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EU leaders toughen Brexit terms as French lawyer attempts to block referendum result
| Published: | 26 Apr at 6 PM |
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At the same time as EU leaders toughen their stance on Brexit, a French lawyer is urging UK expats who were unable to vote in the referendum due to the 15 year rule to contact him with their thoughts on how Brexit will affect them.
Bordeaux-based lawyer Julien Fouchet is preparing a legal attempt to prove the Brexit referendum was illegal due to the fact that excluding long-term British expatriates was unfair. The vote itself, he states, should be re-run in order that all British adults in EU member states should have the chance to state their preferences. He’s asking all those who were disenfranchised by the 15-year rule to contact him with their testimonies of the harm Brexit will do to their lives and rights.
Fouchet believes the referendum as it was run is illegal, adding he is not opposed to Brexit itself although he is preparing to take his case to the European courts. Whether or not he succeeds in getting his views heard and judged, it’s now certain European Union leaders are preparing to take a far tougher line with Britain over its treatment of the three million EU citizens at present in the UK.
Yesterday’s Reuters report stated EU politicians are to insist on a guarantee of permanent residence for all EU citizens who arrived in Britain before the 2019 deadline and have been or expect to be resident for five years. The move is believed to be an attempt to cut off any action by the UK which results in EU citizens being summarily forced to leave after Brexit is finalised. Following media-led horror stories about EU expats being unable to exercise their rights to permanent UK residency, the bloc’s leaders are also demanding the British Home Office is able to provide a smooth, simple and fairly executed process.
The nine-page draft’s final, tightened version signed off by all 27 EU peers includes a promise by Brussels that EU expats living in the UK will not lose out as a result of Brexit. It states those who arrive in Britain between now and the final cut-off day must retain the same rights as those already resident, including the right to bring their families to join them and to make both pre-and post-Brexit claims for benefits including social housing.
Last-minute changes made to the draft on Monday clarify that a future trade deal between Britain and the EU would not guarantee the UK financial services industry’s access to the 27-nation bloc and would insist that any such trade agreement made in the future and including financial services would require all British financial service providers to submit to EU oversight and regulation. The points raised by the EU leaders are seen as binding for the EU executive’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier who, to date, has taken a softer line on the plight of both EU and UK expats.
Bordeaux-based lawyer Julien Fouchet is preparing a legal attempt to prove the Brexit referendum was illegal due to the fact that excluding long-term British expatriates was unfair. The vote itself, he states, should be re-run in order that all British adults in EU member states should have the chance to state their preferences. He’s asking all those who were disenfranchised by the 15-year rule to contact him with their testimonies of the harm Brexit will do to their lives and rights.
Fouchet believes the referendum as it was run is illegal, adding he is not opposed to Brexit itself although he is preparing to take his case to the European courts. Whether or not he succeeds in getting his views heard and judged, it’s now certain European Union leaders are preparing to take a far tougher line with Britain over its treatment of the three million EU citizens at present in the UK.
Yesterday’s Reuters report stated EU politicians are to insist on a guarantee of permanent residence for all EU citizens who arrived in Britain before the 2019 deadline and have been or expect to be resident for five years. The move is believed to be an attempt to cut off any action by the UK which results in EU citizens being summarily forced to leave after Brexit is finalised. Following media-led horror stories about EU expats being unable to exercise their rights to permanent UK residency, the bloc’s leaders are also demanding the British Home Office is able to provide a smooth, simple and fairly executed process.
The nine-page draft’s final, tightened version signed off by all 27 EU peers includes a promise by Brussels that EU expats living in the UK will not lose out as a result of Brexit. It states those who arrive in Britain between now and the final cut-off day must retain the same rights as those already resident, including the right to bring their families to join them and to make both pre-and post-Brexit claims for benefits including social housing.
Last-minute changes made to the draft on Monday clarify that a future trade deal between Britain and the EU would not guarantee the UK financial services industry’s access to the 27-nation bloc and would insist that any such trade agreement made in the future and including financial services would require all British financial service providers to submit to EU oversight and regulation. The points raised by the EU leaders are seen as binding for the EU executive’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier who, to date, has taken a softer line on the plight of both EU and UK expats.
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