Brexit: Quick deal on citizens' rights a 'moral imperative', Davis says
David Davis wants a quick deal, but insists UK courts must keep jurisdiction over EU citizens in Britain - a major sticking point.
Tuesday 25 July 2017 17:46, UK
The Brexit Secretary has said it is a "moral imperative" to reach a quick deal on the rights of EU citizens living in Britain and UK expats across the Channel.
But David Davis also insisted that British courts should protect the rights of EU citizens in the UK after the country exits the bloc - touching on a major sticking point in the negotiations.
The UK and EU disagree on the role of the European Court of Justice.
Brussels wants the rights of more than three million Europeans already in the UK to be protected by recourse to the European court.
London opposes this, saying it is unprecedented. It has insisted that any deal to protect EU citizens be accompanied by mutual guarantees for 1.2 million Britons on the continent.
Mr Davis called for a swift resolution to ease the concerns on both sides.
"We want to do this quickly as a moral imperative because we want to take away the anxiety of all of those four million people and give them some certainty in their future," he told a news conference after talks with the Czech foreign minister Lubomir Zaoralek in Prague.
Mr Davis said British courts are "trustworthy" and stressed that the role the EU wants for the ECJ is rarely, if ever, seen elsewhere the world.
"When we, for example, sign a deal, let's say with the United States, we don't give the United States Supreme Court the right to enforce that," he said.
EU and British negotiators held their first full round of Brexit talks last week.
Mr Davis, leading the British side, said they got off to a "good start".
But divisions over the citizens' rights and other issues persist.
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier insisted on a role for the ECJ, speaking of a "fundamental divergence" over the issue.
And new tensions emerged over Britain's desire to carry out criminal record checks on EU nationals who apply for "settled status" in the country.
The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, said on Tuesday that the plan would be "intrusive to people's privacy".
He criticised the UK's approach to the negotiations and called for a "mechanism" for the ECJ to play a "full role".
"UK jeopardises citizens' rights by remaining silent on other key issues," he said.
"Citizens should never be bargaining chips."