EUROCITIZENS ROUND TABLE ON BREXIT: MAKE SURE YOU COME EARLY!

A final reminder about our round table on the Impact of Brexit on Citizens tomorrw (Wednesday 8 March,18h, Offices of European Parliament, Castellana, 46, (Google Maps). If you are already registered, but cannot come, please send us an email as there is a waiting list for the event. As there are security procedures to enter the building, please come early. The doors will open at 17.15.
Members of EuroCitizens who are interested in volunteering to do something on 25 March (the day of the Unite for Europe march in London and Rome) can meet up outside the building when the event has finished. We need to decide what we can actually do.

GUARDIAN PODCAST: THE FUTURE OF UK NATIONALS IN THE EU

Photograph: Xinhua / Barcroft Images

Finally, the British press is paying attention to our problems. An in-depth interview has appeared with Jane Golding, a British lawyer based in Berlin and spokeswoman of Brits in Europe. This is a coalition to which EuroCitizens and other Spanish groups like Bremain and Brexpats belong. Along with Guardian journalist Jennifer Rankin, Jane Golding discusses the plight of UK nationals in the EU and what might happen after Britain leaves the EU. 

We recommend you to listen to the Guardian Podcast: the rights of UK citizens in the EU.

First, there are interviews with Britons living in the EU who express their worries. Jane Golding and Jennifer Rankin then deal with the following issues that affect us:

1. Permanent Residence and Dual Nationality (and the problems in Spain where the latter is not possible).
2. The end to reciprocal health insurance which will affect UK pensioners who have not paid into the system where they live.
3. The end to the mutual recognition of qualifications and the end of the EU aggregated pension system. 
4. The probable need for work permits and the doubts about future access to social and unemployment benefits. 
5. The position of mixed EU/UK married and unmarried couples and the rights of their children.
6. The situation of UK university students in Europe after Brexit.
7. Property rights

Jane Golding concludes: UK nationals in Europe 'are real people with real lives and they are facing huge uncertainty.' She points out that EU citizenship involves a bundle of rights 'Residency alone is not enough. If you can't work, if you can't have your qualifications recognised, if you can't have access to healthcare, there may be no point in remaining. These are indivisible rights, you can't separate them out.' 

OUR LOBBYING HAS HELPED TO BRING ABOUT LORDS VICTORY ON EU CITIZENS' RIGHTS

House of Lords vote 01/03/17  Photo: Huffington Post

Over the last few days, as part of a concerted effort of groups of UK and EU nationals, EuroCitizens has been involved in intense lobbying of peers, to bring about an amendment guaranteeing the rights of EU citizens in Britain. This has paid off and yesterday the government suffered a heavy defeat in the House of Lords (BBC). The amendment backed requires the government to introduce proposals within three months of Article 50 to ensure EU citizens in the UK have the same residence rights after Brexit.
We would like to thank all EuroCitizens who sent off emails to peers to try to influence their vote. The coalition of UK citizen groups was unhappy that the Labour amendment did not mention the rights of Britons in Europe, but that does not alter our total support for unilateral action to safeguard the  rights of our European counterparts in Britain.
In the next few days, the focus will move back to MPs as the bill returns to the Commons. With three-line whips and huge pressure on Conservative rebels from party bosses it looks unlikely that the amendment will go through. However, we will continue lobbying MPs.
You still have time to write to your old MP and to get your friends and family to do the same. They must realise that we are not bargaining chips!

Bombard peers and mps with demands for unilateral action towards EU citizens 

EUROCITIZENS: ROUND TABLE ABOUT THE IMPACT OF BREXIT ON UK AND SPANISH NATIONALS

The United Kingdom government will soon activate Clause 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to initiate the country's departure from the European Union. For Europeans living in Great Britain and Northern Ireland and for UK nationals in the EU this is a serious threat to their existing rights as European citizens. By removing these, Brexit could destroy the lives of thousands of people as well as cutting off future opportunities for young people. 

People have become 'bargaining chips' even before talks between the UK and the EU have begun, negotiations which promise to be extremely complex. In this context, EuroCitizens has been formed, a group that aims to defend the citizenship rights of both Britons and Spaniards. On Wednesday 8 March (Oficinas del Parlamento Europeo, 18h), we are organising a round table to discuss the impact of Brexit on citizens. As well as informing people about what might happen, we hope that the event will encourage them to fight for their rights. 

The round table will be conducted in Spanish. Information:

Inscripción: Debes inscribirte en el siguiente enlace: https://fastfor.ms/02031 

Aforo limitado. Ninguna persona será admitida sin haberse inscrito o sin la documentación requerida.

Correo: Eurocitizens2016@gmail.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/EuroCitizens­-1119482284794200/
Twitter: @EuroCitizens99
Blog: Eurocitizens2020.blogspot.com.es

COLOQUIO DE EUROCITIZENS SOBRE LAS IMPLICACIONES DEL BREXIT PARA LA CIUDADANÍA ESPAÑOLA Y BRITÁNICA

La Unión Europea va a recibir la notificación de la primera salida de un país miembro a finales de este mes, cuando el gobierno del Reino Unido ha anunciado que invocará el Artículo 50 del Tratado de Lisboa. Para los europeos que viven en el Reino Unido y los británicos que viven en España, el Brexit supone una amenaza para sus derechos como ciudadanos europeos. Destrozará vidas hechas en países que ofrecían oportunidades e integración social y cortará las posibilidades para los jóvenes que aún tienen que hacer sus vidas. Los cuatro derechos fundamentales de libertad de movimiento de capitales, bienes, servicios y personas son indivisibles, pero con el voto a favor del “Brexit” las personas se han convertido en “moneda de cambio” en las negociaciones preliminares entre el Reino Unido y la Unión Europea. En esta situación tan crítica para tantos españoles y británicos que viven en ambos países, se ha creado EuroCitizens, cuyo objetivo es defender los derechos de ciudadanía europea de los británicos en España y de los españoles en el Reino Unido. En el coloquio que organiza EuroCitizens el 8 de marzo (Oficina del Parlamento Europe, 18h) queremos informar a los españoles y británicos sobre el impacto del Brexit para que puedan defender sus derechos. 

Inscripción: Debes inscribirte en el siguiente enlace: https://fastfor.ms/02031 

Aforo limitado. Ninguna persona será admitida sin haberse inscrito o sin la documentación requerida.

Correo: Eurocitizens2016@gmail.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/EuroCitizens­-1119482284794200/
Twitter: @EuroCitizens99
Blog: Eurocitizens2020.blogspot.com.es

MARCH 2017: WHAT'S ON IN EUROCITIZENS?

BOMBARD PEERS AND MPS WITH DEMANDS FOR UNILATERAL ACTION TOWARDS EU CITIZENS IN THE UK!

The House of Lords    Photo: Parliament.UK

The committee stage of the Clause 50 Bill will be on Monday and Wednesday, so next week is when amendments for EU citizens will be voted on in the Lords. The most important ones (amendments 26 and 38) are to take unilateral action to guarantee EU citizens in the UK their rights. Because of this, now is the time to bombard peers and MPs with our demands. 
Below are templates of letters to send (by UK nationals in the EU or by their family and friends). 
Here is a List of crossbench and Tory peers to target in the next few days. There is a list of Labour peers at the end of this document. You can find your MP here.

Templates: