The European Commission has longstanding concerns that the extended families of Europeans living in the UK aren’t getting what they were promised – and time is running out to address legal concerns under the Brexit deal.
The European Commission on Monday took the UK to court, for failing to grant EU citizens the full rights it says were promised under the 2019 Brexit deal.
Some three million EU citizens were living in the UK at the time it left the bloc – and the Commission says London isn’t sticking to its promise that they can continue living there on the same terms.
“There were several shortcomings in the United Kingdom’s implementation of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which continue to affect EU citizens under the Withdrawal Agreement,” the Commission said in a Monday statement, citing the right for workers to move and reside freely in other counties.
The Commission “decided to refer the United Kingdom to the [EU] Court of Justice”, it added. Luxembourg judges were given jurisdiction over disputes under the terms of a deal signed by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
In Brexit talks, the EU made the fate of Europeans already living in the UK one of its top three issues — alongside the UK settling its budget bill with Brussels, and safeguarding an open land border with Ireland.
The Commission worries that UK rules don’t reach far enough, and in July said that children in legal guardianship and other extended family members of EU citizens weren’t getting the rights they should have.
The referral to Luxembourg – alongside a parallel case the Commission brought against the UK concerning investment treaties with individual EU members – is now down to the wire.
The withdrawal deal included an 11-month transition period in which EU law continued to apply to the UK – and the Commission then has a four year window in which to refer cases to court, a period that is now due to expire within weeks, on 31 December 2024.
The EU’s most senior judges will then have to opine on the issue, a process which can in practice take months if not years.
The UK’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer, himself a former international human rights lawyer, has promised to reset what he describes as a botched Brexit deal, highlighting ongoing issues with touring musicians and the trade in food products.
In an emailed statement, a UK government spokesperson told Euronews the cases “relate to issues from when the UK was an EU member state and during the transition period,” but declined to comment further on ongoing legal proceedings.
“We remain focused on working to reset our relationship with the EU and to make Brexit work for the British people,” the UK spokesperson added.
UPDATE(16 December, 16:17): adds UK response.
