British Prime Minister Theresa May promised Thursday to let EU citizens stay after Brexit as she met sceptical European leaders for the first time since her disastrous election gamble.
Under pressure from all sides since losing her parliamentary majority, May held out an apparent olive branch on the uncertain fate of three million Europeans living in Britain.
But leaders of the 27 nations that will remain in the EU after Brexit made clear that question was not at the top of their agenda, as they try to capitalise on a renewed sense of optimism to put the bloc back on track after years of austerity and crisis.
The EU sought instead to show its unity by pressing ahead with plans on counter-terrorism, defence and by renewing damaging economic sanctions against Russia over the war in eastern Ukraine.
“For me the shaping of the future of the 27 is a priority coming before the issue of the negotiations with Britain on the exit,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Europe’s most powerful leader.
New French President Emmanuel Macron, attending his first summit, added that the EU had to “establish our own strategy based on our own interests.”
A year after its shock referendum vote to leave the EU, Britain is mired in crisis. May’s weakened position has raised fresh questions about whether to go for a so-called “hard” Brexit, which includes Britain leaving the European single market.
Over dinner at the summit, May addressed the issue of citizens’ rights, one of the key three priorities for the opening stage of Brexit negotiations that began on Monday.
“The UK’s position represents a fair and serious offer and one aimed at giving as much certainty as possible to citizens who have settled in the UK, building careers and lives and contributing so much to our society,” May told her colleagues, according to a British government source.
No EU citizen currently in Britain would be asked to leave on Brexit day, she said, while EU citizens living in Britain for more than five years will get “settled status.”
The prime minister said she expected any offer by Britain to be matched by the EU for the one million Britons living on the continent, the source said.
But May’s proposal sets up a clash with the EU after she rejected Brussels’s demand that the European Court of Justice oversee and resolve any dispute over citizens’ rights post-Brexit.
With “taking back control” of British laws one of the reasons Britons voted for Brexit, May said the pledge on EU citizens would instead “be enshrined in UK law and enforceable through our highly respected courts.”
EU President Donald Tusk said the other leaders would not discuss the plans with May, insisting that all such proposals are dealt with by official British and EU negotiators. The other main issues in the Brexit talks are Britain’s estimated 100 billion euro (88 billion pounds, $112 billion) divorce bill, and the fraught question of Northern Ireland, which will be on Britain’s only land border with the EU after Brexit.
Imagine there’s no Brexit
Earlier, Tusk had channelled John Lennon’s “Imagine” as he said he hoped Brexit could be reversed — though others immediately poured cold water on the idea.
“Who knows? You may say I am a dreamer, but I am not the only one,” the former Polish premier said with a broad smile, quoting Lennon’s iconic song.
But Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel — who has strongly argued for EU unity on Brexit — said Tusk should let it be.
“I am not a dreamer and I am not the only one,” Michel told reporters, saying he thought it was “British humour” by Tusk.
Tusk also insisted that the EU had turned a corner in the year since the Brexit vote, adding: “Never before have I had such a strong belief that things are going in a better direction.”
Law to combat online terror
In Brussels, security was stepped up after Tuesday’s failed bomb attack at one of the city’s main rail stations by an Islamic State sympathiser, following strikes in Britain and France.
Tusk said leaders were all deeply concerned by the issue and agreed that if social media companies could not help prevent online radicalisation and hate-crime, then they were ready to introduce legislation to make them do so.
Leaders also endorsed the EU’s growing efforts to build up defence capabilities, especially amid concerns about US President Donald Trump’s commitment to transatlantic ties.
All 28 leaders including May meanwhile recommended another six-month rollover of tough economic sanctions imposed against Russia in 2014 over the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has claimed 10,000 lives.
