The EU Rights Clinic has submitted letters to the European Commission’s Brexit Task Force and the European Parliament’s Brexit Steering Group to express its concerns about the protections granted to the rights of EU citizens and their family members living in the UK following the recent agreement reached by the EU and the UK which concludes the first phase of negotiations on the terms of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
Urgent confirmation is sought from the European Commission and European Parliament that the rights of various categories of EU citizens and family members who currently enjoy rights of residence under EU law will be fully protected under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement. The various categories of citizens and family members affected include:
- family members of EU citizens who have returned home after having resided in another Member State as recognised by the Court of Justice’s ruling in Case C-370/90 Surinder Singh and subsequent cases;
- primary carers of the children in education of migrant workers or former migrant workers under Regulation 492/2011 on the free movement of workers as recognised by the Court of Justice’s rulings in Case C-480/08 Teixeira and Joined Cases C‑147/11 and C-148/11 Czop and Punakova and subsequent cases;
- primary carers of Union citizens having a right of residence in the EU citizens’ home country arising from the Court of Justice’s ruling in Case C-34/09 Ruiz Zambrano and subsequent cases.
The EU Rights Clinic also seeks assurances over previous commitments given by the UK concerning the interpretation of “lawful residence” under EU law and the waiving of all requirements for inactive EU citizens to have held “comprehensive sickness insurance” while living in the UK. The assurances should be the subject of specific provisions in the Withdrawal Agreement.
The letters have been submitted on behalf of 34 signatories representing various organisations providing legal assistance and advice to EU citizens living in the UK and British nationals living in the other 27 EU Member States.
If you are an EU citizen in the UK and are having problems exercising your EU rights, please contact us at rights.clinic@ecas.org.
Letter to the Brexit Task Force – Letter to the Brexit Steering Committee
The EU Rights is grateful for the financial support it has received from the European Programme for Integration and Migration under its sub-fund on EU mobility.