Prime Minister Theresa May has briefed 27 other European Union leaders on her proposals to protect the status of more than three million EU expatriates living in the UK.At a European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday, Mrs May laid out her plans to guarantee the rights of the 3.2 EU expats in Britain. Downing Street declined to detail the proposals but said they would be published on Monday.Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he hoped other EU leaders would meet the "generosity" of her plan with a similar deal to protect the rights of the 1.2 million UK citizens living on the continent.

Expat immigration status top priority for the European Commission

The European Commission has made settlement of the expats' status one of the primary objectives of initial Brexit negotiations and says it will not undertake any talks on a future trade deal until the issue is satisfactorily resolved.Arriving in Brussels, Mrs May said the Brexit talks, which formally started on Monday, had began "constructively". She added: "What I am going to be setting out today is clearly how the United Kingdom proposes to protect the rights of EU citizens living in the UK and see the rights of UK citizens living in Europe protected."That's been an important issue. We've wanted it to be one of the early issues to be considered in the negotiations. That is now the case. That work is starting."Ahead of the summit, Mr Johnson said: "What the Prime Minister will be able to do is set out, as she has tried actually to do several times, her instinct to be generous about the 3.2 million EU citizens who are living here and hoping that there will be reciprocal, corresponding generosity towards the one million UK nationals in the rest of the EU."I think she's got a great offer to make and I hope it will go down well."

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Chancellor Merkel states that the future of the remaining 27 EU states takes priority over Brexit negotiations

But Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters that securing a promising future for the remaining 27 EU states took priority over the Brexit negotiations."I want to say clearly that, for me, shaping the future for the 27 takes priority over the negotiations with Great Britain over withdrawal," she said."Naturally, we will conduct these negotiations quickly and we will conduct them intensively. We will do everything to ensure that - as has been successfully done so far - the 27 states stick together."We want this negotiation to take place in a good spirit. We know that we will want to work with Great Britain later. But the clear focus must be on the future of the 27, so that we have the best results."The agenda for the two-day is dominated by immigration, security and economic policy. Mrs May is also expected to hold a series of informal meeting with other leaders to discuss the best way of streamlining the Brexit process.

Expats worry that May's 'generous' offer won't match the current EU offer

A spokeswoman for the3million group - the lobby group representing EU expats in Britain - said: "We just want Mrs May's 'generous offer' to match the offer already put on the table by the EU, which involves comprehensive guarantees for EU citizens in the UK, and UK citizens in the EU, so we can continue to live a normal life."We are talking about the lives of five million people. We need clarity on this. And the deal for citizens should be ring-fenced from the wider Brexit deal, which could take years."Visit our Brexit section if you are interested in learning more about the negotiations between Great Britain and the EU.

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