The EU's Lisbon Treaty states: To get EU citizenship, one must hold "the nationality of a Member State...." | Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Memo to Fleet Street: No post-Brexit EU citizenship for you The European Parliament has no plans to give Britons ‘associated’ citizenship — and in any case has no power to do so.

The EU is not considering plans to grant "associate citizenship" to British nationals after the U.K. leaves the bloc, several British media reports notwithstanding.

The suggestion was made in an 66-word amendment floated, and then withdrawn, to a non-binding European Parliament resolution on the future of the European Union, voted on Thursday, which has no legal and little political impact on the Brexit negotiations set to start next year.

What's more, the Lisbon Treaty of the EU doesn't allow for any kind of citizenship — associated or otherwise — for citizens of countries who don't belong to the EU. To wit, the bloc's de facto constitution states that EU citizenship "shall be additional to and not replace national citizenship" and that to obtain EU citizenship a person must "[hold] the nationality of a Member State...." There are no existing plans to change the treaty.

In 2014, the European Parliament voted against schemes whereby non-EU nationals could purchase residency rights in an EU member state. MEPs at the time said: "EU citizenship implies the holding of a stake in the Union and depends on a person’s ties with Europe and the Member States or on personal ties with EU citizens."

This week's resolution notes that "the constitutional elements of the Union ... are essential, indivisible pillars of the Union..." and that "this constitutional unity cannot be undone during the negotiations of the exit of the United Kingdom from the Union."

Guy Verhofstadt, the Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator, said during the vote that he withdrew the proposal for a special "citizenship" status for British nationals in order to include it in a separate non-binding resolution on the U.K.'s exit negotiations, to be prepared for spring. This resolution also isn't binding on anyone.

Not everyone was convinced by Verhofstadt's rationale, and some MEPs suggested the former Belgian prime minister and Liberal leader in the Parliament was playing political games. “I think it was withdrawn precisely because it would have been defeated [in the vote on Thursday],” said MEP Ashley Fox, the leader of the Conservatives in the Parliament and a member of the committee that considered the resolution.

The European Parliament's role in the negotiations will be limited to granting consent to the final deal negotiated between the EU and the U.K., although Verhofstadt is likely to be present in some meetings.

Earlier in the week, Michel Barnier, who will lead the negotiations on behalf of the EU's remaining 27 member states, ruled out "cherry-picking" the best bits of EU membership.

"Being a member of the European Union comes with rights and benefits," he told reporters. "Third countries can never have the same rights and benefits since they are not subject to the same obligations."