The European Citizens Initiative

[Mrblobby]

Does anyone know more about this ?

The way I read it , it could be a way for Brits to remain EU citizens even after Brexit . And thereby avoiding HIC’s nightmare of cues at airports .

But for an EU rule that has been around since 2012 , I think they have left it late to start taking action .

“European Citizens’ Initiatives were introduced with the Lisbon Treaty and launched as an agenda-setting tool in the hands of citizens in April 2012, upon the entry into force of the European Citizens’ Initiative Regulation which implements the Treaty provisions.
Once formally registered, a European Citizens’ Initiative allows one million citizens from at least one quarter of EU Member States to invite the European Commission to propose a legal act in areas where the Commission has the power to do so. “

The European Commission registered a Citizens’ Initiative on Wednesday (18 July) that could end up securing EU citizenship for UK citizens once Britain leaves the EU.

“As Exit Day approaches on 29 March 2019, so does the prospect of millions of UK nationals losing their citizenship of the European Union. This will have a direct impact on people’s lives,” reads the website of the initiative.

“Millions of EU nationals residing, working and studying in the UK also live in limbo, anxiously awaiting the outcome of protracted negotiations which look set to downgrade their rights.”

The Permanent EU citizenship initiative is the latest example of the participatory democracy instrument that allows citizens to suggest legal changes in any field where the Commission has power to propose legislation. It was introduced in the Lisbon Treaty.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/uk-eur ... ommission/

[bromerzz]

I flew into Larnaca last Friday morning from Rhodes via Athens.
Immigration at Larnaca was simply - totally chaotic - following the installation of the new Passport pods, where you scan and the take a ticket to present to an official to prove you have actually scanned your passport.There was one official to take the tickets and cross check them against your passport.
Those who choose to go through the manual checks in the EU queue also only had one booth open and then have the official scan their passport. The manual queue was quicker than the auto queue. Saying that the manual EU line was still very slow indeed as there were a number of large groups of teens who all were getting ushered into groups and clogging up the process as adult group leaders stood by the booth and the teens who were scattered down the queue got priority in the waiting line. Most of them were travelling on ID cards or in the case of a group pf Greek soldiers what I would call chit in lieu of ID cards. - ie no Passport and no Photo ID.
The NON EU passport desks had 2 manned stations and they were both very busy. One line chocked up as one individual was having a grilling from the official on duty. She was a Black lady dressed to the nines and as I was stood to her left and could hear the conversation clearly. She was being asked everything from where she had come from, why she was coming, where she was going to stay, how much cash she had, how many credit cards and what she was going to be doing. Appearances can be deceiving but she looked like she was ripe for the "entertainment industry" hence the questions she was being asked. People were transferring to the other faster moving queue as a result.
I would expect the Immigration booths for NON EU passport holders to be increased depending upon the volume of passengers arriving at any one time.
If you want chaos go to Rhodes. Inbound to Rhodes our flight and one from Brno both simply walked straight thro immigration as the booths were not manned. Whilst we were waiting for baggage a number of officials were asking people to show their passports but by that time many had already collected and gone. Outbound from Rhodes there was no Immigration checks other than a solitary officer asking for your boarding card and passport at the start of the lanes into the Security scanners.
Hey - we shall see, can't say it stresses me to much, just go with the flow.

[June]

And thereby avoiding HIC’s nightmare of cues at airports .

Won't be just my nightmare, everyone who holds a UK passport will be joining the non-EU citizens queues. As I reported after I passed through Athens airport a couple of weeks ago, in the EU queue there were just six people ahead of us. In the 'non-EU' queue there must have been around 200 people waiting to go through immigration. They were from all four corners of the earth, so your guess is as good as mine as to how long it would take to get to the front of the queue.

Still, that's what people voted for. Apparently

Surely that's down to the inefficiency of the Airport? They know which planes are arriving and should plan for that ? Athens is a hub certainly but given Paphos is mainly tourism I would hope they would have the sense to get their act together to avoid an initial bad impression? No?

[Dominic]

We flew into Larnaca the monday before last and the new system was working fine. It will be a different story this time next year.

[Dominic]

Well it ain't going to get any better, Mr Head-in-the-sand.

[Dominic]

That's the one!

[Jim B]

Just to clarify, our two nieces flew into Larnaca from Kazakhstan via Kiev. It took them nearly two hours to clear passport control through the non-EU channels. I often accompany my wife through the non-EU channels and it usually takes at least an hour to clear. The girls came on Monday (a quiet day for UK flights)
but with the vast amounts of Russians arriving every day of the week the channels are mobbed.

Jim

[josef k]

I think it is fair to say that those of us who are married to non-EU citizens know the system only too well. When my non-EU wife goes to the UK she has to have her fingerprints checked, is questioned about her stay, and visa scrutinised, while the EU citizens just stream past her in the next queue.
When she returns to Cyprus her yellow slip has to be produced and thoroughly scrutinised before she is let in. Sometimes they want to see the marriage certificate. If I am not with her, she has to explain where I am. All this while the EU citizens stream past as above.

How will it be when the UK leaves the EU? I think I might know.

[Jim B]

They do not interrogate my wife, she has permanent residency here. They process the paperwork i.e passport. residency documents etc. and it all takes time. It's nothing to do with Brexit, it's how all third country nationals are treated by the EU (of which Cyprus is a member) and that is what we will be. Russians have to do it so why will the British be treated any differently once we become TCN's?
Jim

[Dominic]

Hudswell, if a person is in the EU, going through Cyprus customs is a lot quicker than if you are not in the EU. This is because there are dedicated EU channels.

Next year, the UK will not be in the EU any more, so we will have to use the non EU channels, which are slower.

What bit about that don't you get?

I'm guessing the flip side will be that UK customs will have UK channels, so customs at UK airports will be quicker.

[ApusApus]

I'm with Hudswell on this as opposed to another one of HiC's doomsday scenario's!

It all depends how far the EU wants to go in their defence of the Union & punish member states for non compliance!

And yet again, we are seeing speculative statements about what will or will not happen fuelled by the media's biased interpretation!


Shane

[Jim B]

The difference between UK and Russian tourists is only about 350,000 per year and they receive no special treatment as you are advocating that the British should receive. I'm not sure if you've ever been to Dubai but the British have to queue up with everyone else, the same as India, Kuwait and every other ex colony you can think of, the days of special treatment for the British abroad has long gone.

[Jim B]

It takes between 3 and 5 minutes per person so it depends on the plane capacity. My wife said it seems more like half an hour. The nieces said they were amongst the first off their plane but all the channels were backed up with passengers off flights that had arrived earlier.

Jim

[Jim B]

Hudswell unfortunately it's the way of the world these days; most countries I've visited outside the EU have involved a minimum of half an hour transitting Immigration though a couple of years ago it took 3 hours to get into Dubai.
Jim