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BREXIT

Swedish PM warns of ‘precarious situation’ as EU votes through Brexit deal

Sweden’s Prime Minister has warned of an “extremely precarious situation” for the European Union if the British parliament votes down the Brexit deal the 27 remaining member states backed in a historic vote on Sunday morning.

Published: 25 November 2018 11:58 CET
Swedish PM warns of 'precarious situation' as EU votes through Brexit deal
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven talks to Swedish reporters before going in to vote. Photo: Peter Wallberg/TT
“Let’s wait and see what the House of Commons decides, but if the agreement doesn’t go through then we’re in an extremely precarious situation,” Löfven told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper on the way into the special meeting of the European Council. 
 
“I can’t see actually that any more major negotiations are possible.” 
 
The leaders of the 27 remaining member state approved the Brexit deal shortly after 10am on Sunday morning, in a special meeting. 
 
“EU27 has endorsed the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration on the future EU-UK relations,” European Council President Donald Tusk wrote on Twitter. 
 

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker described the UK’s coming departure as “a tragedy”. 
 
“To see a country like Great Britain … leave the EU is not a moment of joy nor of celebration, it's a sad moment and it's a tragedy,” he said.
 
Michel Barnier, the former French foreign minister who led the negotiations on the European Union side, insisted he had always “negotiated with the UK, never against” it. 
 
“We will remain allies, partners and friends,” he added. 
 
Löfven said that were the deal to be rejected in the UK parliament, the European Union’s 27 remaining members were agreed that there should be “some form of extension of the process”. 
 
 
Dagens Nyheter’s EU correspondent Pia Gripenberg predicted that the Houses of Commons would block the deal. 
 
“It isn’t going to [go through], at least not if all the MPs and parties who have said they are going to vote against it fulfil their pledges,” she said in an article in Dagens Nyheter. 
 
But she said it was probably too early to write off Prime Minister Theresa May. 
 
“But Theresa May has shown herself able to slash her way forward and sneak through the most insidious of the shallows which have risen up since the Brits had their EU referendum.”  
 

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BREXIT

Commission official: ‘Up to Sweden how strict it is on Brexit applications’

An official from the European Commission has defended its decision not to take action on Sweden's strict treatment of late applications for post-Brexit residency, arguing that it is up to member states how to apply the Withdrawal Agreement.

Published: 15 July 2024 10:14 CEST
Commission official: 'Up to Sweden how strict it is on Brexit applications'

In an email sent to The Local, the official confirmed the latest data, published at the end of last year, which showed that 22 percent of residence applications from UK nationals under the Withdrawal Agreement had not been successful in Sweden. The official said this was similar to the rejection rate for Swedish citizens’ applications in the UK. 

“Through its regular monitoring in Annual reports under Article 159(2) of the Withdrawal Agreement, the European Commission is aware of the fact that Sweden has a high rate of refusal of residence applications under Article 18(1) of the Withdrawal Agreement,” the official said. 

But they said that this in itself did not indicate that Sweden was failing to apply the UK Withdrawal Agreement correctly. 

“As long as there is no indication that a Member State in question is incorrectly applying the Withdrawal Agreement rules, it is not for the Commission to tell Member States how strict or lenient they should be when processing late applications,” the Commission official said.

READ ALSO: Brits in Sweden still in limbo years after Brexit deadline

Two EU lawyers The Local spoke to earlier this summer said that they believed that the Swedish Migration Agency had not been correctly applying the proportionality test to late applications, and had been too narrow in its interpretation of what constitutes “reasonable grounds” for a late application.

They also said that they believed the Migration Agency had been overly strict on what level of employment or savings UK citizens were required to have to qualify as resident in Sweden under EU law, and to therefore be qualified for post-Brexit residency.

SEE MORE: Why did Sweden reject Brits for post-Brexit residency? 

But the Commission official said that when it came to the late applications at least, Sweden was entitled to take the position it had done. 

“If the host State authorities reach the conclusion that a late applicant did not have reasonable grounds for missing the application deadline, they do not have to deal with the application on substance,” the official said.

“This means that someone who would have qualified for the residence rights under the Withdrawal Agreement might not be granted those rights if they missed the application deadline and did not have a valid reason for doing so.” 

READ ALSO: Is Sweden getting EU law wrong on Brexit cases? 

An unusual high rejection rate, the official continued, did not mean that Sweden was breaking the terms of the EU Withdrawal agreement. 

“The fact that there are negative decisions being taken by Member States under Article 18 of the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) does not, in itself, indicate that those Member States apply the Withdrawal Agreement incorrectly,” they said.

The Migration Agency had carried out a review of refusals, they said, checking a selection for “legal quality”, something The Local has previously reported on.

The Commission had received the Migration Agency’s review, they said, but had yet to complete its analysis of the findings. 

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