this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2026
155 points (98.1% liked)

Europe

11943 readers
1062 users here now

News and information from Europe ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ

(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)

Rules

  1. This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don't overly distort the content.
  2. No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
  3. Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don't post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don't troll nor incite hatred. Don't look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia's List of fallacies.
  4. No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism. We follow German law; don't question the statehood of Israel.
  5. Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add "/s" when you're being sarcastic (and don't use it to break rule no. 3).
  6. If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
  7. Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in other communities.
  8. Don't evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
  9. No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
  10. Always provide context with posts: Don't post uncontextualized images or videos, and don't start discussions without giving some context first.

(This list may get expanded as necessary.)

Posts that link to the following sources will be removed

Unless they're the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any "thinktank" type organization, and non-Lemmy social media (incl. Substack). Don't link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com

(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)

Ban lengths, etc.

We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.

If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.

If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to the admin that applied the rule (check modlog first to find who was it.)

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] kungen@feddit.nu 9 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

I'm not big on victim blaming either, but I do think it's weird to consider Sweden your primary home, and yet not apply for citizenship much earlier than that.

Prior to the law change a couple months ago, he could have become a citizen after just 5 years (or 3 if cohabitation with a Swede). Both the UK and Sweden recognize double citizenship as well, so there's really no reason not to...

He has also missed out on all non-local elections his entire adult life, because non-citizens can only vote for local government, and now he's paying the price. It's very sad.

[โ€“] timochka@lemmy.zip 4 points 8 hours ago

Literally the whole point of the Withdrawal Agreement is that you retain the rights you had as an EU citizen. My ID card essentially has "treat as an EU citizen even though he's British" written on it (it actually says "beneficiary of the withdrawal agreement", but that's the meaning), so why would I need or particularly want to change my citizenship?

The whole "they shouldn't be allowed to live here if they won't apply for citizenship" line is exactly the anti-EU-FoM line that the Brexiteers used to justify Brexit. It's genuinely amazing how every time this comes up all the supposedly anti-Brexit people start parroting UKIP lines like they're gospel, because apparently it's only a problem when it's Poles or Romanians on the receiving end, not Brits.

[โ€“] BeelzebubEiNukuKoskaan@piefed.social 6 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Tbh, I didn't even realize I was doing victim blaming. I just thought that was common sense. Life is unfair and bureaucracy is cold and not flexible. You just got to have your ducks in a row and papers in order, in time. And when I say "in time" I mean like 2 years before the absolute last chance. If you are not 10 steps in front of things, this shit happens.

I know because I've experienced it myself and every time it was my fault for doing things withing the allowed time but not early.

[โ€“] timochka@lemmy.zip 2 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

Sweden didn't even decide what the correct process was until the end of 2020, months after other EU nations, because their government is incompetent.

And it turns out your advice is completely wrong - as this guy found out, citizenship is discretionary, and not covered by the withdrawal agreement. What he should have done is follow the paperwork for registering as a beneficiary under the WA, his mistake was thinking citizenship was a better idea. (Not that that paperwork is a requirement of the WA either, but who knew that the Swedes of all people would be the ones to break an EU treaty?)