'Sacrificed on the altar of trade': Brits in Europe feel betrayed by Brexit deal

British nationals living in Europe say they are alarmed by claims that their rights have been protected by the Brexit deal sealed by Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker.

One Briton, Ingrid Taylor, who is settled in Germany, described claims that their rights were now guaranteed as “a barefaced lie”.

Brexit impacts on the future lives of an estimated 1.2 million Britons settled in Europe, most of them working. They have accused May and Juncker of sacrificing them in the rush to sign off phase one of Brexit talks.

“After what happened on Friday, the anger has risen,” she said. “We feel betrayed, we feel anger, we feel we have been sacrificed on the altar of trade.”

One of the biggest fears of Britons in Europe is that they will remain “landlocked” in the country in which they now live, unable to move across borders to work for meetings, or for business contracts.British in Europe, an organisation representing 10 core campaign groups, has called on the European parliament to vote against endorsing the deal struck between May and Juncker on Friday.

“We are very upset about it, as it is not fixed. The media are being told that we can live as we did before and that is simply not the case,” said Jane Golding, chair of British in Europe.

“In May, the European commission offered to confirm our existing rights but the UK government didn’t accept the offer, and now we are left worse off.”

The row centres on a promise made by the European commission in May to guarantee that Britons already settled in the EU could continue to move freely around Europe for work, holidays or retirement.

It would have meant that a British family who had moved to Germany or any other country 30 years ago could still plan on retiring in the south of France, or working across borders, as was their entitlement under EU law.

But to the shock of British in Europe, the commission reneged on the offer in Julyafter the UK declined its overall offer and came up with its own, limiting the rights of EU citizens post-Brexit.

“The offer was on the table and it could have been agreed there and then, but because of the intransigence of the government towards EU citizens in the UK, they took it off,” said Taylor.

The European parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, warned on Friday it would not approve the deal unless it included those rights for Britons in Europe.
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“This deal is even worse than we expected. After 18 months of wrangling, the UK and EU have sold 4.5 million people down the river in a grubby bargain,” said British in Europe in a statement.

Sue Wilson, chair of campaign group Bremain in Spain, voiced similar concerns.

“The Tories are crowing as if they’ve pulled off a major success that we should be celebrating and accepting with gratitude. I can assure you that British citizens in the EU are not celebrating or grateful, but more fearful than ever of being thrown under the Brexit bus,” she said.

“Rather than resolve these outstanding issues, both sides have clearly agreed to lower the bar as to what constitutes ‘sufficient progress’,” she added.

Wilson fears that “citizens’ rights issues will be buried under discussions of trade and transition” in the coming year.

In the UK, groups campaigning for the rights of EU citizens are also wary of the deal. Nicolas Hatton, cofounder of campaign group the3million, said that there was a “big gap between what the government is claiming what EU citizens know is happening”.

Hatton has had many English friends come up to congratulate him after Friday. “They say ‘well done’”, he said. “The government has done a good job on misleading everyone.”