Article 24 of the withdrawal agreement upholds the applicability to British citizens of Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) concerning the free movement of workers in the EU, including “the right not to be discriminated against on grounds of nationality as regards employment, remuneration and other conditions of work and employment” and “the right to take up and pursue an activity in accordance with the rules applicable to the nationals of the host State or the State of work”.

Consequently, Article 24 of the agreement applies Article 45 of the TFEU to British citizens who entered the French civil service before Brexit and those who enter the civil service during the transition period. The same conditions apply to these British citizens as to European citizens: they cannot hold a position with a direct connection with the sovereign attributes of the State or which involve direct or indirect participation in the exercise of government powers by central government or other government bodies.

In accordance with Article 24 of the withdrawal agreement, British citizens will remain “assimilated” to European citizens in terms of the specific rights granted British citizen workers who enter the civil service up to the end of the transition period. Therefore, the rights of workers (taken in the broad sense to cover civil servants), such as they are guaranteed by Article 45 of the TFEU, are upheld by the withdrawal agreement.

The rights deriving from their capacity as civil servants or government employees for those British citizens who become civil servants or government employees by 31 December 2020 are therefore upheld, including with respect to access to the civil service and career advancement without the loss of European citizen status being able to be invoked against them.