Instead of moving forward, negotiation on Brexit keep taking steps back. The British Prime Minister Theresa May said EU citizens who will arrive in Great Britain after the country leaves the Union they will not have the same rights of those who arrived earlier. A position that contradicts the many reassurances received in recent months by May, who is currently on a tour in Beijing to try to build an alliance to protect UK-China relations after Brexit.
Certainly, on this point the position of the European Commission is very different. Brussels conceded to London a transition period between 29 March 2019 (the day on which the official exit from the EU will take effect) and 31 December 2020. One of the assumptions of the agreement, however, is precisely that the status of EU citizens in the UK does not change one iota, at least until the end of the transition.
Instead, according to what reports the Guardian today, May warned that as early as March 29 next year there may be fewer safeguards. For example, they will be possible limitations in accessing social services, or the introduction of a mandatory work permit for those who want to reside in the country or still there registration on arrival.
It is unlikely that Brussels will accept without reacting this change of course by Downing Street number one, also because the status of Europeans on British soil is one of the (central) points of the negotiation on which the EU has always shown itself to be unwilling to negotiate .
In fact, the Belgian liberal Guy Verhofstadt, who coordinates the activities of the European Parliament on Brexit, did not mince words: "Citizens' rights during the transition period - he said - are a non-negotiable issue. We will never accept that some European citizens are treated differently from those who arrived previously".
It is possible that May has become less flexible on the subject due to the friction within the Conservative Party, in which the extremist component pushes for a clear discontinuity between before and after Brexit. The latest controversy dates back to a few days ago, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, spoke of "minimal differences" from an economic point of view after leaving the EU, unleashing the anger of those who would like a "Hard Brexit" .
