EU citizens in UK have their say on Brexit in European vote on WTOP| LONDON (AP) — Hedwig Hegtermans has lived in Britain for two decades, but she didn’t have a vote when the country decided in 2016 to leave the European Union. She’s determined to have her say on Brexit now. An election for the…
LONDON (AP) — Hedwig Hegtermans has lived in Britain for two decades, but she didn’t have a vote when the country decided in 2016 to leave the European Union. She’s determined to have her say on Brexit now.
An election for the European Parliament being held this month in all 28 EU member states — including the not-yet-departed U. K. — is giving Hegtermans and other Europeans in Britain the chance to pass judgment on the Brexit decision that left their lives in limbo.
“It is a way for people to voice their frustration,” said Hegtermans, a Dutch citizen and member of The 3 Million, a lobby group for EU citizens in Britain.
Like other non-U. K. EU nationals, she was not eligible to vote in Britain’s EU membership referendum three years ago — and like them she saw her automatic right to live and work in Britain whipped away by the Brexit decision. (The British government says all 3 million EU citizens in Britain can stay, but they have to apply for “settled status” through a somewhat glitch-prone new registration process).
“We did not have a vote in the referendum, we could not voice anything while we were the people who will be affected the most,” Hegtermans said.
She said the May 23 election to fill the U. K.’s 73 seats in the 751-seat EU legislature “is one way for us to let our voices (be) heard.”
The result of next week’s election won’t directly affect Brexit. But it will be interpreted as a test of public sentiment — almost a mini-referendum — and could sway politicians to take a harder or softer course as Britain heads for the exit door.
That makes this the most high-profile European election in Britain in years — but it shouldn’t be happening. The U. K. was due to have left the EU by now.
Instead, British politicians are deadlocked over departure terms and Brexit has been postponed from March 29 until Oct.
