British nationals living on the continent could expect a backlash after May’s failure to offer a secure future for EU nationals in the UK, a leaked EU paper, obtained by the Guardian, has warned.
The British government is yet to make a commitment to EU nationals currently living in the UK that they would be free to continue to do so. As a result, the leaked paper warns that British nationals living on the continent could expect an uncertain future as EU27 leaders consider their stance on reciprocal rights.
Our readers have been discussing the leaked report and the UK’s treatment of EU nationals. Here’s what some of them said.
You can expand the discussion and join in by clicking the links on the comments, below.
‘If we had shown a little compassion then we would have had a better response’
‘When applying in France we were treated with courtesy’
My wife and I recently obtained our 10 year 'titre de sejour permanent' in France. When applying at the Prefecture we were treated with courtesy and sympathy - as though we were children coming from a deprived home where our parents were always fighting.
It’s in the interests of the UK government’
The committee also says it will be “difficult if not impossible” to arrange a transitional deal within the next two years to cushion the UK in its withdrawal from the EU.
This, I find, deeply disturbing. Surely it's in the interests of the UK government to confirm that they intend to allow EEA citizens with current rights to residence to remain here, whatever else happens, so that UK citizens living abroad would hopefully benefit from similar pledges being made by the other EU countries?
‘We haven’t received missives saying we must prepare to leave’
As Brit ex-pats in northern Spain there is no way that we would return to the UK. We would rather go round the world in a Reliant Robin than return to that sodden off-shore tax-haven mud-bank. There is a chance, a realistic possibility, that the EU might issue us with EU Passports if we already have official residency, and that is something that we would welcome. Also, as 95% of Gibraltarians voted to remain in the EU, Spain might request that as "democracy is paramount," (as Britain claimed for the Falkland Islanders), then Gibraltar should be returned to Spain. After all, democracy - properly used - is a wonderful thing - as the Brexiteers keep telling us.
We havn't, like some totally-legal foreigners in the UK, received missives from the Spanish Foreign Office , saying that we "must prepare to leave," and neither have we been beaten up in the street like some Poles in the UK.
Whichever way you look at it, you have to accept, reasonably and realistically, that the UK is an asylum in the control of psychopaths, it is a sink. We are sometimes mistaken here for Germans or Dutch - an error for which we are exceptionally grateful and which we are loath to correct.
‘I’ve been in Germany for 35 years and have no intention of returning’
I have permanent residency from about 1986, however this was before the UK joined the EU fully, these documents were deemed to be of no value afterwards, once the UK is out of the EU those old bits of grey paper will not be any good.
I´ve been in Germany for 35 years and have no intention of returning to the UK, the ones that stole my Vote and my Pension even after serving in their Army!
‘The way we are being treated is disgusting’
I live in Munich. I have done for 25 years. I have 15 hoops to jump through to gain a second passport and I, and many others, do not presently qualify. I am 49 and work as a self employed construction project manager.There is no time left to meet the impossible requirements of the Bavarian government. One thing I will not do is to ever return to the UK. I'll go to the cemetery in Munich first. The way we are being treated is disgusting, both by the UK and the EU. Leaving decent working people standing in the rain with no-one speaking for them. This is one of the few articles I have seen on the issue.
‘Does the UK really want hoardes of us to return to the UK?’
Those of us living in mainland Europe are negotiating chips in Mrs May's game to 'get the best deal possible'..
There was a chance to put this right - Spain were making conciliatory noises about reciprocating with the UK during the A50 debate in parliament - but Mrs May insisted on pushing through with no amendments guaranteeing the rights of EU nationals in the UK..
Does the UK really want hoardes of us retired Brits to return to the UK?
‘I can’t see the French government forcibly splitting a family up’
I've been here for 10 years and at no point has anyone ever suggested I need a residency card. I'm married to a French national and my children were born and live here. I can't see the French government forcibly splitting a family up as a tit for tat move.
‘Where do I stand now if Le Pen gets in?’
I am a UK citizen, but I have lived, worked and am now retired in France. I have a French pension and a paid-up member of the French health system. Where do I stand now, especially if Le Pen gets in? Do I move back to the UK, or stay in France?
Despite the fact that I pay taxes in both France and the UK I, like thousands of other expats here, was denied a vote in the referendum. I am now told that the result was 'the will of the people'. Well, it was not mine, nor that of many others who were disenfranchised.
Twenty years ago I got off my backside and rather than be a burden on the British taxpayer, I went abroad and worked. I did all the things the labour market and economic pundits advocated - I internationalised myself, upgraded my skills, and became became globally mobile. What is the reward for my initiative and personal entrepreneurship? It looks like i could be screwed.
If we had shown a little compassion then we would have had a better response. I work with a Polish woman. She is wonderful and hardworking. Her husband is english, her kids have dual nationality but she doesn't and her life here is at risk. We should be ashamed of ourselves and our nasty racist agenda.