Wouldn’t you though, if you had decided to make your home in another European country (or any country) and wanted to enshrine your rights there, apply for citizenship of that country when you took up residency? Why would it matter then what happened in the UK?
OK well first of all, not all countries are the same. I don't understand why someone who had been resident in France for more than five years would not have applied for French citizenship, for example, but someone living in Spain is in a much more difficult position. It depends on the host country and their attitude towards dual citizenship.
Personally I will be applying for French citizenship as soon as I am eligible, but that won't be for another three years yet.
I’m not being deliberately obtuse, I’m really trying to understand. If I settled elsewhere, I would want to be a citizen there, I would need that security.
Yes I agree, but as above, it's not always that simple.
If British citizens are already resident in Europe and have been since before the referendum took place, hasn’t the EU said they can remain, as can EU citizens here? (assuming there’s an agreement of course, which most commentators here seem to believe there will be).
The approach will be different in each country. The EU cannot dictate how any of its member states treats third country nationals, which is what we will be after Brexit. In France, for example, Macron has put emergency measures in place to make sure that British citizens can legally remain in France even in the event of no deal, and will have a year to get their paperwork together provided that French citizens in the UK are treated no less favourably.
That said, some people are being given first appointments to get a residents' card more than a year from now (I've heard of people getting appointments in June 2020 and October 2020). It's currently taking well over a year to process applications to exchange a UK driving licence for a French one, and anybody who applied since January is having their application sent back and there is a chance that they could be required to take a French driving test.
And then there are the people who live in one member state and work in another (or work across multiple member states). As far as I understand it, nothing has been done to protect their position and there is very little they can do to help themselves.
I hope you can see that actually, it's not that simple for a lot of people, and some people do risk not being able to stay, or work, or drive, despite having taken all the steps they can to protect themselves.
As for not having an interest in the UK's future, I'm not sure that's necessarily fair either. A lot of the people who have retired to the EU are still paying tax in the UK, rather than in their host country. And Brexit (and whatever agreement we reach with the EU) affects all sorts of things such as whether their pensions continue to be index linked.
In my case, I am here, married to and planning a family with a French man. Our future children will be dual citizens and I would like them to feel that both countries are their home. I would like us to all live together in the UK at some point, if it is feasible. So yes, I do feel that I have and will continue to have a personal interest in what happens in the UK.