Eu citizenship, anyone?

Nobody has answered your question Pogs , is because we do not know. Whoever suggested EU membership for UK citizens is the best person to answer that. I am actually effectively applying for EU citizenship as I am applying for Irish citizen ship as I am half Irish and my grandfather was born in Ireland.

In recent years I have been deeply ashamed of being British on several occasions. In particular our failure to give asylum to Afghans and Iraqi interpreters who worked with British forces and as a result have put their lives and those of their families at risk. Several have been murdered or have had to flee their homes. One committed suicide. he had made it to Britain but his asylum application was turned down and he was be returned. Every other combatant country gave interpreters automatic asylum for themselves and their family, except the British.

My application for dual citizenship does not mean that I am not loyal, nor does it affect my response to Armistice day. Five members of my family fought in the WW1, four died, three of those were Irish. In WWII, my Irish grandfather and all his seven sons served in the British Forces. I am currently reading a book that shows that for the last 300 years the British army has always included a disproportionately large number of Irish men, or men of Irish extraction and still does. 20% of the soldiers at Waterloo were Irish.

Respect for the dead, of all nationalities, who died in war, is no indicator of patriotism.

Re your second paragraph M0nica, that made me very upset and angry too, our failure to give asylum to those who had put their lives at risk to help us, and whom we knew faced death because of that.

MOnica I have to agree with you about how the Translators were treated. I think it was absolutely the wrong thing to deny them citizenship here especially as we have given it to Muslim Clerics who spread their poison to the youngsters and turned them in to terrorists. These Translators did a big service to the British as did the Gurkas, and both imo should get British citizenship as a mark of our appreciation.
I also feel ashamed at the way our own soldiers are treated by the Government who sends them off to war and then abandons them when they come back injured. Criminal imo.

I can trace my family back to the 16th Century and I am proud to be British. I do however have a son who has dual Nationality having been born in Europe. I guess he gets to keep his link to Europe?

That's just it Yorkshiregel, we do support this country. I am British and have been very proud to be so for 74 years, especially when working abroad. I have been proud of our way of life when I've seen the way some others live. I have been proud to talk about our education system, (although it's been a bit difficult lately) and I'm incredibly proud of the NHS and our institutions including the judiciary. Everything about this country from the people, the scenery, our heritage, the towns and cities, makes me proud. However, I lived for many of those years as a European too and I'm very sad to be losing that. My pride in this country would never change by the way, even if I moved abroad. I probably will when I need to live permanently closer to my daughter, but for now I continue to be a proud British citizen whose faith has just been a bit battered lately.

The idea of the Eu membership being in some way open to UK nationals when Brexit finally happens is because the MEPs are aware that 48% voted to remain! They are the only politicians so far who have openly acknowledged this and have said these people should be remembered and helped to keep their EU citizenship if they so wish.

So - do they have a copy of all the referendum voting slips so that they can double-check whether or not someone voted to remain before allowing them to have EU citizenship?

So will we have a mix of blue passports and red passports?

I would sign up. I am after all European as well as British ?

What about UK citizens who live neither in the UK or the EU and have an EU/UK passport, who were not eligible to vote in the referendum - will they be denied an EU passport?

It would have to be open for anyone who wishes to apply or not at all.

We had a referendum, the leave vote won. End of. Get over it and accept it!1

There are many negotiations to be gone through yet Arry

No thanks. I'd rather have English citizenship, if such a thing ever became possible. I like the Europeans but I don't want to be an EU citizen.

I can't really see what is in it for the EU but even if you voted Brexit, I can't see why it should affect them. Will individual citizens pay for the privilege? I can't imagine there would be much enthusiasm for a payment from the countries' coffers for it.

If you are British you already are an EU citizen also Margrete

(See several of the posts above explaining this)

It seems to me that by giving up your UK citizenship you would be losing your entitlement to vote in UK elections - a big price to pay for an EU passport.

Arry said " We had a referendum, the leave vote won. End of. Get over it and accept it!"
Please take note.
The Referendum was always understood to be advisory, non-binding. Given the close numbers involved, and the fact that UK citizens living and working in the EU were denied a vote, I have no intention of accepting a situation that will adversely affect my children and grandchildren without doing my best to save my country from economic disaster.
There is no 'end of'. With the USA in disarray, we need the EU to stay together more than ever.

It seems to me that by giving up your UK citizenship you would be losing your entitlement to vote in UK elections - a big price to pay for an EU passport.

It's not asking you to give up your British citizenship. It's just offering 'associate EU citizenship' to Brits who would like to be still part of Europe. It's got nothing at all to do with nationality; the EU is not a country.

Arry Like yggdrasil, I have absolutely no intention of 'getting over it', ever.

I also absolutely agree that with the election of Trump we should seriously rethink Brexit. We need to stay together in Europe, not cast ouselves adrift.

POGS

I quite agree. As far as I'm concerned if someone wants to be an EU citizen then they are ashamed of being British. Talk about being unpatriotic. Appalling. Yes I am a Brexiter and proud of it, because I happen to be patriotic.

yggdrasil I doubt the EU is going to stay together, there are already rifts. Also there are Elections to come in some EU Countries - Angela Merkel is already on shaky ground. I can see major changes coming over the next few years.

This seems to be a smoke-screen - I for one am English, have never felt European (we belong to the Continent of Europe) & certainly do not want to remain a European Citizen. De Gaulle was right all those years ago when he said NON to UK joining European Economic Community as it then was.

OK I'm going back behind the barricades now, hard hat on

Arry you are quite wrong the referendum was in no way binding it was advisory only and could be ignored if any government was brave enough to .... the margin of 'winning' as you put it was so small that in many cases wouldn't be acceptable a lot of referendums stipulate 60% and this only reached 52% there were also many inaccuracies i.e. Young people 16-18 weren't allowed to vote those living overseas didn't seem to have a vote I seem to remember the figure of something like 17.000 who weren't able to vote The whole of the publicity was built on lies which so many leavers believed and are now realising the 350 million a day won't be there for the NHS or any of the rest of the rhetoric that the whole show was built on so in many ways it is not as simplistic as your 'Get over it and accept it' sounds I and many other won't accept it Just like that just like I doubt if half the US folks will accept Trump

And yes peaseeblossom when I watch the fascist racist Farage et al I am very ashamed of being British

Maybe because I have spent a lot of time on the Continent and always knew French people as neighbour's in UK when I was growing up that I was delighted when we joined the EU and I could feel part of Europe too. That does not make me feel any less English and I just love it when my French friend I have known for 60 years tells me something I have or wear is 'really English'! Meeting people if other cultures just makes life so much more interesting - and I find most people are very pleased when you show an interest in any of their customs or ideas.
There is no question of relinquishing UK passports - you can have dual nationality with lots of countries. This Associate citizenship is for people who wish to have it and it is something which will probably die out in 50 years depending how things go with Europe.
Did you see Donald Tusck speaking last night about the need for Europe to remain together with the way it appears things are changing world wide.

sorry BlueB [actually I'm not ] but we ARE going to leave the EU and no matter how many times you or anybody else says it is only advisory blah blah, that won't affect the outcome.

so all the French feel ashamed of their nationality when Marine Le Pen says something?Or the Germans when the far right groups do the same? Or or or [insert any other country.]The fact is, we should not feel ashamed of our country only of certain individuals and their behaviour.

Maybe Brexit is inevitable, but I don't have to like it, and imo the timing couldn't have been worse, when we now have an isolationist president about to take over The White House. European solidarity seems essential to me.

As far as I'm concerned if someone wants to be an EU citizen then they are ashamed of being British. Talk about being unpatriotic.

What a load of utter b*ll*cks