EU freedom of movement rules could continue for up to two years after Brexit

EU-27 diplomats plan to instruct Michel Barnier to demand stricter terms for the proposed Brexit transition period. 
EU-27 diplomats plan to instruct Michel Barnier to demand stricter terms for the proposed Brexit transition period.  Credit: Francois Lenoir/Reuters

The European Union will demand that EU citizens arriving in the UK before 2021 be allowed to live and work in the UK indefinitely as the price for the Brexit transition period.

EU freedom of movement rules could continue to apply in Britain for up to two years after Brexit, if British negotiators cave to the fresh demands from Brussels ahead of transition talks.  

Theresa May must secure a transition deal to reassure anxious businesses but agreeing to the demand risks the fury of Brexiteers who want 29 March 2019 to spell the end of freedom of movement in Britain.

Capitulation would mean an extra 18 months to two years of unlimited EU migration, with people arriving benefitting from the same protected status as EU citizens living in Britain before ‘Brexit Day’.

Draft instructions for Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, have revealed the bloc has toughened its stance ahead of talks over the transition period.

The transition agreement will come into force after Brexit Day on 29 March 2019. It will effectively “deep-freeze” the UK’s membership of the single market and customs union for about two years, affording British businesses and the government valuable time to prepare for exit.

In December, the UK and European Commission agreed that EU citizens living in Britain before the cut-off date of 29 March 2019 would have their residency rights protected after Brexit.

That deal, along with agreement on the so-called Brexit bill and the Irish border, secured “sufficient progress” at December’s EU summit.  EU-27 leaders then gave the greenlight for talks on the transition period, Mrs May’s next significant Brexit hurdle, to begin.

EU-27 governments now want the cut-off date to be pushed back to the end of the transition period and the special status for EU citizens extended to those arriving in the UK before the last day of transition at the end of 2020.

People arriving in Britain after Brexit but before 2021 could stay in the UK indefinitely and for the most part be given work permits under the new immigration system.

Central and Eastern European countries, including Poland, are behind the demand, according to the Financial Times, which obtained the draft negotiating mandate destined for Mr Barnier’s desk.

The EU-27 has also demanded stricter terms on trade agreements and fishing rights than in a previous version of the document, further complicating the prospects of a successful negotiation.

The document requires that British ministers seek Brussels’ permission to remain part of trade agreements struck by the EU after 29 March 2019. As things stand, Britain would fall out of those EU free trade agreements, including pacts with Canada and South Korea, which were negotiated by the European Commission.

The diplomats strengthened language prohibiting Britain from entering into new agreements with non-EU countries to replace the lost deals “unless authorised to do so by the union,” the FT reported yesterday.

They moved to underline that Britain’s share of fishing catches in UK waters was not open to negotiation. The share has been fixed for decades under the relative stability “quota arrangement”.

The new text said there would be “specific consultations” over fishing during the transition period but no procedure to negotiate the total catch allowed in British waters.

The latest draft also makes explicit that the legal effect of EU law will be the same in Britain as any other EU member state.

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