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EU takes Britain to CJEU over citizens’ rights

The European Commission is to refer Britain to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) over concerns about the rights of EU citizens and family members to free movement. 

The EU body said that there were “several shortcomings” in Britain’s implementation of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which continued to affect EU citizens under the Withdrawal Agreement on Britain’s departure from the EU. 

The commission said that British national legislation limited the scope of beneficiaries of EU free-movement law.  

Its concerns centre on the rights of workers and the rights of family members.

Residence rights 

The EU body said that the Withdrawal Agreement allowed it to pursue an infringement case that had started before the end of the transition period in relation to British law as it stood at the end of the transition period. 

It pointed out that part two of the Brexit deal protected the residence rights of those EU citizens who exercised free-movement rights in Britain at the end of 2020. 

The commission said that today’s (16 December) decision concerned breaches in Britain’s implementation of EU free-movement law that were “of continuing relevance” to the exercise of rights applicable under the Withdrawal Agreement. 

Treaties 

Separately, the commission is also referring Britain to the CJEU over its failure to terminate bilateral investment treaties with six EU member states. 

The EU body argues that such treaties between EU member states “overlap and conflict with” EU law. 

It that all countries involved – including Britain – had committed in 2019 to a multi-lateral treaty to terminate the deals. 

The treaty was signed by the six current EU member states in 2020, but Britain has not yet signed it, and the country did not reply to a later reasoned opinion sent to it by the commission. 

The EU body said that, under the Brexit deal, it could refer Britain to the CJEU until 31 December this year.