Editorial Comment:
When Britain said that it would guarantee the rights of EU citizens, it meant their right to stay in the UK under British legal jurisdiction. It did not mean their right to abide by the rulings of separate EU courts. And yet Michel Barnier, the chief EU negotiator, calls the latter an “obligation” that Britain must meet. Not only would it be perverse to allow EU nationals a separate set of rights, but the suggestion is also an insult. Our laws are not second class to Europe’s. If anything, they are far more enlightened.
In 1972 Parliament voted to submit to EU law and, of course, extricating ourselves will be complex. But the Europeans are wrong to regard that decision as eternal. On the contrary, member states have every right to trigger Article 50 and begin the process of withdrawal. In this instance, the British government isn’t acting on its own whim but fulfilling the national will as expressed in a referendum – underscoring that, for the UK, Brexit is a reassertion of democratic sovereignty. It would be bizarre if this process were to conclude with European law still holding sway.
If Europe treated foreign nationals better, its position would at least be morally coherent – but it does not. Italy’s centre-left government has decided to delay a parliamentary vote on granting citizenship rights to the children of migrants. France is now policing its internal European borders with dogs and drones, contradicting the spirit of the Schengen area. And the EU’S attitude towards migrants’ rights is summed up in its latest post-brexit threats: British tourists and business travellers might lose free healthcare in Europe and Britons living across the Channel could lose their right to move to another EU country. By contrast, Britain has weakly surrendered on the weeding out of EU criminals – a huge mistake.
Mr Barnier has called for greater “clarity” from the British Government on what it wants from these talks, but what it wants ought to be clear enough: withdrawal followed by a speedy transition to a free-trade deal. Perhaps David Davis needs to ram this home, but it is more likely that the EU still cannot accept that Brexit is happening and is resorting to a mix of unreasonable demands and threats. However, they cannot, must not, undermine the Brexit that the British people voted for – which necessitates control of our own, perfectly adequate system of law.