Welsh and European or English? The choice for Wales.

The   Plaid Cymru call for UK nationals to retain EU citizenship after Brexit which has s been passed by MPs in the House of Commons without a vote may well be regarded as a stunt but it has raised interesting question.. 

 Plaid Cymru has launched a campaign for people to keep their EU citizenship after Brexit  wit a plea by party leader Leanne Wood,

She said: “I’m a European. I call myself a Welsh European.

“That’s not just a title. That’s something that I feel and that is something that deserves to be protected and recognised.”
The Rhondda AM argues that citizenship is “central to people’s identity” and that to “take away somebody’s citizenship against their will is not only wrong but it’s potentially against international law as well”.
“My Welshness and my ‘Europeaness’ are interlinked – the one complements the other and this Government want to tell me that that’s not who I am, that that’s not who I’m allowed to be.”

 “I’ve got a 13-year-old daughter; she has had no say in the Brexit process; I don’t think it’s right for us to take away her right and her peers’ rights to study and to live and to work in other European :

“Some people feel passionately European and others would choose not to take up this right of citizenship... We are here to try and ensure that for those who want to try and retain their rights as European citizens that they can.”countries

 Conservative Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes said: 

“The Government has been clear that our membership will end on March 29, 2019. We are content to listen to proposals from the EU on associate citizenship for UK nationals; however, to date this has not been formally proposed to the UK in the negotiations.”

So it may well  be the Tories  are actually preparing for this actuality.

 
A key ally in the fight to keep hold of EU rights is European Parliament Brexit chief Guy Verhofstadt.
He has voiced his support for a legal bid led by Jolyon Maugham QC to get the European Court of Justice to rule on whether people can keep their EU citizenship after Brexit. 

Mr Maugham said: 

“The Court of Justice has a record of advancing the European project when the right cases arise and this, it seems to me, is the right case because it could constitute European citizenship as a real thing, a meaningful thing.”
Describing the rights he hopes to see established, he said: “If you are alive on Brexit day you would keep your EU citizenship for the remainder of your days...
“There is no reason why the UK Government should oppose the desire of those who value their EU citizenship to retain it. It costs the United Kingdom nothing, it does not undermine the objectives of Brexit, it is an outcome that would sweeten the pill for those of us who believe that the UK’s interests are best served by remaining.”

OK this may well be  a Plaid publicity stunt even if it is historic in that it was the first time one of its motions has been passed by the Commons. 

But it proves that even one of the smallest parties in  can make a difference and  if it came to a commons vote  after the Court of Justice  ruling could well pass.

Is there a difference with UK citizenship after Scotland votes for independence? 

Well yes after that event the UK as we know it will cease to exist. The Europe Union  will continue long after the UK leaves to become a vassal state of the USA.

When that come we in Cymru will have to decide to we want to be Citizens of  England and Wales where like the England and Wales where our status can be shown by the  logo

 Our future  choice seems to be whether to seek Welsh and European or English Citizenship.