It is of profound importance that everybody entitled to vote in the European Elections - including EU citizens living in the UK from other countries - is indeed able to exercise that right. How could it be otherwise in any self-respecting democracy?

Who we are 

New Europeans is a civil rights organisation made up of mobile EU citizens who have found a home in another EU member state but often face unfair and unequal treatment despite their EU citizenship rights.

We are challenging the government to make immediate changes to the registration procedures in the upcoming European Elections to avoid the mass disenfranchisement of EU citizens.

As reported in the Independent, we fear that millions of EU citizens in the UK could be deprived of their vote.

"EU citizens did not have the right to vote in the referendum. Now they face the prospect of losing the right to vote in the European elections. This is totally unacceptable, the Government still has time to put it right and we demand that they now do so." Roger Casale, Founder and Secretary General of New Europeans

The Government is about to oversee an election in which millions of potential voters may be excluded due to an inexcusable failure to inform EU citizens of their rights.

The Government's embarrassment is further deepened because the reforms which it promised to the registration system for EU citizens following a similar debacle in 2014 have not been delivered. 

At the last European elections, we did not become aware of this issue until it was too late to do anything about it. This time we must be prepared to take any action necessary. Please contribute now to our legal fund in order for us to proceed with legal action quickly should it be required and share this page on social media.

Case Background

EU citizens living in another member state of the EU can choose to vote in their member state of origin or in the member state where they reside.

In order to prevent EU citizens from voting in both member states, the government issues an additional registration form (UC1) to EU citizens which they must complete by 7 May. Local councils are not under an obligation to send EU citizens this form and it is feared that many have not yet done so. Even those councils that have sent the form may have done so too late.

How much are we raising and why?

We have written to David Lidington MP, the Minister for the Cabinet Office to demand action. We have called on the Government to send polling cards to all EU citizens on the electoral register and to make the UC1 forms available at all polling stations on polling day itself.

This is incredibly urgent as EU elections are a matter of weeks away. 

If the necessary steps by government are not taken we need to be ready to take legal action in the form of a judicial review. That is why we are raising £2,500 initially to start proceedings as quickly as possible.

Should the legal action not be required all funds will be used in line with CrowdJustice's unused funds policy and contributed to another case on the CrowdJustice platform relating to EU citizens rights within one year or be given to the Access to Justice Foundation. 

New Europeans is continuing to campaign for EU citizens to register for the EU elections - the necessary procedures and forms can be accessed and downloaded from the New Europeans website in many of the EU languages.