Kicks Off Campaigners want politicians on both sides of the Brexit negotiations to lift the cloud over expat rights.
The group 3million is meeting European Parliament members to deliver a briefing paper setting out their demands.
They say that although British Prime Minister Theresa May and the EU have pledged to make securing a future for expats a priority in talks, both sides have differences in their approach to resolve the issue.
One of the group’s chairs, Anne-Laure Donskoy, is pushing for an ‘early, legally binding and separate agreement’ covering the rights of EU citizens in the UK and Europe, including registration and voting rights.
Concerns for future of 5m expats
“The rights of EU expats to work, to marry, to have access to health services and education and to build a business were threatened and that these rights should be guaranteed and preserved not just for the short or medium term, but permanently,” she said.
“We fundamentally disagree that an agreement on citizens’ rights should be negotiated under the same overarching core principle for the rest of the negotiations that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.
“This is because it unnecessarily prolongs the current, unacceptable uncertainty experienced by almost five million EU and UK nationals living on the continent for another two years at minimum.”
The group is worried that the British government will change the right of EU citizens in the UK to ‘third country status’.
Remove expats from Brexit talks
They fear reclassifying the right to stay in the UK will lead to a tit-for-tat arrangement with the EU that may erode British expat rights to live and work in the countries where they now live.
“People’s lives matter, above and beyond anything else, and should be dealt with away from the rest of the Brexit negotiations,” says the3million.
“All negotiating parties should agree the UK urgently needs a new, simplified or bespoke registration process that would allow us to claim our rights. All negotiating parties should agree to – at least – maintain existing voting rights of EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU for European Parliament and local/mayoral elections.”
The group title comes from the estimated number of British expats in the EU.
