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EUROPEAN UNION

Hollande and Merkel deliver blow to Cameron

Germany and France have agreed to forge closer Eurozone ties without reopening the bloc’s treaties, a report in France has claimed. The move is seemingly designed to undermine UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s attempts to renegotiate his country’s ties to the EU.

Published: 26 May 2015 09:34 CEST
Hollande and Merkel deliver blow to Cameron
Holland and Merkel appear to have made a move to ward off Cameron's attempts to open up EU treaties for renegotiation. Photo: AFP

France’s Le Monde newspaper revealed this week that French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have agreed to forge a tighter political union among those countries in the single currency.

The newspaper said the agreement – written up by their aides on the margins of the recent Riga summit, represented a huge “No thanks” from the duo dubbed “Merklande”, to Cameron.

Over in Germany Die Welt newspaper said the agreement represented “Berlin and Paris showing Cameron the red card'.

It comes as the UK Prime Minister is due in Paris and Berlin later this week as part of his charm offensive to convince the leaders to allow Britain to renegotiate its ties with the EU, ahead of a planned In/Out referendum in the UK.

Cameron wants EU heads of state to agree to reopen treaties so he can renegotiate Britain’s ties to the EU and win back some powers from Brussels, while at the same time allowing for closer cooperation among eurozone nations.

The PM’s chief requirement is a change to laws surrounding access to benefits by EU migrants. Cameron wants restrictions on benefits unless migrants have lived in the country for four years.

He is also expected to demand an opt-out from one the EU's core principles of forging an “ever-closer union” between member states.

But it seems Hollande and Merkel have an entirely different agenda on the table. They want to see Eurozone reforms in four areas “developed in the framework of the current treaties in the years ahead.”

Those four areas are: economic policies, economic, tax and social convergence, financial stability and the governance of the single currency.

The Franco-German proposals will be put to a crucial EU summit in Brussels next month, where Cameron will also spell out exactly what he wants to change, if he is to campaign to keep Britain in the EU at the referendum.

Hollande and Merkel's initiative is set to be given the backing at the EU summit in June, which would effectively close the door to treaty renegotiation.

Their agreement gives Cameron plenty to think about before he heads to Paris on Thursday and then onto Berlin on Friday.

“Given that Cameron is about to go on tour around Europe and meet several heads of state, this move by Merkel and Hollande can’t be just coincidence,” Philippe Marliere, professor in French and European politics at the University College London told The Local.

“It’s clearly a signal of intent to show Cameron that ‘whatever he wants to get from us, we aren't budging when it comes to treaties and the monetary union’.

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BREXIT

OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

The EU has drawn up plans to make it easier for non-EU citizens to gain longterm EU residency so they can move more easily around the bloc, but Italy-based citizens' rights campaigner Clarissa Killwick says Brits who moved to the EU before Brexit are already losing out.

Published: 8 December 2023 14:34 CET
OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

With all the talk about the EU long-term residency permit and the proposed improvements there is no mention that UK citizens who are Withdrawal Agreement “beneficiaries” are currently being left out in the cold.

The European Commission has stated that we can hold multiple statuses including the EU long-term permit (Under a little-known EU law, third-country nationals can in theory acquire EU-wide long-term resident status if they have lived ‘legally’ in an EU country for at least five years) but in reality it is just not happening.

This effectively leaves Brits locked into their host countries while other third country nationals can enjoy some mobility rights. As yet, in Italy, it is literally a question of the computer saying no if someone tries to apply.

The lack of access to the EU long-term permit to pre-Brexit Brits is an EU-wide issue and has been flagged up to the European Commission but progress is very slow.

READ ALSO: EU government settle on rules for how non-EU citizens could move around Europe

My guess is that few UK nationals who already have permanent residency status under the Withdrawal Agreement are even aware of the extra mobility rights they could have with the EU long-term residency permit – or do not even realise they are two different things.

Perhaps there won’t be very large numbers clamouring for it but it is nothing short of discrimination not to make it accessible to British people who’ve built their lives in the EU.

They may have lost their status as EU citizens but nothing has changed concerning the contributions they make, both economically and socially.

An example of how Withdrawal Agreement Brits in Italy are losing out

My son, who has lived almost his whole life here, wanted to study in the Netherlands to improve his employment prospects.

Dutch universities grant home fees rather than international fees to holders of an EU long-term permit. The difference in fees for a Master’s, for example, is an eye-watering €18,000. He went through the application process, collecting the requisite documents, making the payments and waited many months for an appointment at the “questura”, (local immigration office).

On the day, it took some persuading before they agreed he should be able to apply but then the whole thing was stymied because the national computer system would not accept a UK national. I am in no doubt, incidentally, that had he been successful he would have had to hand in his WA  “carta di soggiorno”.

This was back in February 2022 and nothing has budged since then. In the meantime, it is a question of pay up or give up for any students in the same boat as my son. There is, in fact, a very high take up of the EU long-term permit in Italy so my son’s non-EU contemporaries do not face this barrier.

Long-term permit: The EU’s plan to make freedom of movement easier for non- EU nationals 

Completing his studies was stalled by a year until finally his Italian citizenship came through after waiting over 5 years.  I also meet working adults in Italy with the EU long-term permit who use it for work purposes, such as in Belgium and Germany, and for family reunification.  

Withdrawal agreement card should double up as EU long-term residency permit

A statement that Withdrawal Agreement beneficiaries should be able to hold multiple statuses is not that easy to find. You have to scroll quite far down the page on the European Commission’s website to find a link to an explanatory document. It has been languishing there since March 2022 but so far not proved very useful.

It has been pointed out to the Commission that the document needs to be multilingual not just in English and “branded” as an official communication from the Commission so it can be used as a stand-alone. But having an official document you can wave at the immigration authorities is going to get you nowhere if Member State governments haven’t acknowledged that WA beneficiaries can hold multiple statuses and issue clear guidance and make sure systems are modified accordingly.

I can appreciate this is no mean feat in countries where they do not usually allow multiple statuses or, even if they do, issue more than one residency card. Of course, other statuses we should be able to hold are not confined to EU long-term residency, they should include the EU Blue Card, dual nationality, family member of an EU citizen…

Personally, I do think people should be up in arms about this. The UK and EU negotiated an agreement which not only removed our freedom of movement as EU citizens, it also failed to automatically give us equal mobility rights to other third country nationals. We are now neither one thing nor the other.

It would seem the only favour the Withdrawal Agreement did us was we didn’t have to go out and come back in again! Brits who follow us, fortunate enough to get a visa, may well pip us at the post being able to apply for EU long-term residency as clearly defined non-EU citizens.

I have been bringing this issue to the attention of the embassy in Rome, FCDO and the European Commission for three years now. I hope we will see some movement soon.

Finally, there should be no dragging of heels assuming we will all take citizenship of our host countries. Actually, we shouldn’t have to, my son was fortunate, even though it took a long time. Others may not meet the requirements or wish to give up their UK citizenship in countries which do not permit dual nationality.  

Bureaucratic challenges may seem almost insurmountable but why not simply allow our Withdrawal Agreement permanent card to double up as the EU long-term residency permit.

Clarissa Killwick,

Since 2016, Clarissa has been a citizens’ rights campaigner and advocate with the pan-European group, Brexpats – Hear Our Voice.
She is co-founder and co-admin of the FB group in Italy, Beyond Brexit – UK citizens in Italy.

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