Our proposed subject matter for this year's newsletters will now, for obvious reasons, take a different course.

As I'm sure you are all aware, the UK held its referendum on continued membership to the European Union.

The news and information coming out of this is changing all the time. Our job, here at the Europe Direct Information Centre, is to do what our name suggests - provide information.

We will endeavour to continue providing non-biased information, and not subjective opinion.

The campaign for the UK remaining or leaving the EU came to a climax on Thursday 23rd June, when the UK as a whole went to the Polling Stations.

The UK voted to leave, by majority of 3.8%:

Remain a member of the European Union: 48.1%   16,141,241

Leave the European Union: 51.9%   17,410,742

You can find out how your area voted here.

This is now in the hands of the UK government. The referendum itself is not a legally binding action. It does NOT mean the UK is now out of the EU. Nothing has changed, with regards to the rights of EU citizens based in the UK or in other EU nations. Basically, it is business as usual.

2 things can now happen.

1. For the UK to leave the EU it must trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.
2. The UK ignores the referendum result and does not trigger Article 50.

For more on what Article 50 is, we have a post here.

The EU cannot force the UK to trigger Article 50, nor can it be triggered accidentally by a mis-placed word, etc. It has to be an explicit action (letter/statement) made to the European Council. 
This will then start the 2 year negotiation period, where the UK and European Commission would enter negotiations on trade, etc.

You can read more about the nuances of this period here.

The facts on where we are now, in relation to the UK and the EU, are quite simple:

Nothing has changed

All your rights as an EU citizen remain in place, as do those of citizens from other EU countries visiting or living in the UK.

They will cease to exist once negotiations have completed or the full 2 year term has come, once Article 50 has been triggered.

To find out more about your rights as an EU citizen, please click here. 

As ever, if you have any specific questions on any EU related matter, we are here to help.

Please get in contact using the details below.

Kind Regards,

Europe Direct Information Centre: Fareham