The government should give Dutch citizens living in the UK the chance to choose between a British and a Dutch passport after Brexit. To help them, the cabinet should introduce emergency legislation, D66 said. The UK government and the EU have been unable to reach an agreement on an orderly exit for Britons from the EU. If the UK leaves the union in March, many Dutch people will only be able to continue living and working there as before if they take British citizenship. But then they will lose their Dutch passport. And then they may not be able to travel to the Netherlands for a while to care for their parents, apply for benefits or send their children to Dutch universities. The reverse path could be just as complicated.

‘Following the German example’

MP Kees Verhoeven is no longer willing to wait for Brussels and London. The D66 member is pushing for emergency legislation based on the German example. This “unique measure” is necessary because otherwise “the lives of Dutch people in the UK are in danger,” Verhoeven told RTL News. “They must not become victims of the chaos surrounding Brexit.” Currently, 100,000 Dutch citizens in the UK still have to choose between British or Dutch citizenship, unless they are married to a British person. This has never been a problem, because the Netherlands and the UK, as EU member states, provide ample scope for each other’s citizens. The emergency legislation should ensure that anyone who applied for a British passport between the Brexit referendum and Brexit can keep their Dutch passport. For Verhoeven, this also applies to people who have already done so.