+++EMBARGO: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE+++

Responding to the European Commission’s legal proposals to prepare for the U.K. crashing out of the EU without a Brexit deal, Jane Golding, Co-Chair of British in Europe said:

1. A rough landing for British nationals on the continent

‘We are appalled to learn that, while aviation and financial services merit an extension of current agreements in the case of no deal, people do not.



This means that there will be no soft landing for over 1.2mn British nationals living on the continent who will have to adjust to life as third-country nationals overnight once all their EU rights have been stripped from them.

2. Commission plans: a barebones proposal for people

In practical terms with only 100 days to go, the Commission is merely asking the EU 27 to make sure we can still be considered legally resident on 30 March 2019 and stand ready to issue documents to provide evidence of that. This will be a massive and overwhelming task in some countries. After that, the EU 27 would then be asked to process applications for permanent third country national documents by the end of 2019.

3. EU and UK must safeguard citizens’ rights now