EP to investigate plight of EU nationals seeking UK PR

The European parliament is to investigate the British government’s treatment of EU nationals living in the UK who have applied for citizenship or permanent residency since the Brexit vote.

Sophie in ‘t Veld, a deputy leader of the liberal group in the parliament, told the Guardian that she intends to form a cross-party taskforce to examine cases where EU nationals have faced a “bureaucratic wall” when seeking to secure their future in the UK.
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In ‘t Veld intends to form the taskforce after Theresa May triggers article 50 and begins Brexit negotiations. She will also request that the European parliament’s committee on civil liberties, on which she sits, calls a representative of the British government to come to Brussels to account for cases where EU nationals have felt unfairly treated by the state or by British employers as a consequence of the Brexit vote.
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Figures provided by the Home Office, following a question from the chair of the Commons Brexit committee, Hilary Benn, show there has been a 50% increase in the number of applicants from EU states seeking permanent residency since the Brexit vote on 23 June. The number of applications rose from 36,555 between April and June 2016 to 56,024 between July and September, according to the latest figures available.
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Before Brexit was on the agenda the EU started an infringement procedure against the UK because of its insistence that EU nationals who were unemployed and lacked health insurance were unable to settle in the country.

In ‘t Veld said she was concerned the commission may have dropped its action against the UK despite there being no change in policy.
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“Once article 50 has been triggered, and negotiations have started, I want to have a taskforce inside the European parliament that citizens can contact directly so that we can have a clear idea of the difficulties people are facing and try to help.

“Brexit will be partly a technical negotiation, but ultimately it is about people. The consequence cannot be that millions of people are penalised.”
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