ID card rollout begins

[Roland Perry]

In article <08D41155-335B-49C4-B960-ECA212A63E7B@batten.eu.org>, Ian 
Batten <igb@batten.eu.org> writes
>>
>>> And if they do, it's hard to  think of a more convincing reason to 
>>>ensure that a party that proposed  that the UK joins Schengen will be 
>>>committing electoral suicide.
>>
>> Why's that - is the country at risk of overflowing with Americans 
>>married to Frenchmen?
>
>No, but the news that everyone who claims asylum in any EU country will 
>have uncontested right of abode in the UK may cause some minor 
>political ripples.

Firstly, the people in question are those married to EEA nationals. I 
don't think that includes a huge number who also need to rely upon being 
an asylum seeker.

Secondly, the majority of people I meet "online" are quite keen to join 
Schengen as they see it as a way of reducing bureaucracy when crossing 
the channel. But they may not be representative of the population as a 
whole.

Thirdly, Schengen allows freedom of movement, but countries will still 
have rules about how long [some people] can stay. The two concepts are 
orthogonal. To conflate the two would be like saying my American wife 
can come to England for twelve months on a "marriage visa", but can't 
enter Wales.

>>> There are mechanisms by which country X can issue travel documents 
>>>for citizens of country Y which might be acceptable in country Z, but 
>>>they mostly apply to refugees and stateless persons.
>>
>> It's widely accepted that you can travel on a "European ID card". 
>>Whatever the other issues involved, it is confusing if the UK is 
>>proposing to issue an ID card which breaks that rule.
>
>If we were members of Schengen.  Which we aren't, and so far as I know 
>no political party is suggesting that we should be.  No ID card that 
>the UK issues can offer Europe-wide travel without our joining 
>Schengen, surely?

I wasn't aware that the ID-card acceptability was linked that closely to 
Schengen. Other Europeans can travel to the UK on their National ID 
cards, despite us not being in Schengen.
-- 
Roland Perry