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Thursday, June 22, 2017

EU citizens' rights on the table at European Council summit

Theresa May is expected to provide her fellow European Union leaders with detail on the status and rights which the UK plans to offer EU citizens living in Britain after Brexit.

Attending her first European Council Summit since her disastrous general election, it is understood the Prime Minister will explain the UK's "principles" on the issue of citizens' rights - a key early topic in the Brexit negotiations.

Her party's lost majority, weakened negotiating hand as well as the apparent division on what Brexit means among her own cabinet is raising questions in Europe about her stability as PM.

She will seek to reassure her fellow leaders of her commitment to a fair Brexit deal for both sides by presenting an overview of the UK's intentions regarding the estimated 3.2 million EU citizens currently living in Britain.

The two-day Brussels summit will predominately focus on counter-terrorism, common defence and security.

Two foiled terrorist attacks this week alone put renewed focus on EU-wide efforts to improve counter-terrorism measures.

In Paris on Monday, a man was apprehended after he tried to ram his car into police on the Champs Elysee and in Brussels on Tuesday, a man attempted to detonate a nail bomb in the city's Central Station. No one was injured in either incident.

At the end of a working dinner, Mrs May is expected to address the other 27 leaders on Brexit and the issue of citizens' rights.

It is the most tangible human consequence of the UK's decision to leave the European Union: the status and prospects for 3.2 million EU citizens who currently live in the UK and the 1.2 million Britons who live elsewhere in the European Union.

Their prospects are unclear given that the UK will become a so-called "third country" once it leaves the union.

The remaining member states have shown increasing levels of irritation at the UK's failure to commit to protecting the rights of their citizens in the UK.

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