Thread by @Michaelacbenson

Doing my prep for @LordsEUCom I have been revisiting the question of how many #BritsinEU there are and why this matters for #citizensrights and #Withdrawalagreement. Just a recap, there are significant limitations to statistics about this population 1/ bbc.co.uk/news/uk-466328…

These are the baseline for considering the progress of different EU member states in making sure that #britsinEU are registered for their new residence rights used in the joint UK-EC reports from the Specialised Committee on citizens' rights 2/ ec.europa.eu/info/sites/def…

This is particularly important when it comes to countries operating a #constitutivesystem including #france which hosts the second largest population of #britsinEU. The official statistics about #britsinfrance are likely a considerable underestimate 3/ docs.google.com/document/d/18y…

The 30 June deadline for applications for #britsinFrance is fast approaching and after this the application process will be closed and no further applications can be made 4/

https://twitter.com/BritishInEurope/status/1396761443995901959?s=20

Statistics published by @LeTelegramme in April revealed that 125,000 #britsinFrance had already registered 5/ letelegramme.fr/france/brexit-…

With estimates 150,000 #britsinFrance this looks like good progress is being made. But the limitations of this data mean that it is not an accurate baseline to evaluate progress. It is likely that there is a far larger population than these statistics suggest 6/

To me, the case of #britsinfrance might be similar to the case of #euinuk and the numbers applying through #EUSS . While the expectation was that there were 3.2 million EU citizens living in the UK; we know that to date 5.2 million people have applied 7/
ukandeu.ac.uk/eu-settlement-…

In other words, this should not be taken as meaning that France are approaching near 100% registration. When it comes to the question of who might fall between the gaps and find themselves at risk of failing to secure their status we similarly have no baseline 8/

And this leads me onto hidden populations—e.g. the homeless, those with mental capacity problems, children in care among them—are less likely to be in a position to put themselves forward for registration just as they are less likely to be counted in official statistics 9/

Unlike the quarterly statistics on applications to #EUSS, there are no comparable statistics (publicly) published by individual member states about the numbers of #britsineu applying for new residence status 10/

The December 2020 joint UK-EC report from the specialised committee on #citizensrights with its statistics on the numbers of applications from #britsineu for new residence status in constitutive systems is no woefully out of date 11/

The Third Joint Report – which may include more up to date statistics – was discussed at the sixth meeting of the specialised committee on citizens’ rights in April. But a month later from being presented, this report has still not been released ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ 12/

The clock is ticking for applications from British citizens in #France #thenetherlands #Latvia #Malta #Luxembourg - these up-to-date statistics are necessary to evaluate progress and whether additional provisions might be need put into place 13/

I am concerned that the current 30 June deadline in these countries may not be sufficient to make sure that hard to reach populations are made aware of the need to register and helped to do so and that the vast majority of those eligible apply 14/

However successful the implementation of #citizensrights is, some people will fall through the gaps. Being aware of the limitations of available data and the challenges that people might be facing securing their futures is just a first step in recognising this 15/15