EU tells May: Migrants offer isn’t good enough
... but she hits back, asserting UK proposal ‘is fair and serious’
EUROPEAN leaders lined up yesterday to dismiss Theresa May’s Brexit offer to three million EU citizens living in the UK by saying it was ‘not enough’.
But the Prime Minister last night defended her ‘very fair and very serious’ proposal and insisted that Brussels should be in no doubt Britain is leaving and that it would be good for the country.
As EU critics argued that the European Court of Justice must have a role overseeing the new citizens’ rights regime, Mrs May gave assurances that families’ futures will be protected.
In a press conference at the close of a two-day summit, Mrs May was asked if she could guarantee that Brexit would be good for Britain. ‘That’s exactly what we’re working for,’ she said. ‘I have every intention of ensuring we get a good deal for Britain and that not only will we be able to see a good, new, deep and special partnership with the EU, but we’ll be able to take opportunities for global Britain to be trading across the world.’
Mrs May said leaders had ‘reacted positively’ to the offer on citizen rights.
‘I want all those EU citizens who are in the UK to know that no one will have to leave,’ she said.
‘We won’t be seeing families split apart – people will be able to go on living their lives as before. This is a fair and serious offer.
‘It gives those three million EU citizens in the UK certainty about the future of their lives and we want the same certainty for the more than one million UK citizens living in the European Union.’
But European Council president Donald Tusk said it was ‘obvious’ the UK is trying to strip away rights currently enjoyed by European citizens.
‘The UK offer is below our expectations and risks worsening the situation,’ he said.
EU leaders were also furious about Mrs May’s refusal to accept a role for the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, said he ‘cannot see’ the Luxembourg court being excluded from any agreement.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel called Mrs May’s opening gambit ‘an extremely vague proposal for something that is incredibly complicated’.
He added: ‘We don’t want to buy a pig in a poke.’ German chancellor Angela Merkel also raised concerns about the UK’s refusal to accept the continued jurisdiction of the ECJ when she addressed fellow EU leaders over dinner after the Prime Minister left.
Speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday, she said there was ‘a long way to go’ before a deal could be reached.
Mrs Merkel added: ‘That was a good beginning but – and I’m trying to word this very carefully – it was not a breakthrough.’
A German official said: ‘These rules are extremely important and they will continue to be so, so it is clear that we need a body to be in charge of them.’
Mr Juncker had previously labelled the UK’s provisional offer on EU citizens rights not ‘sufficient’.
But Hungary’s leader Viktor Orban urged his fellow European leaders to be very wary of Britain.
He said: ‘The British are one of the most clever nations in Europe, we have to be cautious with this.’
Mr Orban, who has clashed with European chiefs over his hard-line immigration policies, also broke away from fellow leaders by praising Mrs May’s negotiating approach.
‘She is running the position of the British very well,’ he said. ‘She is fair, open-minded and ready to find solutions.’
It also emerged yesterday that leaders broke an EU rule during the Brussels dinner.
A menu described how the leaders ate ‘almond milk’ ice cream only a week after the European Court of Justice said the trendy product could not be described as milk because it does not come from an animal.
‘We won’t be seeing families split apart’