On Thursday 20 September three members of
EuroCitizens /British in Europe met a team of senior civil servants at the
Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, including the director generals José
Pascual Marco and Pascual Navarro and the Subdirector of Institutional Affairs,
Raúl Fuentes. The meeting, the fifth that we have had over the last eighteen
months, was as always extremely amicable and informative.When we asked about the freedom of movement for Britons in the EU (restricted in the current Withdrawal Agreement to our host country), we were told that the subject had not been mentioned in negotiations since last January, but that the Spanish foreign ministry would bring it up again with the European Commission Article 50 Task Force. We went on to discuss the proceedures to be used to register the Britons in Spain after Brexit. The Interior and Labour ministries have been working on this issue for the last few months and the Spanish government is studying the possibility of putting into place a biometric identity card (with photo and fingerprints) for UK citizens covered by the Withdrawal Agreement - those correctly registered before the end of the transition period. The existing register would be used, but with some complementary data.
When we raised the issue of our political
rights, to be candidates and to vote in municipal elections, we were informed
that, according to the Spanish constitution, bilateral agreements can be
reached in this matter and that the Spanish government has already shown its
willingness to negotiate a treaty along these lines with the United Kingdom.
The senior civil servants said that Spain would actively look for a
humanitarian solution for citizens affected by a no-deal scenario, though they
thought it highly unlikely. Finally, we dealt briefly with the possibility of
dual nationality for Britons in Spain and the delays in processing citizenship
applications. Both issues are covered by the Justice Ministry and are highly
political.
We thank the Spanish government for its
positive and supportive stance towards the Britons living in Spain, who are
increasingly concerned by the way in which negotiations are going and the ever-dwindling
time that remains before Brexit.
