UK to let EU citizens stay

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel says Britain’s promise to grant full rights to EU citizens who have been living in Britain for five years is “a good start” to Brexit talks.

Ms Merkel said at the end of the first day of a two-day EU leaders summit that British Prime Minister Theresa May “said clearly” to her peers that EU citizens who have been living in the UK that long “will be able to hold on to full rights” once Britain leaves the bloc.

Ms Merkel said: “That is a good start.” But she cautioned that the two years of Brexit negotiations that started this week involve “many, many other issues.”

She specifically cited the bill Britain will have to pay to leave and the border situation in Ireland as examples.

Ms Merkel said: “It means we have lots left to do.”

A senior British official said Mrs May told other EU leaders at the summit on Thursday that the 3 million EU citizens living legally in Britain would not be forced to leave when Brexit is official, and they would be allowed to apply for permanent residency.

Mrs May said any EU citizen with five years’ residence in the UK would obtain “settled status” and the same access to health care, education, benefits and pensions as British citizens, according to the official. The official said Britain was discussing a grace period of up to two years to allow people to apply for residency.

Mrs May said she would be insisting on a reciprocal deal from the EU for the 1.5 million British citizens living abroad on the continent.

She told EU leaders the rights of European citizens would be a priority issue during the Brexit negotiations.

The 27 European Union nations that will still be part of the bloc when Britain pulls out plan to decide in November where the EU agencies now based in London will be relocated to.

EU chief Donald Tusk laid out the timetable at Thursday’s summit.

Because Britain is set to leave the EU in 2019, the medicines and banking agencies will have to move from London to elsewhere on the continent.

Almost every EU nation wants one of the two agencies and on Thursday the leaders agreed on procedures for a fair pick.

Germany and France favourites to get one of agencies.

Weeks after being berated by US President Donald Trump for failing to spend are the enough on defence, European nations are vowing to boost military co-operation and help build a safer world in their neighbourhood.

At the Brussels summit, EU leaders — 22 of whose nations are also members of the USled NATO alliance — agreed to jointly develop or purchase military equipment like drones.

They also agreed to extend sanctions against Russia over its actions in Ukraine, following a similar move by the US this week.