EXCLUSIVE : Less than 850,000 Brits live in other EU countries – EU data
4½ times as many EU citizens live in the UK
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org - see below for clickable versions
How free movement has worked for the EU - Part Two
Yesterday we revealed exclusively that almost 4 million citizens from the EU27 countries live in the UK, according to official EU statistics. Today we bring you the news of the reverse side of this story : only 850,000 UK citizens live in other EU countries.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org concludes our two-part investigation into one of the EU’s ‘four pillars’ – Freedom of Movement.
Brexit Facts4EU.org Summary
Brits living in the EU27 countries
- Less than 850,000 Brits live in the rest of the EU, according to official EU figures
- This compares with almost 4 million EU27 citizens living in the UK
- 4½ times as many EU27 citizens benefit from the right to live in the UK, than vice versa
[For details on the 4 million, see our report yesterday]
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org - Click to enlarge
Where do British people live in the EU27?
- Spain is by far the most popular home for Brits in the EU : 285,000 are reported to live there
- France comes second, with 145,000 UK nationals
- Ireland is third with 103,000 UK nationals
- The other 310,000 are spread across the remaining 24 EU countries, averaging under 13,000 per member state
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org - Click to enlarge
Statistical notes: The above data comes from the EU’s official statistics agency, Eurostat. Neither of the islands of Cyprus or Malta provided data of non-native EU nationals broken down by nationality, but the numbers there will be small. In addition, our standard caveat on data relating to demographics applies : we believe that this information is not the most reliable because of the methods of data collection. That said, the overall balance and proportions are likely to be highly indicative. These are in any event official statistics.
Why is this relevant to Brexit?
One of the few positive aspects of Theresa May’s administration was the early offer to the EU to make bilateral guarantees of the rights of EU citizens in the UK and those of UK citizens living in the EU. This offer was rejected by the EU and instead they turned the lives of nearly 5 million people into a bargaining chip. The EU insisted that “citizens’ rights” should be one of the three elements of Brexit which had to be agreed before they would talk about trade or any other topic.
It was the EU that politicised this issue. In modern parlance, it might be said that they ‘weaponised’ it.
The EU’s subsequent demands regarding citizens’ rights were extreme. Our report today shows the imbalance in this important area, with the involvement of 4½ times as many EU27 citizens as UK citizens. In essence, the UK offered the EU27 citizens who were resident in the UK to have parity with British citizens. The EU demanded far more, and put this into their disastrous ‘Withdrawal Agreement’ which Mrs May and Olly Robbins agreed to.
Is the EU’s “Freedom of Movement” racist in the context of the UK?
It is a simple fact that EU citizens have always enjoyed many superior rights over citizens of other countries around the world to enter the UK, seek employment, use the NHS and all other amenities of life in the UK, claim benefits, etc.
Whilst there may be numerous criticisms of the Government’s performance in restricting immigration from non-EU countries in recent years, the UK can never legally restrict immigration from EU countries whilst it remains a member of the European Union.
An EU citizen has the automatic right of entry into the UK. He or she can bring family members even if they are not EU nationals. He or she can live, work, access schools and universities, GP surgeries, hospitals, the benefits system, and housing. This is not the case for people from India, Kenya, Australia, the United States, or the vast majority of other countries in the world.
Observations
Where do these figures come from? Answer to Remainers
For many of our investigations, we start with a report or press release published by the EU Commission. In this case we looked at the report on ‘mobility’ which was released by them last week.
Naturally the EU Commission chooses not to highlight facts which do not present the EU’s case in a positive light. We therefore drill down into the raw data which is compiled by Eurostat, the EU’s official statistics agency, in order to find specific information which is relevant to UK readers and to the decision of the British people to leave the European Union.
The research is detailed
This work generally involves querying the database of all data compiled by Eurostat on the subject area in question. In answer to the numerous questions from Remainers who do not like the facts we present, there is often no single link to the data.
By its very nature it is a database query which has no link, and sometimes includes a combination of reports on the same topic. Nevertheless this information is available to the public, and Remainers are more than welcome to do their own research. They will come up with the same numbers.
Using official EU data
Crucially, we use official EU data wherever possible – as in this case – because it leaves Remainers with nowhere to go.
Sometimes we look at the data from the official statistics agency of a particular EU country, where that provides more detail. An example of this was our report last year showing that 10.4 million foreign nationals had entered Germany in the last 10 years, with over 2 million of them coming in 2015 alone. This came from interrogation of the German statistical office’s data.
The key message
The key message in these two articles is that EU27 citizens have used freedom of movement far more than have British citizens. The ratio is approximately 3.9 million to 0.85 million, or 4.6 to 1. Many have come to escape poverty and unemployment in their own countries.
The second message is that we must use facts wherever possible when talking about Brexit. When MPs talk of “three million” EU27 citizens in the UK, this is not borne out by the EU’s own facts. There is even an organisation called “The 3 million” which campaigns for the rights of EU citizens in the UK.
As we showed yesterday the true figure is almost 4 million. And the number of British citizens in the EU is not the 1.2 million so often quoted, but 850,000. At least, this is what the official EU figures show.
As with all Brexiteers we dislike the EU as an organisation, not the people of the EU member states.
Today is the 14th of July and we wish all our French readers an excellent Bastille Day!
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[ Sources: EU Mobility report July 2019 | Eurostat official EU data ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org, 14 Jul 2019
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