The Treatment of the Three Million EU Citizens symptomatic of future Negotiations with the EU

The three million EU citizens’ rights were the first test of Theresa May’s negotiation stance with the EU and it does not look promising for future negotiations.

In her Lancaster House speech on the 17^th of January Theresa May has laid out her future vision of the UK/EU relationship. She used many warm words towards the EU pointing out both common interests and history. Peel away the warm words though and her message was a lot more menacing and transparent in the way she intends to deal with the EU.

When laying out the UK’s reason to leave the EU she was very clear on blaming the EU for being ‘inflexible’ and having ‘a vice-like grip on policies’. These were cleverly crafted phrases setting out her long term negotiating strategy with the EU. The terms were deliberately chosen to be referred back to whenever negotiations are not going the way the Government is hoping.

Rather than being honest and admitting that the 17.1 million people who voted for the UK’s exit have placed the country into a difficult negotiation position potentially forcing the EU into a hard stance to protect its own interests, Theresa May, with one speech, has defined the only scapegoat the electorate should be looking at. When the Government fails to achieve one of its 12 point objectives the blame is not sought at home but laid with the ‘inflexible’ EU holding on to policies with a ‘vice-like grip’.

The negotiations on the three million EU citizens in the UK was the first and so far only test of Theresa May’s stance towards the EU. Despite all sides of the Brexit debate from the LibDems, Open Britain, British Expats to Leave.EU and even Nigel Farage calling for unilateral guarantee of EU citizens’ rights before triggering Article 50, the Prime Minister chose the route of getting a reciprocal agreement with the EU instead.

This approach was always doomed to fail for two reasons. Firstly, any negotiation with the EU is a lengthy process in which 27 member states have to be consulted and the rights of EU citizens has both major legal and monetary implications far too complex to be agreed within the short timeframe. Secondly, more importantly even, she purposefully broke protocol. She tried to negotiate before there was anything to negotiate. Thus, the only reason for pursuing this futile undertaking had to be scoring political anti-EU points by laying blame at the Commission and Angela Merkel.

In the marathon of negotiations this was the first real life test and Theresa May, against all sensible advice, chose to openly blame the EU for the situation caused by the UK and the 17.1 million people who voted for Brexit. The three million EU citizens in the UK and the 1.2 million Brits in the EU are the first victims of the blame game, supported by 40 years of unopposed anti-EU rhetoric of the Red Tops, laid out so clearly in her Lancaster House speech. The next two years of negotiations will show how many more of her failures will be blamed on the EU – the groundwork has definitely been laid and it seems the electorate is swallowing it.