For many, it was an awkward and wrenching week of farewells. But most are racing to claim different passports, so they might keep lucrative jobs.
That is because Mr. Moraes is British, and his time in Brussels is up (For Britons back home, the formal departure from the European Union on Friday means very little in practice, as the country will obey European Union rules until the end of the year.
But it is different in Brussels. The longstanding British contingent in the European capital now has to disband, or regroup. Thousands of British permanent officials, lobbyists and others are actually staying in Brussels, and many have qualified for passports from Belgium – a nation that the British have more often mocked than admired. But for Mr. Moraes and many others, it has meant joining the “Brexodus” of those quitting Brussels and their country – year engagement with its Continental neighbors, a cause to which many have devoted their careers.
“It was death row, but it was death row with a timetable,” said Mr. Moraes, who had little to pack because he never invested emotionally in the prime office that he won last summer and knew he would probably have to surrender. “I felt a little like an immigrant – a little like my childhood.”
Mr. Moraes knows how it feels to leave a country quickly: He moved to Scotland as a youngster after his family was deported to India from Yemen. He says his future is unclear, although he is close to accepting a new job in Britain.
A member of the European Parliament since 2016, Moraes has served as the chairman of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee and was most recently vice president of the Parliament’s center-left grouping.
At farewell events in the European Parliament this week, no one knew quite what note to strike, as lawmakers handed back their voting cards and office keys. In his office, Chris Davies, a Liberal Democrat lawmaker, showed a gracious written tribute from a political opponent. He said he knew that it was well intended, but that it nevertheless was a bit like reading his own obituary.
But even Mr. Lowe, who was elected last summer, became a little misty eyed when reflecting on his Continental adventure. “I’ve loved it,” he said. “It is a great place to come, a bit like being back at school.”
“If somebody was happy to pay me for staying here,” he added, “I would stay.” For those who have made a career in European Union institutions or in related jobs like consultancy and lobbying – and who are therefore paid to stay in Brussels – the obvious course is to secure another nationality. Citizens of member states are allowed to live and work anywhere in the bloc, but Britain’s withdrawal complicates things for Britons who hold no other citizenship.
European officials are generally well paid, and most of those working in European Union institutions have been told they will not lose their jobs. But their prospects of promotion are no longer so secure. Support from national governments is normally needed for top posts, and some officials say that Britons are already being pushed into less important work.
“In the European institutions, there was a stampede for alternative passports,” said Peter Guilford, a trade consultant and former European Commission official. “A lot of people managed to flip their passports, mainly to Irish or Belgian.”
But a new passport does not necessarily solve the problem. “If you are British but have an Irish or German passport, everybody knows it and you are not considered a‘ real German ’and won’t get given the serious policy job,” he said. “You have a career, but you are not going to get the top jobs.” Nonetheless, Mr. Guilford said that when he wrote on Facebook that he had received his Belgian passport, he was “deluged” with people wanting to know how to do it.
“I thought that when I found it and played it, I would immediately recognize it,” she said, “but I swear I have never heard of it in (years in the country. ”) 
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