EU plans to foot £230m bill for EU citizens’ residency rights

[secret.simon]

EU plans to foot £230m bill for EU citizens’ residency rights - The Times (behind paywall).

Brussels will pay the costs of “settled status” residency applications for more than three million EU nationals in Britain after Brexit, in a plan said to be backed by Jean-Claude Juncker.

The European Commission president will agree to pay Home Office bills of up to £230 million for EU citizens to secure their permanent residency rights in Britain, a source in Brussels said.
...
If agreed upon, British taxpayers would contribute some £30 million via payments that will continue to the EU budget until the end of 2020.

It seems that the proposal only covers the EU citizens resident in the UK who do not already have a DCPR or other documentary evidence, for whom "settled status" documentation would be free-of-cost anyway. Currently, the plan also does not cover EEA family members.

[Obie]

One of the most unique thing about the EU is that it looks after its citizens.

Therefore the steps they have taken does not surprises me.