Britons in EU urge Barnier not to use them as bargaining chips

BELGIUM British citizens in the EU have implored Brussels and London not to make them ‘a bargaining chip for the second time’ in Brexit trade talks.

They are deeply concerned that they are being ‘massively downgraded’ and that they will be used by Brussels as leverage to exact concessions from the UK in the second phase of the negotiations.

The campaign group British in Europe has written to the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, arguing that their rights should be separated from trade talks and secured urgently.

“Our remaining rights should not be deferred once again,” wrote Jane Golding, the chair of British in Europe, in a joint letter with Nicolas Hatton, the cofounder of the the3million. “They should not be bargained against, made dependent on or packaged within other negotiation issues. We must not be made bargaining chips a second time.”

They have launched an information campaign for worried Britons because of what they say is a lack of consistency among member states on their rights.

Key among their concerns is the continued right to move and work across Europe. This was not resolved in the withdrawal agreement, which will be formally ratified this week, and was bumped into the second phase of negotiations because the UK wanted to end uncontrolled migration to Britain.

British citizens in the EU feel they are “collateral damage” because the free movement talks have no consequence for EU citizens already in the UK, as they have the birthright, as citizens of a member state, to continue to live or work wherever they like in the EU. British nationals in the EU, on the other hand, as citizens of a third country postBrexit, will not have that right.

(The Guardian)