WHEN I join with the leaders of the SDLP, Alliance and Green Party in Brussels later this week to meet Michel Barnier, it will be a powerful symbol that the majority of people here are determined to defend their status and rights as European citizens.
It will also be a clear demonstration that the DUP do not speak for the majority on the issue of Brexit – just as they do not speak for the majority on many other issues, including language rights, the rights of victims, women and the LGBT community.
Our four parties have already signed a joint statement urging the European Union to ensure that any withdrawal agreement includes legally binding protections for citizens in the north.
While we may not agree on everything as regards Brexit, this statement represents common ground on which we all stand.
This includes our shared view that the north cannot withstand exclusion from the single market or customs union; that the protection of the Good Friday Agreement in all of its parts, including North/South and East/West co-operation is critical to maintaining relationships within, and between these islands; that the backstop agreed by both the British Government and the EU27 is the bottom line in order to safeguard our political and economic stability now and for the future; that there is no diminution of rights as a result of Brexit, of the rights of people resident here and that the Good Friday Agreement would be protected.
Other significant areas of concern remain and there is little sign of any tangible progress on a range of important matters, including: continued access to third-level study with the status of EU students; continued access to the European Health Insurance Card; continued provision for cross-border health services, such as the Northwest Cancer Centre and the Children's Heart Centre; and safeguards for EEA migrant workers in Northern Ireland, as well as a broad range of other areas reflected in our earlier Joint Declaration on Human Rights and Equality.
Nevertheless, guarantees have been made to the citizens of the north that their rights and entitlements will be protected. That there will be no hard border on the island of Ireland.
These guarantees must be fully translated into legally binding text within any withdrawal agreement.
That is the bottom line required to protect our citizens and our economy from the reckless Brexit agenda.
And as the Brexit negotiations reach a critical point, that is the very clear message we will be taking to the EU's chief negotiator.
The British government may be allowing its policy to be directed by the DUP but the EU27 is not beholden to that party. They are beholden to the rights of citizens and the agreements that underpin our peace and political process.
We urge them to stand firm on both.
