After Brexit the situation of Polish and other EU citizens living in UK will be regulated on the principle of mutuality, it will be exactly the same as the situation of Britons living and working in the EU, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said after meeting UK Prime Minister Theresa May in Warsaw on Thursday.
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Britain will develop a new model for its relations with Europe to ensure it retains single-market access while restricting freedom of movement, Prime Minister Theresa May has said.
Poles provide the UK’s largest group of foreign nationals, with 850,000 living in Britain.
Mrs May has refused to guarantee the rights of European Union citizens after Brexit unless similar guarantees are offered to Britons living and working overseas.
“The only circumstances in which that would not be possible would be if the rights of British citizens living in other European Union member states were not guaranteed”, May said on Wednesday (27 July) at a press conference with her Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi in Rome.
She told BBC Two’s Newsnight: “While the whole issue is terribly complicated, it wouldn’t be that hard to envision a trade agreement between the United States and the UK done relatively quickly given that both economies are already fairly open, both countries take a fairly open perspective on liberalisation”.
“The only circumstances in which that would not be possible would be if the rights of British citizens living across the European Union were not guaranteed”, she said.
‘We condemned the shameful and despicable attacks against Polish communities and others in the wake of the referendum result.
Mr Renzi said Britain could count on Italy’s collaboration to make its exit from the European Union work but called for a clear timeline to be set out.
“Of course there will be different interests and complex issues to resolve but I firmly believe that if we approach this in a constructive and positive spirit then we can pave the way for a calm and orderly departure”.
The eastern European member states are likely to pose the most hard barrier to a smooth Brexit since so many of their nationals stand to be affected if Britain ends free movement. I expect to be able to do that and I intend to be able to do that, to guarantee their rights.
“We had a very clear message from the British people in the Brexit vote that they want us to bring in some controls on free movement”, May said.
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The new British leader, who has embarked on a tour of European capitals since taking office earlier this month, has said Britain needs time to prepare for negotiations with the EU, and so will not trigger the formal exit process this year.
