Verbatim report of proceedings

Tuesday, 27 April 2021 - Brussels

The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement - The outcome of EU-UK negotiations (debate)

  Luis Garicano (Renew). – Mr President, I lived in the UK for a decade and my eldest son now lives there, and the difference between the freedoms that I enjoyed and the ones he will enjoy are stark. I enjoyed free movement. He can look forward to crossing borders, being in queues and paying for costly visas each time he travels. My generation enjoyed the Erasmus programme. His generation – and all other UK students – will not be allowed to travel around the continent and get to know other educational systems and other cultures. I enjoyed portable social security rights. He will not enjoy such rights. He, like another three million European citizens in the UK, has gone from being a citizen to an immigrant overnight, and the same is happening to 1.2 million UK diaspora Brits, who will be deprived of the right to citizenship and will have to endure nightmares of restricted working rights.

The UK Government wanted this and we accept it and we will vote for it, but it’s not a good deal, as no deal that curtails rights and limits the ability of people to move could be. I hope a new generation of British people will continue the struggle and, in due time, we will see the UK return to the European Union.