reminder of how things stand re citizens’ rights and what’s been agreed for @britishineurope and @the3million

Last week the EU & the UK ‘signed off’ on Citizens Rights, stating that they will now be protected, a claim repeated today by @DavidDavisMP

2. While true for those who live and work or are retired in 1 country (e.g. France) and do not wish or need to move across the EU to live or for work, thousands of UK nationals in the EU27 will be deprived of their right to earn a living legally under the terms of the agreement.

3. Here are the main areas of agreement:

Let’s take an example of a Brit living in France. Broadly, what he or she can expect under the agreement are: confirmation of rights in France and the possibility to acquire permanent residence or whichever legal status replaces it.

4. On the employment front, that Brit living in France can also expect the right of equal treatment in France, the right to work in France; and the right to have his or her professional qualifications that are already recognised in France continue to be recognised in France.

5. On the social side of things, our Brit in France can also expect to continue receiving social security coordination, reciprocal healthcare in the host state and their aggregated pension system continues in host state.

6. However, he or she will also be country locked under the current withdrawal agreement.

7. Here is what @britishineurope are losing:

8. Continuing free movement, which is the right to move and reside freely across the EU, and which includes the right to move to live and work in other countries as well as visa-free travel.

9. We are losing the right to set up a business across the EU and have our professional qualifications recognised beyond the country we live or work in.

10. Some professional qualifications are not covered at all.

11. The rights we have under EU law to provide cross-border services as self-employed people will go, so, unless this gap is filled, if our Brit in France is a self-employed translator he or she will not be able to offer translation services in the Netherlands.

12. If the Brit in France is married to a French person he or she will not be able to return to the UK with their spouse under EU rules rather than stringent UK immigration rules.

13. We are also losing the right to future family reunification with future spouses/family members i.e. if the Brit in France wants to marry a Brit in future, he or she will not have the automatic right to bring their spouse into France under EU rules.

14. These are rights we have now which means there are many gaps in the agreement and how these might be filled by EU or national rules on third country nationals (eg Americans or Australians) or the future EU/UK relationship is unclear.

15. Working out what will happen to these rights will be long & complicated:

16. Covering our existing rights could require 4 legal layers: the withdrawal agreement, third country national (TCN) legislation, the future relationship, as well as national law where it applies to us as TCNs! It’s messy & complicated– not easy & painless as Vote Leave promised

17. It depends on the future EU/UK relationship which in turn depends on the UK’s negotiating position and could take years.

18. It’s also not clear whether third country national legislation could simply “plug” the gaps of the agreement

19. It is also not yet clear how we will secure our rights: EU27 countries will have two options.

20. OPTION 1: EU 27 can adopt what’s called a declaratory system, in line with current EU law, which mirrors what happens now and simply confirms the rights that we already hold, whether as permanent residents (5 yrs or more)....

21. ...or temporary residents (less than 5 yrs). In other words, we would not have to apply for a new residence status.

22. OPTION 2: They can adopt a constitutive system. Under this, we would have to APPLY for a new status; the application process would include checks on whether people had been exercising treaty rights, as well as criminality checks.

23. This is the equivalent of the UK proposal for EU citizens of ‘settled status’; the concept of reciprocity has led to this being an option for each EU27 country if they wish to adopt it.

24. On the removal of Article 32 from the withdrawal agreement: it was removed because it was unbalanced – only set out what UK citizens were not able to do – and did not add anything to the text. This still says that we only have rights in the country in which we are resident.

25. So there is no clarity on Freedom of Movement etc. but at least the agreement not longer says categorically that we do not have those rights.

26. A quick re-cap of how things stand in Transition:

All Single Market rights continue for this period i.e. FOM, right to provide cross border services, freedom of establishment, PQs etc. but only till end 2020.

27. Those who arrive can benefit from the protection under the WA post end transition and can build up rights.

28. But, we will have no voting rights or other political rights as we will no longer be EU citizens. This is particularly depressing and undemocratic for those of us who have been outside the UK for more than 15 years.

27. (And of course, don’t forget:

Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

So, we are still in limbo, unable to look to our futures with confidence, whatever was originally promised).

[THE END]

PS Read @DavidDavisMP article here: brexitcentral.com/year-go-brexit…