President Tajani ahead of European Council: With our without a Brexit deal, citizens’ rights are untouchable 

After the meeting, President Tajani declared:

“There are more than 3.5 million Europeans living in the UK and more than 1 million British citizens in EU27 countries. Their problems are our top priority.

"The European Parliament has always fought for their rights to be protected and will continue to do so even more forcefully now.

"In the agreement signed with the British Government, the rights of citizens are protected. We therefore hope that a positive solution will be found, even at the last minute, to prevent the United Kingdom from leaving the EU without an agreement.

"Naturally, we cannot change the content of the agreement now, but one thing is clear to us: with or without agreement the rights of citizens are untouchable.

"The European Parliament will fight a political battle on this point, and I will say so forcefully at the next meeting of the European Council.

"Citizens affected by Brexit should know that they can count on the full support of the European Parliament. Both European citizens in the UK and British citizens living in Europe.”