French Lawyer Launches Crowdfunder For Pre-Brexit Legal Push

French lawyer Julian Fouchet is determined to keep fighting for expats' EU citizenship.

Bordeaux-based lawyer Julian Fouchet is desperately trying to take the case for maintaining British expats’ EU citizenship straight to the highest administrative court in France for a judgement before March 29th. It’s the only way to be able to get a ruling from the European Court of Justice before Brexit day, with the case possibly having implications not just for UK expats in France but for all Britons living in EU member states. Fouchet is giving his services for free, but other costs have forced him to launch an online crowdfunding appeal.

According to Fouchet, EU citizenship includes the right to live and work in the EU, to become a permanent resident following five years’ stay, to vote in both local and EU elections and be treated as French nationals as regards social security entitlements. To have his hearing at France’s Conseil D’etat he must hire an accredited barrister to speak before the judges, plus there’s a risk of his being forced to pay defence costs should his motion be dismissed. Also, the aim of the crowdfunding appeal is to ensure his 10 expat participants don’t have to pay to be part of his case.

The current view held by French lawmakers and the EU Commission is that British citizens will lose all EU-based rights after Brexit, with even those who’ve acquired permanent residency losing their statuss should a no-deal Brexit be the final result. Much has been said, both on- and off-line, about the morality of stripping tvalued EU citizenship from the many millions of UK nationals in Britain as well as the hundreds of thousands of Brit expats in EU countries, but Fouchet is the only professional who’s prepared to challenge the political establishment on their behalf. In addition, he’s the lawyer for the Shindler case and is attempting to overturn the basis of the entire Brexit negotiations on the premise that expats who’d lived overseas for over 15 years were disallowed from voting.