Germany Could Consider Offering Passports to Young British Nationals Following Brexit Vote
Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel plans to raise issue of double-citizenship during next year’s elections
BERLIN—Germany should offer passports to young British citizens following the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union, Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said Saturday.
Mr. Gabriel said he would raise the issue of dual-citizenship, which is generally forbidden in Germany for non-EU citizens, in the country’s national elections next year.
“Let’s offer it to the young Britons living in Germany, Italy or France so that they can remain EU citizens,” Mr. Gabriel said at a meeting in Berlin of his center-left Social Democratic Party.
The party took a hard-line stance in the wake of the U.K.’s vote leave the bloc, saying the country should complete the divorce process as quickly as possible to avoid wasting the bandwidth of the remaining EU members.
But on Saturday Mr. Gabriel said young Britons shouldn’t be punished for their country’s vote to exit the EU. “Better said, it was older people in England and Wales who decided” to leave, Mr. Gabriel said.
“It’s a good sign that the youth of Great Britain are more clever than their bizarre political elite,” Mr. Gabriel continued. “For that reason we can’t raise our drawbridge on them. We have to think now about what we can offer Great Britain’s younger generation.”
The campaign to Leave the EU beat Remain 51.9% to 48.1% in the recent referendum, but more young voters sided with Remain than Leave.
The U.K. still has to negotiate the terms of its exit and among the many major unknowns is what happens to the many British citizens living elsewhere in Europe.