May's EU citizens' rights offer dismissed as a 'damp squib'
The PM's plan risks creating "second-class citizenship", says the European Parliament's Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt.
Monday 10 July 2017 16:49, UK
Theresa May's offer on EU citizens' rights has been dismissed as a "damp squib" by the European Parliament's Brexit co-ordinator.
In a joint article with a cross-party group of senior MEPs, Guy Verhofstadt said the proposals cast a "dark cloud" over people's status and risk creating "second-class citizenship".
The MEPs said the European Parliament could reject any deal that eroded the rights currently enjoyed by EU citizens.
They also made clear they would block any attempt to extend the two-year deadline for Brexit set out under Article 50, saying it was "simply unthinkable" for the process to drag on.
Solving the thorny issue of the rights of EU citizens in the UK, and Britons living on the continent, is one of the first tasks facing negotiators in the Brexit negotiations.
In a sign that MEPs could veto any Brexit deal that did not meet their demands, the MEPs said: "The European Parliament will reserve its right to reject any agreement that treats EU citizens, regardless of their nationality, less favourably than they are at present.
"This is a question of the basic fundamental rights and values that are at the heart of the European project."
The Prime Minister's plan would allow EU nationals residing in the UK to apply for "settled status", which would effectively guarantee them indefinite leave to remain in Britain once Brexit takes effect.
Any EU citizen who has been living in the UK continuously for five years will be able to get the status, while those who have been resident for less than that will also be allowed to stay and then apply for settled status once they have clocked up the necessary time.
Dependents - children or parents - who join an EU national in the UK before Brexit will also be able to apply once they have been in Britain for five years.
After Brexit, EU citizens with settled status will be able to bring family members from overseas on the same terms as British nationals.
But the MEPs said there were "striking" differences between the UK's offer and the proposals set out by the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier, who "wants British people and Europeans to keep the same rights and the same level of protection they currently enjoy".
The UK's offer "was a damp squib, proposing that Europeans obtain the status of 'third-country nationals' in the UK, with fewer rights than British citizens are offered throughout the EU", they said.
The MEPs also insisted the European Court of Justice should play a "full role" in enforcing citizens' rights - a red line for Mrs May.
Labour MP Chuka Umunna told Sky News the PM has made a "dog's dinner" of the issue.
He told All Out Politics: "The people who will suffer are not just the three million EU citizens, also we've got two million who live and or work in the European Union from the UK.
"They are people who will suffer from the uncertainty and it's a shame that the Government didn't grab this by the neck and make sure that they got a deal that could be satisfactory to both sides earlier."
First Secretary of State Damian Green rejected Mr Verhofstadt's criticisms, saying the "basic rights" of EU citizens are protected by the UK's proposals.
"I would say to him (Mr Verhofstadt) read our proposal, our proposal is precisely that, that somebody who is here now will keep the rights that they already have and we hope and expect that British citizens living in other EU countries will keep the rights that they already have there," he told BBC's Today programme.