The EU's chief negotiator has confirmed that British people will be offered the chance to individually 'opt-in' to the EU if their proposal goes ahead.
It has the support of Guy Verhofstadt, who is in charge of sorting out the post-Brexit deal. However, it would most likely have to be approved by the British government before it's introduced.
This is definitely going to annoy the majority of the British voting population who chose for Britain to leave. I can already imagine the conversation at the bus stop, 'we couldn't opt-out of the EU, could we?!'.
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Verhofstadt spoke to the Independent about the decision, which he has now 'fast-tracked'.
Apparently, this 'associate citizenship' would allow those who opt-in to continue to live and work across the EU. Additionally, they'd still be able to vote in European Parliament elections.
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The proposal already has a lot of support. Verhofstadt told European Parliament's Committee: "We come to the vote of this important amendment 882, tabled by colleague Charles Goerens. It is an important amendment that has captured the imagination and hopes of many of the 48 per cent of Brits that have voted to remain in the EU. You will all have received many emails about this - and there has been many articles about this.
"It has therefore become a very important issue that cannot await treaty change - as envisaged by Charles when he first tabled it.
"I am therefore proposing to remove it from my report - which after all is concerned with Treaty change - and to include it in the negotiations we will have with the UK government. I as Brexit negotiator for the Parliament will ensure that it is included in the parliament's negotiating mandate."
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We'll have to wait and see what happens.
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