by Oui
Wed Jan 29th, 2020 at 08:14:00 PM EST
Gone down in history as Britain's villain or your very own Benedict Arnold.
More below the fold ...
MEPs approve deal for UK to leave the European Union | EuroNews |
After an emotional debate that lasted more than two hours, MEPs joined hands after the vote for a rendition of Auld Lang Syne by Robert Burns.
The deal will now go to the European Council, which is likely to give its consent on Thursday.
As British MEPs embraced each other and colleagues in the chamber, European Parliament President David Sassoli said that strong ties would remain with the UK.
"We have stood shoulder to shoulder in the European Parliament - fifty years of integration cannot disappear easily," he said.
Opening the debate, Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe from 2009 to 2019, paid tribute to "our British colleagues - or at least the overwhelming majority of them [...]. In the name of all of us," he said. "We will miss you."
The Britons getting out before Brexit 'drawbridge' goes up | The Guardian |
Under the withdrawal agreement British nationals can settle in another EU member state right up to 31 December and claim lifetime rights as EU citizens.
"We have people inquiring what the rules are and we are saying to people that as long as they move before 31 December they will have the same rights as those of us who are already here. It is in the withdrawal agreement," says Wilson.
"Even if you haven't reached pension age and you have paid in for enough years to make you eligible you will have the right to an uprated pension for life under the withdrawal agreement."
Not all rights are guaranteed and the campaign group British in Europe has urged Brussels and London to secure those that have yet to be negotiated, which include freedom of movement and the right to return to the UK with an EU family member after Brexit. But the rights to study, work and retire remain for those moving before 2021.
EU nationals who cannot prove 'settled status' being wrongly denied basic rights | The Independent |
1972 - Ted Heath signs UK in
Sir Edward Heath, the then prime minister, signs the accession treaty to the European Economic Community, which takes effect on 1 January 1973.
"What dictators have failed to do by force, democracies are undertaking by peaceful consent ... and the voice of European civilisation so muted since the second world war will be able to speak in a united way," said the British commissioner, George Thomson.
Related reading ...
○ Can Britain really do the trade deal it wants with the EU? | DW |
