mmo wrote:As an Irish citizen living in the UK, I disagree!
First of all, we will now have to get IDs. Why? We will the only group who is required to get IDs now adding another layer of onerous paperwork by the Home Office. Secondly, a UK citizen will be able to to move to the EU with no income threshold while EU citizens will have to demonstrate 18,400 GBP/person. The British Citizens will have their rights protected by the EU Courts while the EU Citizens will be handled in the UK courts. In my case, my children and wife are non-EU Citizens, but as long as I am exercising my treaty rights, they have the right to live and work here. Nothing has been done to clarify their status.
The list goes on and on. The EU's offer was on the table before the UK played their cards. In a nutshell, the EU guaranteed all citizens, including UK nationals living in Europe, would be treated equally and lose no current rights. So, the UK offer is miles apart.
Will ID cards be rolled out to all immigrants? If so, then I don't see a problem. There might not actually be a concrete answer to that yet though, since everything seems to be "up in the air".
On your second point, I think it is inevitable that the UK will not be so generous towards EU citizens since one of the main selling points of Brexit was ending freedom of movement. So it seems like the two parties will never be able to agree. Essentially, it seems like the EU desires some form of 'Freedom of Movement-Lite', while the UK would like to have full control over the border.
It makes sense that anyone resident in Britain would be under the jurisdiction of British courts, since the UK will no longer be in the European Union. Similarly, if you were to move to the United States, then I'm afraid that European Courts would be unable to exercise any kind of jurisdiction over you - even if you do not become a US Citizen. Allowing a foreign court to exercise jurisdiction over a group of individuals in a sovereign nation is not something I can see working very well.
But then I'm not sure why the EU wishes to grant such extensive rights to British Citizens living in the EU. It would be quite understandable if they required them to obtain a visa.
Dutchy wrote:Don't know if it is a fair offer from Mrs. May, the EU don't seem to be thinking it is fair:
"The British Government proposes that – the day after Brexit – Europeans obtain the status of ‘third country nationals’. These nationals would get fewer rights in the UK than British citizens are offered throughout the EU.”
I think I've mostly covered this in my reply to
mmo. I think, at the root of all of this is that both parties need to accept that there will be changes to their relationship. Particularly, the EU should recognize that the UK will have the right to decide who enters the country. Under Mrs May's offer, EU citizens currently resident in the UK (and potentially future EU migrants) will be offered a privileged status. To frame the issue a different way - is this entirely fair to other immigrants living in the UK who haven't come from Europe? It is already much harder for them to enter the UK, and they have been afforded no special privileges.