Donald Tusk has appeared to blame the UK electorate for causing “anxiety and uncertainty” for millions of British and EU citizens living abroad, in an extraordinary letter that immediately embroiled him in a row with Conservative MPs.

The president of the European council wrote to a group of 80 mainly Tory MPs arguing that EU politicians could not be blamed for the impact of the Brexit vote and saying the real cause of the problems was the referendum result on 23 June.

He accused the British parliamentarians of making an argument that “has nothing to do with reality” after they claimed in a letter that the lead EU negotiator for Brexit, Michel Barnier, was “worryingly indifferent to securing reciprocal rights for our and your resident citizens”.

Tusk hit back in a letter he published on Twitter by pointing to the decision of the British public to back Brexit as the cause of uncertainty, and said the problem could be solved by Theresa May triggering article 50 as soon as possible.



“In your letter you state that the European commission, and in particular [Michel] Barnier, are attempting to prevent negotiations, thereby creating ‘anxiety and uncertainty for the UK and EU citizens living in one another’s territories’,” he said.

“It is a very interesting argument; the only problem being that it had nothing to do with reality. Would you not agree that the only source of anxiety and uncertainty is rather the decision on Brexit? And that the only way to dispel the fears and doubts of all citizens concerned is the quickest possible start of the negotiations based on article 50 of the treaty?”

Tusk said the EU “stands ready” to negotiate Britain’s exit from the EU, including reciprocal rights, but could only do so once the process formally begins. “Let me reiterate, however, that the decision about triggering article 50 belongs only to the UK, which we fully respect,” he said.

His response was to an earlier letter, organised by the Tory MPs Michael Tomlinson and Steve Baker, and signed by MPs including Michael Gove and Iain Duncan Smith, that suggested that the issue of reciprocal rights was too important to wait until article 50 was triggered.

My reply to the UK MPs on the status of EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens living and working in Europe: https://t.co/NR0KC80j3k pic.twitter.com/lBRQfv7rr5 — Donald Tusk (@eucopresident) November 29, 2016

“[Barnier’s] attempts to prevent negotiations taking place on this issue between the democratically elected governments of EU member states are making it harder to achieve what is in everyone’s interest: ending the anxiety and uncertainty for UK and EU citizens living in one another’s territories,” it said.

Tomlinson then hit out at the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, accusing her of having “quit the moral high ground” over the issue.

The Conservative MP’s attack was in response to reports suggesting Merkel would not guarantee reciprocal rights for UK citizens living in Germany until formal Brexit negotiations had begun, and that she had told May as much during a bilateral meeting.

Tomlinson accused Merkel of having “entered the fray with the implication that human beings will be traded ‘tit for tat’ in a political playground”.

“I read with dismay the article on Politico that Angela Merkel, in common with Michel Barnier, refused to engage in a civilised way on reciprocal rights and failed to give assurances that UK citizens living in Europe would remain entitled to live and work there,” said Tomlinson, who is the deputy chair of the European research group of MPs.

The former environment secretary Owen Paterson also criticised the German leader, suggesting that other countries were willing to try to reach an early deal. “Angela Merkel is wrong to be intransigent. She must act now to reassure millions of UK and EU resident citizens,” he said.

Reacting to Tusk’s letter, the former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith said: “EU politicians should stop playing politics with people’s lives. They should agree to end the speculation and take away the anxiety that people feel about their futures. The EU yet again puts systems above people.”

Baker said: “The EU is doing the wrong thing, being defensive. It is on the back foot through sheer dogmatism, and now in the wrong.”



Tomlinson sent Tusk a direct message on Twitter saying his “response to my letter is disappointing and wrongheaded. He is putting EU process above and beyond human beings”.

The Tory MP Julian Knight said: “So I can now tell the worried EU citizens who do come to my surgery on this issue that it is the EU which is holding them to ransom.”

The row comes after the prime minister of Malta said Britain might not be in a position to trigger article 50 to begin leaving the EU by the government’s deadline of the end of March 2017.

Joseph Muscat, whose country takes over the EU’s rotating presidency in January, said he would not be surprised if legal proceedings resulted in the divorce between the UK and the EU being delayed.

Next week, the UK supreme court will hear a government appeal against a high court ruling that parliament must be consulted before article 50 can be invoked.

Muscat also said European leaders were “not bluffing” when they insisted that Britain would not retain the single market access it currently has if UK politicians also wanted to curb immigration, adding that the European parliament could veto any deal.