
Germany should offer citizenship to young Britons living in Germany given that it was largely older voters in England and Wales who voted for ‘Brexit’ in last month’s referendum, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Saturday.
Britain voted 52 to 48 percent on June 23 in favour of quitting the European Union, with the referendum splitting the country along several lines such old versus young, England and Wales versus Scotland and Northern Ireland.
“That’s why we shouldn’t just pull up the drawbridge,” Gabriel said at a European conference of his Social Democrat (SPD) party in Berlin.
Gabriel, who is also Vice Chancellor, said Germany should think about what it could offer young Britons and added the SPD had always been in favour of allowing people dual citizenship.
German SPD members back coalition with Angela Merkel
Germany urges US to separate Iran nuclear deal from other issues
German conservatives eye 65,000 cap on migrants
Emmanuel Macron’s Europe reforms in focus in German coalition talks: top SPD member
Germany should give expatriate young Britons citizenship: Vice Chancellor Gabriel
German economy minister calls for number of EU commissioners to be cut
Watch Video: What’s making news
“Let’s offer it to the young Brits who live in Germany, Italy or France so that they can remain EU citizens in this country,” he said.
The opposition Greens party has also called for Germany to make it easy for Britons living in Germany to get a German passport.
Volker Bouffier, premier of the German state of Hesse – home to Germany’s financial capital Frankfurt – told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag that “quite a number of Brits” were currently applying for German citizenship.
For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App