The Rights of European Economic Area Citizens

Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General – in the Senedd at 2:33 pm on 4 July 2018.

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Photo of David Rees David Rees Labour 2:33, 4 July 2018

Thank you for that answer, Counsel General. Last week, I was in Brussels, and I met with the Norwegian ambassador to the EU, and it was quite clear that there are some serious concerns in the EEA countries regarding this. Because there's a lot of talk about EU citizens' rights, and whilst we appreciate the EEA and the EU are so closely linked, there was no tight connection to ensure, in any withdrawal agreement, that those rights would be also applied to EEA citizens. Now, people may say there may not be many Icelandic citizens or Liechtenstein citizens in the UK, but there are over 20,000 Norwegian citizens in the UK, and some will be in Wales. So, it's important that we address this issue. So, will you therefore take up this matter with your counterparts in the UK Government to ensure that the rights of EEA citizens are not forgotten in the discussions that are going ahead on EU citizens?