EU Citizens' Summit for Change
The EU Citizens' Summit brought together over 200 EU citizens in London and across the country to demonstrate the collective power of our communities to key decision-makers.
We are proud to have secured a series of clear public commitments on our Manifesto for Change from cross-party MPs.
The Minister for European Union Relations at the Cabinet Office, Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, said: “We must never overlook the European community here in the UK - you are an essential link between the UK and the EU (...) I want to reassure you we value EU citizens and we will address the issues (...) I look forward to working with you on making change happen”.
The EU Ambassador to the UK, Pedro Serrano, express his optimism that together we can successfully address pending issues experienced by EU citizens with the new UK Government.
We secured a series of clear public commitments to work with us to implement our Manifesto proposals from the Green Party, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP. We are grateful to Benali Hamdache (Greens Spokesperson on Immigration), Catherine Rowett (Greens Spokesperson on Employment and Welfare), Manuela Perteghella, Lib Dem MP for Stratford-upon-Avon and Pete Wishart MP, SNP Deputy Leader in Westminster and Spokesperson on Home Affairs.
Watch the Summit
Our policy proposals
We presented policy solutions to the top priority issues facing EU citizens in the UK, as outlined in our Manifesto for Change, which in turn was informed by a comprehensive grassroots listening campaign.
The communities who made it all happen
The Summit was a joint effort, bringing together organisations with professional experience in supporting EU citizens, and EU citizens who experienced injustice themselves. Our speakers were:
- Co-Chairs: Anastasia Fox - Founder of Art of Life CIC, Midlands; Sagal Ahmed - Business Support Officer at the West London Council; Celso Fernandez Lopez - Elected member of the Spanish Council of Residents in the consular area of London
- Monika Connelly - Citizens Rights Project
- Loredana Guetg-Wyatt - FOSSUK
- Rebecca Mierlou - Romanian Culture Charity Together (RCCT)
- Stanislava Svarogina, Beatrice Mori and Jéremy Velez - Performers
- Ioana Stoica, Malina Virtejanu, Christanghelo Francisco Godino, Martin Mydliar - Role play facilitators
- Jorge Gomez - Marks Out Of Tenancy; Member of the ‘Know Your Rights’ team at the3million
- Heshom Adamir - Swedish citizen, London
- Dr Alice Welsh - The EU Rights and Brexit Hub, University of York
- Raquel Roberts Dos Santos - Reunite Families
- Luke Piper - Head of Immigration, Work Rights Centre
- Paraskevi Kotopouli - Europia
- Andreea Salvage - Founder of REACH Hub, Hull
- Carla Barreto - Deputy Mayor, Thetford Town Council
- Negotiators: Gheorghe Zugravu - Support Worker at a charity for survivors of modern slavery and labour exploitation, Moldovan-Romanian; Helena Demba - Student and community worker in Glasgow, Angolan-Portuguese
It was all made possible by the EU Citizens Campaigns' Network and communities coming together, including: Europia, Spanish Council of Residents in the South of the UK, DOR - Romanian Diaspora, Settled, REACH Hub, RCCT Romanian Culture Charity Together, Belfast Intercultural Romanian Community Centre, i3italy, Citizens Rights Project, Polish Sisterhood Belfast, Reunite Families, Work Rights Centre, Fossuk, Kanlungan Filipino Consortium, Marks Out Of Tenancy, EU Rights Brexit Hub, Migrant Democracy Project.
