Dutch state appeals expats Brexit case

The Dutch state Thursday appealed a decision by an Amsterdam court to refer a landmark case over Brexit to Europe’s top court, as British expats demand clarification of their rights as EU citizens.

In what is believed to be the first such case as Britain prepares to leave the European Union next year, five Britons living in the Netherlands and two expat organisations took the government to court in January.

They argue they have independent rights as EU citizens, over and above being citizens of any specific EU member country — including Britain.

But lawyer Erik Pijnacker Hordijk, representing the Dutch government, told the appeals court Thursday their case “is groundless” and should be ruled as “inadmissible”.

Even in the event of a hard Brexit, where Britain would leave without a deal with the EU “it doesn’t mean that British citizens who legally live in the Netherlands will lose their residency rights,” he said.

“There is no chance that any of the plaintiffs will run the risk of being ejected from the country,” he maintained.

Estimates vary, but between 46,000 to 85,000 Brits are said to live in the Netherlands.

There is no reason “to believe … that they will run a serious risk of being told to leave the country,” Hordijk said.

But the group insist their legal rights as EU citizens — including freedom of movement — should remain and be protected by The Netherlands even after Britain withdraws from the 28-member body at midnight on March 29, 2019.

“Irrespective of how an eventual Brexit will look, the plaintiffs rights as EU citizens are already in jeopardy,” the group’s lawyer Christiaan Alberdingk Thijm told the judges.

“These plaintiffs are not second-rate citizens in the Netherlands. But if Brexit goes through, this is exactly what they are going to become.”

In what could have far-reaching implications for about one million Brits on the continent, judge Floris Bakels in February asked the European Court of Justice to answer two preliminary questions.

The questions are: “Does Brexit mean that Britons automatically lose their European citizenship or do they maintain their rights, and if so, under what conditions?”

– ‘Nowhere to go’ –

The rights of three million Europeans living in Britain has been a key issue in the Brexit negotiations, but the situation facing around one million British expats in the other 27 countries is more uncertain, the Migration Policy Institute Europe think-tank said in a report Thursday.

Observers say should the ECJ indeed rule that Britons have separate implicit rights as EU citizens it could have massive implications — including impacting current Brexit negotiations.

Thijm told AFP after the hearing that should British “lose those rights, their livelihood is in danger imminently… and that is what we’re trying to prevent.”

Dutch MPs later Thursday took up the Brexit issue with a special round-table organised in parliament.

“All of us are worried about our future rights,” said Sarah Parkes from the British in Europe group, urging the Dutch government to grant citizenship to Brits who have lived long-term in the country.

“Post-Brexit, if the Dutch state asks us to leave the Netherlands, we will have no-one to turn to and nowhere to go,” she said, explaining that many no longer had family or friends left in Britain.

Appeals court judges are expected to hand down their verdict in two months.