On Wednesday 22 March, the European Commission registered two new citizens' initiatives related to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU, which will be officially notified on 29 March. The two initiatives have to do with the right of citizens of the EU in the context of Brexit. However, the Commission rejected a third initiative, which aimed to stop the UK from leaving ('Stop Brexit').
The first initiative, entitled "EU Citizenship for Europeans: United in Diversity in Spite of jus soli and jus sanguinis", calls upon the Commission to separate citizenship of the EU from the nationality of a given member state in the context of the UK leaving the EU, the Commission explains.
The second, entitled "Retaining European Citizenship", asks the Commission to preserve the right of EU citizens to move freely and live in the EU.
At this point, the Commission's decisions relate only to whether the initiatives proposed are legally acceptable, not to their substance.
The Commission found that these two initiatives met the registration conditions required under the regulation on European citizens' initiatives.
On Wednesday morning, the Commission's negotiator-in-chief for Brexit, Michel Barnier, incidentally notified the Commissioners of the approach to be followed in the framework of the forthcoming negotiations. In particular, he stressed the importance of resolving the question of the rights of European citizens as soon as possible and, more generally, of removing all uncertainties raised by Brexit at the earliest possible opportunity, reported Margaritis Schinas, spokesperson to the institution.
3.2 million citizens of the EU currently reside in the United Kingdom and there are 1.2 million British citizens living in the EU. Barnier was expected to address the issue more broadly before the Committee of the Regions that afternoon (see other article). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)