New ruling - appeal of UK citizen seeking to retain EU citizenship rejected on standing grounds: curia.europa.eu/juris/document…
However:
- this was a request for interim measures; the main case is still pending
- two other cases directly against EU are pending
2/ - all three cases likely to face standing issues
- but a fourth case sent from the French courts to the CJEU will *not* face standing issues, ie the Court in principle has to answer the national court's questions about whether UK citizens have lost EU citizenship
3/ I've updated my collection of links to Brexit litigation, including the latest developments on "loss of EU citizenship" cases, plus the internal market bill - eulawanalysis.blogspot.com/p/litigating-b…
New - a fifth case on whether UK citizens retain EU citizenship - this is a second case referred from national courts to the CJEU, which in principle the CJEU has to reply to (ie no standing issues):
Missed this one - recent judgment of the EU General Court on whether a UK official who obtained Belgian citizenship in order to keep job with EU institutions was still entitled to an "expatriation allowance" despite usual rule - curia.europa.eu/juris/document…
2/ The General Court rejected the staff member's arguments - but he's already appealed to the CJEU.
The main argument re Brexit is at paras 54-73 - ie taking out Belgian nationality (and therefore losing the allowance) was a 'force majeure' for the staff member. Court says no.
3/ This paragraph sets out a striking principle which would be relevant outside the scope of staff cases - especially to UK citizens in EU/EU citizens in UK.
His argument by analogy based on free movement law cases and dual citizenship also failed.
Except for reg on aviation safety, proposed laws "will automatically stop when an agreement enters into force or stop after a fixed period if no agreement enters into force (6 months for the air services and road related measures and 1 year for the fisheries related measures)"
1/ Some general legal points about the EU/UK agreement on implementation of the N. Ireland protocol.
First, it's not about a trade deal as such, but application of the existing withdrawal agreement - although there may be political links between the two.
2/ The agreement will take the legal form of Joint Committee decisions on aspects of the NI protocol. We'll see the text soon - likely proposals for an EU position (which will have been pre-agreed with the UK) before the Joint Committee (which consists of Gove and Sefcovic)
3/ These decisions will be legally binding. There might be other more informal parts to the agreement too. EU Council (Member States) has to sign off on EU position; European Parliament is informed but doesn't usually vote on measures implementing treaties.
New proposal re Channel tunnel - would unilaterally extend safety and licencing measures for two or nine months while France negotiates amendment to relevant treaty with UK: data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/S…
(EP and Council still need to agree to this proposal)
Brexit law II
Proposed EU position on withdrawal agreement Joint Committee decision extending EU/UK citizens' rights social security rules to Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein from 1 Jan 2021: data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/S…
EU law amending current law on dual-use goods (goods with both civilian and military uses) to simplify exports to UK ready for adoption: data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/P…