The group of British citizens settled in the Netherlands and seeking to retain their European Union (‘EU’) citizenship rights after Brexit have won a landmark legal ruling that will result in their case being heard in the European court of justice (‘ECJ’).
The five British nationals had asked the court in Amsterdam to refer their case to the ECJ on the grounds that their existing rights could not be removed because of the UK referendum to leave the EU and the judge ruled that the case could be referred. The judge will now issue two draft questions to be put before the ECJ within the next two weeks. The first question will ask the ECJ panel of judges to determine whether Brexit means British nationals will automatically lose their EU citizenship and all the rights that flow from that, including freedom of movement. If the answer to that question is no, then the ECJ judges are asked to determine what, if any, conditions or limitations should apply to the maintenance of those rights once Britain leaves the EU.
The applicants’ lawyer had argued that the Lisbon treaty gave British nationals the right to retain EU citizenship after Brexit because it stated, in article 20, that “citizenship of the union shall be additional to and not replace national citizenship”.
