Joint statement from the UK Government and European Commission following a meeting of the Specialised Committee on Citizens’ Rights

The second meeting of the Specialised Committee on Citizens’ Rights was held today, co-chaired by officials from the European Commission and UK Government. A number of EU Member States also attended. The Committee has been established by the Withdrawal Agreement to monitor the implementation and application of the Citizens’ Rights part of the Withdrawal Agreement for EU citizens in the UK and UK nationals in the EU and their family members.

The EU and the UK exchanged updates on the implementation of the Citizens’ Rights part of the Withdrawal Agreement. The updates included details of residency systems across the UK and the EU and progress being made to issue a new residence status to UK nationals living in the EU and EU citizens living in the UK. Useful technical exchanges took place on dual nationality, declaratory systems across EU Member States and status under the UK’s EU Settlement Scheme.

Updates were exchanged on both sides, regarding plans for documentation that will be issued to Frontier Workers and social security coordination was also discussed. External representatives from “British in Europe”, representing UK nationals in the EU and “the3million”, representing EU citizens in the UK, were invited to present their views to the Committee in conformity with the rules of procedure.

The UK Government continues to publish statistics on the performance of the EU Settlement Scheme and the European Commission has published a consolidated list of residency systems, deadlines and information for all EU Member States. In addition, the Committee is working on a joint statistical report on residency under the Withdrawal Agreement.

The EU and the UK reiterated their commitment to complying with the legal obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement that protect Citizens’ Rights and to continue working very closely to ensure correct and timely implementation.

The UK and the EU agreed to meet again before the end of the transition period.