EU states raise threat of legal action over UK residency rights

 

EU states raise threat of legal action over UK residency rights

 

Officials say concern is over European citizens given ‘pre-settled status’ having to reapply for ‘settled status’

 

Peter Foster and George Parker in London and Mehreen Khan in Brussels YESTERDAY

https://www.ft.com/content/5fecabc2-6246-4109-aa10-939e66809fed?fbclid=IwAR2i6nobTOWm1x-oeqO4iNU3zb10qPmFmUquzmLLTxlYMyGDcVqEr5xxhRE

 

EU member states are pushing the European Commission to consider taking legal action against the UK if it does not provide better guarantees to citizens of the bloc living in the country since before Brexit.

 

The warnings came as the June 30 deadline passed for millions of EU citizens living in the UK to register for “settled status” in order to retain the right to live in Britain, claim benefits and use healthcare services.

 

Boris Johnson is also facing pressure from MPs to scrap the deadline and introduce automatic settled status, but he insisted that EU citizens had had long enough to register. “I urge them to get on with it,” he said.

 

Ian Blackford, Westminster leader of the Scottish National party, said that unless Johnson showed more flexibility, EU citizens could face dawn raids, a hostile environment and the deportation of vulnerable people.

 

Several EU diplomats with knowledge of internal discussions warned that some member states were unhappy with the UK process, and wanted Brussels to launch legal action under the EU-UK withdrawal agreement if the situation did not improve.

 

The British unveiled their post-Brexit residency scheme in June 2018, saying that EU nationals who had lived in the UK for five years before December 31 2020, the end of the post-Brexit transition period, would be given settled status. Those who had not completed the full five years’ residency to qualify for settled status would receive “pre-settled status”.

 

EU diplomats warned that the decision to require those with pre-settled status to apply a second time for settled status after five years’ residency, or risk losing their rights, was against both the spirit and letter of the withdrawal agreement.

 

“Missing the deadline for settled status for EU citizens with pre-settled status after accumulating five years of residence in the UK cannot lead to the automatic loss of their status,” said an EU diplomat.

 

An EU official confirmed the issue had been repeatedly raised by Brussels with the UK government, which had been urged to show flexibility and “generosity”. “We believe that citizens should be placed above the fray,” said the official. 

 

Three diplomats with knowledge of EU internal discussions said member states were prepared to advocate legal action if the disagreement was not resolved. One added the issue was currently the subject of “very frank” technical discussions between the two sides. 

 

“Legal options will indeed be looked into,” added another diplomat, while a third said infringement proceedings would start as early as next month if progress was not made. 

 

A senior EU official added that while it was too soon to talk of a clear UK breach of the withdrawal agreement, the commission was taking the issue “very seriously indeed” and would “act accordingly” if the issue was not addressed.

 

More than 2m EU citizens out of more than 5.6m who have applied for settled status have only achieved the interim pre-settled status, which experts have warned creates the risk of large numbers failing to realise, or remember, that they need to reapply.

 

Catherine Barnard, professor of EU law at Cambridge university, said it was not clear under the withdrawal agreement whether a person with pre-settled status should lose their rights if they had failed to apply to convert to full settled status.

 

“Even though UK law appears to envisage that anyone that doesn’t apply will lose their rights to reside in the UK, the withdrawal agreement — which is directly enforceable in the UK — says they have the right to reside permanently once they have completed five years,” she added.

 

Priti Patel, the home secretary, has said that the UK government will be “compassionate, proportionate and pragmatic” in handling cases of those who missed the deadline, even though EU officials believe the UK is being “too strict” in its interpretation of the agreement.

 

The UK government is currently fighting in the courts to avoid paying benefits, including universal credit, to those with pre-settled status who cannot show they have a further right to reside — such as through being a worker.

 

The Home Office said it had been more generous than the withdrawal agreement required by allowing all EU citizens resident in the UK by 31 December 2020 to apply for settled status.

 

The department added that pre-settled status reflected the rights that EU citizens had under EU rules on free movement, when they needed to reside in a country for five-plus years before acquiring permanent residence.

 

“We have kept the EU fully informed as we developed our plans for the EUSS [settlement scheme] and are disappointed they are raising these concerns at this late stage,” it added.