The European Court of Justice has ruled today that Brits living in EU countries have lost the right to vote and stand in local elections after Britain left the bloc in 2020. Exceptions are those British citizens who also have EU citizenship, the DPA and AP reported.

British citizens "no longer have the status of citizens of the (European) Union, nor, in particular, the right to vote and stand as a candidate in municipal elections in the Member State where they live," reads a statement from the European Court of Justice,

Citizens of a member state residing in another state of the union have the right to participate in municipal elections, reminds DPA.

The withdrawal of the right to vote and to stand as a candidate "is an automatic consequence of the single sovereign decision taken by the United Kingdom to withdraw from the European Union", the text reads.

More than one million Brits live in Europe. Many of them were against Brexit, the AP notes.

Today's decision was made in a lawsuit filed by a British-born woman who has lived in France since 1984. After Brexit, she was banned from voting in the March 2020 municipal elections in France. At the same time, under British law, she is not entitled to vote in her homeland, as she has lived abroad for more than 15 years.

The woman refused to apply for French citizenship - in fact the only way she could regain her right to participate in the country's municipal elections.

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