On Saturday 23 March (12.00 Plaza Margaret Thatcher, Colón,
Madrid) the British in Europe group EuroCitizens
will organise an event in defence of the rights of the five million Europeans
in the UK and Britons in the EU and to ask for a second Brexit referendum. We
intend to have fun, with activities for children, poetry and music as well as
the speeches, and to celebrate our European identity which is now in jeopardy.
Because of Brexit, thousands of British and Spanish citizens
have spent nearly three years living with mounting uncertainty. The imminent
possibility of a no-deal Brexit makes all this even worse and affects the futures
of thousands of people, especially those who are under thirty. In our opinion,
this situation must stop.
EuroCitizens thanks the Spanish government for the
publication of the Royal Decree 5/2019
which will ease as much as possible the transition of UK residents here to Third-Country
Nationals – with all the implications that the change has for us and our
families. At the same time, the British government has begun the process of giving
'settled status' to Europeans living in the UK. However, the measures in both
countries are unilateral and with no legal guarantee. If the UK fails to reciprocate
in all of the areas covered in the Royal Decree, the Spanish government can rescind
the special measures for UK citizens. Likewise, a change of UK government could
mean a toughening of the requirements needed to gain settled status for Spaniards
in Britain.
Because of this, British
in Europe (Britons in the EU) and the3million
(Europeans in the UK) are asking for the ring-fencing of the citizens' rights
included in the Withdrawal Agreement. This agreement is by no means perfect,
amongst other things ending the freedom of movement of UKinEU, but ring-fencing
it would give both groups the legal certainty of an international treaty.
On 27 February the House
of Commons unanimously passed the Costa
Amendment to ring-fence the rights of the five million. However, in its
subsequent letter to the EU, the British government did not even propose
ring-fencing. Meanwhile, the EU has made deals with the UK on aviation and finance,
but refuses to discuss citizens' rights. Since the EEA and Switzerland have agreed with the UK to guarantee citizens'
rights, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, a Norwegian or a Swiss citizen would
have more rights in Britain than a Spaniard or a German. A profoundly unjust
situation.
An alternative to ring-fencing of citizens' rights is a People's Vote, because to stay in the
EU is the best way of guaranteeing our existing rights. Thus we are asking for
a second referendum, with a franchise that includes all of the five million
Britons in the EU and Europeans in the UK. If that happens, we are optimistic
about a victory for Remain. For EuroCitizens such a result would be the end of
a long nightmare and would give us the possibility of continuing to live our
European dream. We are Europeans. We feel European. We have exercised our European
citizenship for years. And we want to continue being Europeans.
