As Britain’s imminent departure from the European Union threatens to upend their careers and livelihoods, British Eurocrats have turned to the highest-ranking U.K. officials in the EU to save their jobs.

Since the U.K.’s June 23 vote to leave the Union, top British staffers in the European Commission, Parliament and Council have begun coordinating efforts to defend the employment rights of their compatriots. In the past three months the officials have organized meetings and set up internal websites for U.K. nationals to share their concerns and strategize on how to safeguard their positions.

But there are still more questions than answers. Even though the Brexit process itself has not yet begun, British EU officials are scrambling to understand what the historic split will mean not just for their jobs, but also for their pensions, tax status and ability of their children to attend privileged European schools.

“Feelings were running high before the summer holidays. There was submerged anger around, but there’s been a cooling-off period during the summer,” said one British EU staffer. “People want to be very informed about everything.”

Immediately after the U.K. vote, EU leaders sought to reassure British staff that their rights would be protected. But many are clearly worried those promises won’t be kept.

On September 20, Anthony Teasdale, the most senior Briton in the European Parliament, convened a meeting in Brussels attended by 130 British officials from the assembly concerned about their EU careers. At the gathering, the Parliament’s director general for personnel, Herwig Kaiser, talked them through their options for guarding their rights.

According to a source present at the meeting, Kaiser told staffers they are essentially at the mercy of the institutions, which will decide whether British officials can stay on post-Brexit and have some leeway to hire even non-EU nationals. It remains unclear whether they would all be able to keep their jobs.

But he also sought to reassure staff by telling them the Parliament could use its leverage in the Brexit process — the right of veto over the final agreement — to protect jobs.

In the European Commission, two top British officials — Jonathan Faull, who led the Brexit task force during reform negotiations aimed at convincing the U.K. to stay in the union, and Peter Handley, who is head of the resource efficiency unit in the Secretariat General — acted quickly after the referendum to reassure staff about their jobs.

The two organized a meeting with Kristalina Georgieva, the Commission vice president in charge of administrative issues, that was described as “weepy” by one attendee. The commissioner promised staffers that the administration would fight to keep them employed, according to a source present.

The Council’s top British official, Director General for Administration William Shapcott, also held a meeting a week after the vote with the institution’s secretary-general, Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen. But there was little in the way of concrete reassurance. Aides were told that the Council would take its lead for how to treat U.K. nationals from the Commission. There was also discussion about how to obtain a second EU citizenship and information on how pensions would be taxed depending where officials choose to retire — an issue that confronts staffers looking to find EU citizenship in another country.

Contingency plans

At this week’s Parliament meeting, staffers demanded reassurance that promises made in June by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Parliament President Martin Schulz about protecting British Eurocrat jobs “still held true three months later,” as one participant put it.

Teasdale, the head of the Parliament’s research service, called the meeting “the first of several meetings and not just a one-off,” adding that he wanted the talks to be based on “maximum transparency and maximum information.”

Now it’s largely a wait-and-see game for officials, who are coping the best they can with the uncertainty.

“British staff members are not surprisingly discussing issues of concern amongst themselves and with other colleagues,” Faull said in an email. “There is an informal network to keep abreast of developments, but there is no formal structure.”

The Parliament has set up a Facebook page so that employees can share concerns and suggestions and direct them to the assembly’s personnel department.

Kaiser, according to a source at the meeting of Parliament staff, also plans talks with Alain Hutchinson, a former Belgian Socialist MEP who is now responsible for the Brussels regional government’s relations with the EU institutions, to discuss facilitating Belgian citizenship for U.K. officials.

The Commission’s town-hall meeting in the summer was tense and emotional, according to attendees. More than 400 British officials hung on the words of Georgieva, who “had tears in her eyes,” one participant said, as she told staff she would fight for their jobs but could make no legally binding promises. “She said, ‘These are words I hoped I never had to say.’”

The best Georgieva could offer, the attendee said, was to tell officials that upholding Juncker’s promise to fight to keep British jobs in the institution “is the gold standard.” Also at the meeting, board members of the European School system vowed to fight for continued access to the schools for the children of British Eurocrats.

The commissioner also vowed to work with Belgian authorities to make sure they acknowledge the years of residency British officials have spent in Belgium. Since the meeting, the Commission has redeployed an internal lawyer who usually helps staff with relocation issues to help U.K. officials in all three institutions apply for second citizenship in Belgium.

The Council has set up a “frequently asked questions” page on its internal website for British officials to pose questions related to their professional status. Among the top inquiries: “What would happen to my pension if I retired in the U.K.?”

Fighting ‘Brextinction’

Even if their jobs are protected after Brexit, British officials’ presence in the institutions is destined to dwindle away to nothing. It’s already smaller than many think. Even though the U.K. population makes up 12.7 percent of the EU total, British officials hold less than 5 percent of the jobs in the EU institutions.

The 288 U.K. staff in the Parliament’s administration (a figure that does not include British MEPs and their assistants, whose jobs will disappear as a result of Brexit) make up just 3.8 percent of the 7,600 officials for the assembly. The Council has 86 British staffers, including temporary agents, just 2.6 percent of the institution’s total. There are 1,057 U.K. officials, including temporary agents, in the Commission — 4.5 percent of the total.

But Brits still have a strong presence in top Commission posts, with 13 of the 128 senior management jobs held by Brits, compared to 20 held by Germans and 11 held by France as of 2013, according to Commission census records.

Early retirement packages have also been floated as an option for British officials. The average age of British staffers in the Parliament is 50, and between 55-59 in the Commission. Depending on when officials joined the institutions, they can retire as early as 60. Newer recruits are not eligible to retire until 65.

“The rational thing to do would be to keep the Brits on and then watch their numbers decline,” said a senior EU official. “Some people might just retire without making anyone redundant. The Brits will phase out anyway.”

But staff unions aren’t willing to play that waiting game, and are gearing up for a fight with the institutions. The International Association of Former Officials of the European Union sent an email this month to Parliament staffers advising them of their options — but are warning against applying for permanent residence or citizenship in Belgium until it is clear what their rights will be.

While there are no official quotas, officials said this could raise concerns that there would be too many “Belgians” in the EU institutions.

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