The number of Britons who have become citizens of other European Union (EU) countries more than doubled between 2015 and 2016, following the referendum at which the United Kingdom (UK) voted to leave the EU, according to figures released on Monday by the European statistical office, Eurostat. The number of British nationals who acquired other EU nationality (without losing their own) jumped from 2,478 in 2015 to 6,555 in 2016, an increase of 165%, Eurostat announced.
At the referendum on 23 June 2016, most Britons voted for the withdrawal of their country from the EU, marking the first time a member State had opted to leave the Union. Since then, the EU and the UK have been holding negotiations on the withdrawal.
The UK will officially cease to be part of the EU on the 29th of March 2019.
Meanwhile, 994,800 persons were granted citizenship of an EU member State in 2016, which was 18% more than in 2015, according to Eurostat.
Moroccans were the largest group of new EU citizens, numbering 101,300 all told. Of these, 36.5% became Spanish nationals, 34.8% obtained Italian nationality and 17.5% became French.
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The Brussels Times
