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‘No-deal increasingly likely’: Heiko Maas on latest Brexit defeat

Britain crashing out of the EU with no deal in place is becoming an increasingly likely scenario, Germany's Foreign Minister said Tuesday.

Published: 13 March 2019 08:30 CET
'No-deal increasingly likely': Heiko Maas on latest Brexit defeat
Demonstrators outside Westminster in London on Tuesday. Photo: DPA

It came after parliament in London rejected an agreement thrashed out by Prime Minister Theresa May and EU leaders.

“With this (parliamentary) decision, we are getting closer and closer to a no-deal scenario,” said Heiko Maas, accusing the UK of “gambling carelessly with the well-being of citizens and the economy”.

SEE ALSO: 'Ring fence our rights': Brits in Europe react to May's Brexit deal defeat

SEE ALSO: 'Let's wait and see': Merkel to watch UK closely after latest Brexit offer

“Unfortunately, I can only say that at the moment Germany has prepared for all the worst cases as well as possible.”

However, he added that he still hoped Britain could avoid a “disorderly” Brexit.

As The Local reported, the latest development continues to leave British citizens in the EU in limbo. After the vote, groups called for authorities to protect their rights.

“We need the EU Council to agree to ring fence and rescue our rights to be able to keep our jobs, stay in our homes, get medical treatment or be paid our pensions,” said British in Germany on Twitter.

'The best and only deal'

British MPs resoundingly rejected May's Brexit deal for a second time on Tuesday, plunging the
country into further uncertainty just 17 days before it is due to split from the EU.

The House of Commons voted 391-242 against the divorce deal, even after May secured further guarantees from Brussels over its most controversial elements.

SEE ALSO: Brits across Germany urged to apply for residence permit

The move risks unleashing economic chaos, as Britain is scheduled to end ties with its biggest trade partner after 46 years on March 29, no matter what.

Appearing before MPs in a voice half-breaking due to a cold, May defiantly vowed to fight on, saying she “profoundly” rejected the outcome.

“The deal we've negotiated is the best and indeed the only deal,” she told the hushed chamber moments after the vote.

May promised to allow MPs to vote on a “no deal” option on Wednesday and, if that is rejected as expected, to decide on Thursday whether to ask the EU to delay Brexit.

She said parliament faced “unenviable choices” if it voted for an extension, including revoking Brexit, holding a second referendum or leaving with another deal.

SEE ALSO: 'We'll move if they have us': The Brits who want to relocate to Germany as Brexit looms

However, eurosceptics believe the current deal is so bad that it is worth the risk of leaving with no plan.

The latest vote comes two years after Britain set the clock ticking on its departure from the EU following a highly divisive referendum in 2016.

Michel Barnier, the EU chief Brexit negotiator, said Brussels had nothing more to offer and must now brace for the possibility of a messy divorce.

“The EU has done everything it can to help get the Withdrawal Agreement over the line,” Barnier tweeted.

“The impasse can only be solved in the #UK. Our 'no-deal' preparations are now more important than ever before.”

But a spokeswoman for European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said EU members would consider a “reasoned request” for a Brexit delay.

SEE ALSO: No-deal Brexit: Which EU member state is being most generous to Britons?

'Deal is dead'

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour party who has been trying to force snap elections, said May must now admit that her government's overarching strategy had failed.

“Their deal, their proposal, the one the prime minister's put, is clearly dead,” Corbyn said, calling on her to negotiate for a softer Brexit to keep close economic ties with the EU.

After MPs first rejected the 585-page Brexit deal in January, May promised changes to the hated backstop plan which is intended to keep open the border with EU member Ireland.

She announced she had secured the promised “legally binding changes” to the backstop — which would keep Britain in the EU's customs union if and until a new way was found to avoid frontier checks — after a last-minute trip to Strasbourg to meet EU leaders on the eve of the vote.

 'No third chance'

The backstop is designed to protect the peace process in Northern Ireland, which involved the removal of border checks with the Republic of Ireland.

Brexit supporters wanted a unilateral way out of it, or a time limit to the arrangement, but the EU said this would make it worthless.

Leaders across Europe also united behind a message that this was the best and final offer Britain could expect.

“There will be no third chance,” Juncker said after his talks on Monday with May.

If MPs vote against a no-deal exit on Wednesday, and want to postpone Brexit, the other 27 EU nations would need to agree.

SEE ALSO: 'Negative effects will occur': No-deal Brexit threatens German jobs

Their leaders will meet in Brussels for a summit on March 21-22.

But any postponement may have to be short-lived. Juncker on Monday said Brexit “should be complete before the European elections” at the end of May.

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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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