New Europeans (Europe)

Aim

To secure unilateral guarantees for 5m EU citizens (incl. UK citizens in EU) affected by Brexit through our campaigns in London and Brussels

New Europeans is a civil rights organisation which campaigns for the rights of EU citizens.

We were set up in 2013 to champion the value of EU citizenship at a time when the European project was in crisis, not just in the UK but in many other EU member states.

Since then we have grown into one of the leading organisations in the EU campaigning for a Europe of the Citizens.

Our many achievements include:

* Exposing the denial of the vote to 1m EU citizens in the UK in the European Parliament elections of 2014

* Tabling the motion for EU citizens to be given the vote in the UK referendum on EU membership

* Supporting the Supreme Court case to secure parliamentary approval before Article 50 was triggered

* Tabling the motion for EU citizens’ rights to be protected before Article 50 was triggered

* Organising the first mass lobby of parliament in the UK by EU citizens

* Changing Labour Party policy to call for unilateral guarantees for EU citizens in the UK

* Co-organising the Unite for Europe March in London with 100,000 participants

* Supporting the work of the EU Migration Forum, a coalition of 50 migrant rights groups in the UK

* Making the Home Office to recognise that access to the NHS obviates the need for private health insurance (CSI)

* Helping to establish pressure groups such as the3Million and British in Europe

Roger Casale receives the Sheila McKechnie Foundation 2017 People's Choice Award from veteran civil rights campaigner Peter Tatchell at The Foundry, Vauxhall, March 2017

Our work in the UK was recognised in 2017 when we won the prestigious Sheila McKechnie People's Choice Award 2017 following a public vote. The citation highlighted our leadership role in the campaign to secure guarantees for 3.4 million EU citizens in the UK and 1.6 million UK citizens in the EU Post Brexit.

Our founder and CEO, Roger Casale also won the Financial Times, Future of Britain Award 2017 for his essay "A Green Card for Europe" in which he argued for EU citizenship to be extended to all who have permanent residency in the EU including British citizens who stand to lose these right (if and) when the UK leaves the EU.

We are setting up our Brussels office because we cannot expect to progress with our campaign as swiftly and as successfully as we would like . The rights of 5 million EU citizens in total (including UK citizens in the EU)  are at stake. We are the ones who stand to lose out because of the Brexit vote if we don't have representation in London and Brussels.

"A European Green Card can help the British economy post Brexit." Financial Times, 31 January 2017

Image credit: @ Sam Falconer

Thanks to our record of success in the UK, New Europeans is highly regarded in Brussels.

We are making a huge impact by acting as a  bridge-head between London and Brussels so that we can take  delegations of EU citizens directly to speak to senior EU officials in Brussels and Strasbourg as well as to Ministers, officials and MPs iN Westminster and Whitehall.

Thanks to our campaign, EU officials cannot talk about the future of 5m EU citizens affected by Brexit without letting EU citizens themselves into the conversation.

Suzana Carp (New Europeans Brussels), Sophie in't Veld MEP (ALDE group) ,  Samia Badani (Head of Campaigns, New Europeans), Dr.Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos (Britain in Europe, Brunel University and New Europeans)

We are now making progress and the narrative is changing - with your support we will win and when we win it will be a huge benefit to all those who face uncertainty about their and their families' future  if Britain leaves the EU.

We have nurtured our relationship with the Citizenship Unit in DG Justice at the European Commission over the last three years, ever since we could secure an inquiry into the denial of votes to EU citizens in the European Parliament elections in the UK in 2014.

Since the Brexit vote we have been sought out not just by the Commission but also by the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani MEP and Michel Barnier's taskforce. We are working closely with Julie Ward MEP and a growing cross-party and cross member state group of MEPs who have signed up for our campaign to secure unilateral guarantees for EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU.

We have very reasonable terms from the Maison des Associations Internationales which houses several organisations in our sector and offers advice and networking support with the EU institutions and media outlets.

From this modest base, we will achieve great things for EU citizens.

Our first task is to finish the job we started in London in 2013.

We want to make the voice of EU citizens heard so that our rights cannot just be respected but guaranteed in law and protected for the future by an international agreement.

The approach of the UK government is unacceptable, seeking as it does to "do a deal" over the heads of EU citizens in the interests of negotiating a privileged trade deal with the EU once Britain leaves.

We know that the EU is bigger than that. We trust the EU to do what it was exists to do, namely to secure the rights of EU citizens and all people within its territory as its absolute priority.  

UK citizens in the EU are EU citizens.

We argue that this is a fundamental status that should never have be taken away if the EU exists.

We have taken this argument to the Committees of the European Parliament, to the European Council Permanent representatives and to the European Commission and we will continue to do so.

The EU needs to live up to the expectations of its citizens and therefore we demand that there is an end to uncertainty and that the EU guarantees the rights of UK citizens in the EU now.

We are confident that the result of granting unilateral guarantees will be to force the British government to do the same for EU citizens in the UK.

The EU will have no choice but to negotiate for the rights of EU citizens in the UK. It should do so with all means at its disposal including withholding access to the Single Market.  However, it should not use the lives of 1.6m UK citizens in the EU as collateral - it should guarantee these rights now and it should do so in the name of Europe and European values.

This is the message we will be taking every day to the EU institutions from our new HQ in Brussels.

Be a part of getting us started.

Be a part of something big and amazing that will have far reaching consequences.

Be there with us as EU citizens take matters into our own hands, and secure the rights and guarantees that we need and we demand in the name of Europe. 

5million people will feel the benefit and you may even be one of them yourself.

This project successfully funded on 20th July 2017