I have started a petition on change.org <https://t.co/zWRt5jWRzJ>, with
the intention of submitting it to the European Parliament when it gains
sufficient support (the EP online portal for petitions allows people to
register support, but the first login takes a day, so it is not suitable
for collecting signatures). Here is the text.
Our European citizenship is a fundamental right. Please defend
it. <https://t.co/zWRt5jWRzJ>
We are citizens of the European Union. In the Charter of Fundamental
Rights of the EU
<http://www.europarl.europa.eu/charter/pdf/text_en.pdf>, the Union
committed itself to the principle that each and every citizen has
basic rights. However, the treaties did not directly create distinct
legal protections of the status of a citizen, which were considered
to be sufficiently protected by the actions of Member States, and
Protocol 30 specifically reserves judicial processes relating to
such rights to the United Kingdom. If the United Kingdom ceases to
be a Member State, British nationals may no longer additionally
become European citizens. It does not follow that the fundamental
rights currently held by British nationals should be treated as if
they never existed.
The EU needs now to consider how to deal both with the rights
acquired by UK citizens and those acquired in the UK by citizens of
other countries. Citizenship has been described as ‘the right to
have rights’. If the rights of citizenship are truly fundamental, no
person who currently enjoys the status of a European citizen should
have their citizenship removed. No process which denies European
citizens the right to have rights can be considered consistent with
the Charter.
The consent of the European Parliament is required before any
agreement with the departing member state can be concluded. We
therefore petition the European Parliament, as the guarantor of EU
citizenship, to safeguard the fundamental rights flowing from EU
citizenship both for us and for those elsewhere in the EU. We ask
the Parliament and the institutions of the EU to ensure that British
citizens who are currently citizens of the European Community, and
who wish to preserve that status, should on application be able to
retain European citizenship after the UK ceases to be a Member State.
If you agree, please sign the petition by following this link
<https://t.co/zWRt5jWRzJ> at https://t.co/zWRt5jWRzJ .
It's been suggested to me that this might also be an appropriate subject
for the European Citizens Initiative, which is a direct legislative
proposal to the Commission: more at
http://ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative/public/welcome . This calls
however for representatives from 7 countries, and competence in
legislative drafting; does anyone know anyone capable of taking that
forward?
--
Paul Spicker
Emeritus Professor of Public Policy
Robert Gordon University
tel: +44 1334850164
website: http://www.spicker.uk/
blog: http://blog.spicker.uk/
