:07:14. > :17:34.To my knowledge, that question was raised before the referendum took
:17:35. > :17:41.place, and I have to say that at that moment, I thought that I
:17:42. > :17:46.understood at least politically it was not pursued, and probably the
:17:47. > :17:50.British court did not refer to the European Court of Justice when those
:17:51. > :17:58.issues were raised. But I think that legally there was a strong ardent in
:17:59. > :18:02.that respect. If the UK citizens that are residing
:18:03. > :18:08.in other member states, many of them did not have the right to vote in
:18:09. > :18:15.the referendum. So in my view, they will have a stronger argument
:18:16. > :18:21.invoking the way they lost, they will lose European citizenship,
:18:22. > :18:24.because they will be forced to advocate from that censorship in
:18:25. > :18:29.light of a decision-making in which they had no voice. So, for this
:18:30. > :18:34.subset of citizens, I think there would have been a basis to challenge
:18:35. > :18:38.a decision. It is not to say that a member state has no right to
:18:39. > :18:42.withdraw, but to say, even a decision for a member state to
:18:43. > :18:46.withdraw has to take Place in accordance with certain fundamental
:18:47. > :18:49.principles, and one of them will be, for example, the right of
:18:50. > :18:54.participation for all of citizens of the member states. They are not
:18:55. > :18:58.deprived of that decision by the simple fact that they want to live
:18:59. > :19:04.in another member state. If you think about that, that was the
:19:05. > :19:07.crucial aspect. In my view, that in itself, legally, will be a strong
:19:08. > :19:12.argument. I understand, politically at this point, it would be highly
:19:13. > :19:19.unlikely that even the Court of Justice will accept to take the
:19:20. > :19:25.decision. But in legal terms, I think there's a strong foundation in
:19:26. > :19:31.that argument. There is one other possibility that is to have some UK
:19:32. > :19:36.citizens may be maintaining sedition ship of the European Union and
:19:37. > :19:42.others won't. -- citizenship. This is a bit of a provocation. Nothing
:19:43. > :19:45.prevents a part of the United Kingdom to stay and another part to
:19:46. > :19:50.leave. We have a president with that. It's called Greenland. We have
:19:51. > :19:54.the case of one member state where part of its territory left the
:19:55. > :20:02.European Union, and another part stayed. So in principle, nothing
:20:03. > :20:05.will prevent for the territories, for example, of Northern Ireland and
:20:06. > :20:09.Scotland to stay in the European Union, and for the rest of the
:20:10. > :20:13.territory of the United Kingdom no longer to be part of the European
:20:14. > :20:20.Union. Of course, this would be convex to organise in practice. It
:20:21. > :20:23.will require Scotland and Ireland to remain part of the European Union
:20:24. > :20:29.and part of the United Kingdom. But it will not be impossible. Still, it
:20:30. > :20:33.would be again very problematic in political terms, and the
:20:34. > :20:38.consequences of it will make it difficult. If you think about it, I
:20:39. > :20:44.think on the one hand, one risk will be economic for the UK, because
:20:45. > :20:46.naturally, you will have, for Scotland and Northern Ireland,
:20:47. > :20:51.extremely positive. They will attract lots of investment and
:20:52. > :20:55.companies that will locate in those territories because they will
:20:56. > :20:58.benefit from those markets. But of course, for the rest of the United
:20:59. > :21:02.Kingdom, it would be even more dramatic because there will be
:21:03. > :21:06.its territory. For the European its territory. For the European
:21:07. > :21:13.Union, the difficulty will be that if this will take place without the
:21:14. > :21:17.UK formally leaving as a state, because part of its territory will
:21:18. > :21:22.stay, in the same way that happened with Denmark and Greenland, it will
:21:23. > :21:27.mean that a representation of that part of the territory will be made
:21:28. > :21:30.by the UK Government, not by the Scottish and the Northern Ireland
:21:31. > :21:39.government. Another point, because in terms of this to be then, without
:21:40. > :21:43.living and coming in as Scotland and Northern Ireland, in terms of state
:21:44. > :21:47.secession, the representation of this part of the territory will have
:21:48. > :21:51.two be continued by the United Kingdom central government. Of
:21:52. > :21:59.course, there will be the possibility to live as the UK and
:22:00. > :22:04.come in as part of the UK. That will be another alternative.
:22:05. > :22:15.On the question of the European Union citizens rights in the United
:22:16. > :22:20.Kingdom, just a couple of issues, if we say that we are going to protect
:22:21. > :22:23.the rights of those of European citizens that are currently in the
:22:24. > :22:28.United Kingdom, what's the cut off date? Some people have said the date
:22:29. > :22:33.of the referendum. Others have said the date when the exit agreement, or
:22:34. > :22:36.the new agreement, or both...