Guy VERHOFSTADT, European Parliament's Chief Brexit negotiator, gives the opening remarks on the situation and rights of EU citizens in the UK during the joint hearing at the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and Committee on Petitions (PETI) in the EP in Brussels. Statements by Claude MORAES (S&amp;D, UK), Chair of the LIBE Committee, Cecilia WIKSTROM (ALDE, SE), Chair of the PETI Committee, Renate WEBER (ALDE, RO), Vice-Chair of the EMPL Committee, Danuta Maria HUBNER (EPP, PL), Chair of AFCO Committee, and Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE), EP's Chief Brexit negotiator.

Brussels

Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

VERHOFSTADT, Guy (Renew, BE)

article 50 of the Lisbon treaty (T)

EU - United Kingdom (T)

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

MORAES, Claude (S&D, UK)

WEBER, Manfred (EPP, DE)

HÜBNER, Danuta Maria (EPP, PL)

WIKSTRÖM, Cecilia (ALDE, SE)

joint hearing

Committee on Petitions

The situation and rights of EU citizens in the UK: extracts from the opening remarks by Guy VERHOFSTADT, European Parliament's Chief Brexit negotiator

SOUNDBITE (English), Claude MORAES (S&amp;D, UK), Chair of the LIBE Committee, The precise situation of our citizens during the negotiation and after is anything but settled. There's compelling and building evidence since the Brexit vote for my constituency casework responsible journalism and the voices of organizations and the EU citizens themselves that some EU citizens in the UK are already experiencing great uncertainty about their position. One concrete example of the 28% of the EU citizens in the UK who've applied for citizenship since the referendum have had their application rejected or declared invalid. But this is only one example in a complex patchwork which we today want to unpick.

SOUNDBITE (English), Cecilia WIKSTR&#214;M (ALDE, SE), Chair of the PETI Committee, We can never allow BREXIT to split families. Families that exist thanks to the European free movement. We must also remember that every citizen besides national citizenship also has the European citizenship which is based on freedom and humanism which in it&rsquo;s spirit forms an essential part of European identity.

SOUNDBITE (English), Renate WEBER (ALDE, RO), Vice-Chair of the EMPL Committee , BREXIT would have an impact on the daily life of millions of EU citizens.Please allow me to give you some figures: more than 21000,000 tourists from the EU 27 member states visit the United Kingdom annually; 27 EU Fronter and cross border persons work in the United Kingdom; more than 50,000 are posted workers; 125,000 students from the EU 27 member states studied in the United Kingdom; 120,000 persons from the EU 27 member states are seeking jobs in the United Kingdom.

SOUNDBITE (English), Danuta Maria H&#220;BNER (EPP, PL), Chair of AFCO Committee , The protection of individual rights is within the EU legal order it is a very important element governed by fundamental constitutional principles of the European Union and that's why the protection of the citizens&rsquo; rights in the framework of the BREXIT process is paramount and a core of the Union&rsquo;s concerns. The response we will give to this fundamental issue during the negotiations would have impact on the lives of millions of citizens of the EU.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE), EP&apos;s Chief Brexit negotiator , In total, me, personally, I have received individual mails, a lot , between 6 - 7.000 from individual people, UK citizens, EU citizens; describing their personal situation.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE), What Parliament need to do, I think, is be ready with content, with a resolution at the moment when it is politically need , when we see that there are hesitations for example by EU or UK side to go further or to conclude on the issue of the citizens&rsquo; rights.

SOUNDBITE (English), Guy VERHOFSTADT (ALDE, BE), I think it's also possible to conclude on the citizens rights and to make it public so that we take away the uncertainty that exist today - even when I know very well that formally the chapter on the citizens right is a chapter of the withdrawal agreement based on article 50 of the Treaty. But nothing, nothing makes it impossible in the Treaty, or in the way we deal with the rights of citizens to start with it, to conclude on it, to make public what is the outcome of it ; and then to formalize it and that should be in the normal way as the first chapter of the withdrawal agreement and that will be taken.