EU citizens in the UK and Britons living in Europe will face a further 18 months of turmoil unless the European commission urgently changes its stance on agreeing an early deal on citizens’ rights, a former Lib Dem cabinet minister has warned.
The party is writing to negotiators at the European commission and the European parliament, as well as Theresa May, to argue that they should allow for ringfencing of citizens’ rights to ensure any deal on EU citizens does not collapse if the UK and EU fail to reach an exit deal by the end of March 2019.
In the strongest criticism yet from the pro-Europe party of the EU’s negotiating position, former energy secretary Ed Davey said the commission’s “nothing is agreed till everything is agreed” approach to citizens’ rights needed to change.
“The European commission must go back to EU capitals and ask for a new negotiating mandate. If it doesn’t try it could be almost as culpable as the Brexiteers for letting down European citizens,” Davey said.
Ringfencing would allow negotiations on EU citizens rights to carry on under a separate track and be agreed regardless of how the rest of the negotiations progress, so even if other negotiations fail, the rights of citizens could be decided early. [...]
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