High stakes vote for British expats
PM tells Connexion ‘no certainty’ for expats if UK votes to leave
WE KNOW the rights that expat Britons will have in France if the UK votes to remain in the EU on June 23 – the status quo.
What is not certain is what would follow an exit vote.
Subsequent renegotiations could lead to minimal, or significant, changes.
Much would depend on what rights Britain wishes to maintain for other EU citizens in the UK, a worry for expats in France as restricting migration has been central to the ‘Leave’ campaign.
“We can offer no certainty on the arrangements that would have to be negotiated for UK citizens living elsewhere in the EU if we vote to leave.
“We cannot guarantee that those benefits we enjoy as EU members will remain,” a statement from UK Prime Minister David Cameron to Connexion says.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker recently told Le Monde that should the UK leave, “the deserters would not be welcomed with open arms... The UK will have to accept being treated as a third-party country, that we will not be trying to butter up.”
Mr Cameron has said the “only way” to leave would be to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and “the British people would rightly expect that to start straight away”.
Two years of negotiations would begin and the UK would be excluded from the EU’s internal discussions and its decision on an exit deal (which may or may not satisfy the UK).
The UK would then have to leave, with or without a finished deal, unless all other states agreed to an extension.
The UK government has said that to leave ‘unilaterally’, ie. by repealing related UK legislation, would be “a breach of international and EU law” and would “create a hostile environment in which to negotiate”.
The UK could negotiate to remain in the EEA, like Norway, or in a deal like that of Switzerland, which is in the single market, leaving most expat rights intact.
However these come with retaining reciprocal free movement rules.
“All rights” enjoyed by expats due to EU citizenship would be “brought into serious question” if Britain leaves without an agreement, the UK government says, “including the right to live, work and own property in the EU.
