expats Archives - Page 3 of 4

Brexit Countdown: why remaining in Spain will be a massive pain after Brexit

Mar 26, 2018 | Articles, News

One million Brits living in EU countries are today feeling abandoned by Theresa May.

Sue Wilson who heads Bremain in Spain representing 310,000 of them told Brexit Countdown: “We are in the dark as to where we stand.”
Brussels wants to restrict them to where they are now after Brexit so they won’t be allowed to move to another EU country.
Which means Brits abroad will have fewer rights than three million EU citizens living in the UK who can go to any of the other 27 EU member states.

Nothing the PM did with our EU partners at crunch European Council talks last week changed that. And her UK tour this week to mark a year until Brexit on 29th March 2019 won’t help them either.

One in three Brits in Spain are retired. Those with jobs across the border in France face passport holdups after Brexit.
But don’t describe them as “expats” – they hate that. Sue adds: “We’re migrants, no different to EU citizens in the UK.”
“We’re not tourists. We don’t spend our lives on beaches or playing bowls or golf. We work, we raise children.”

Read full story in the Mirror…

British expats in Spain one step closer to securing EU citizenship post-Brexit after landmark ruling in Netherlands

Feb 12, 2018 | Articles

BRITISH expats will be able to fight for their EU citizenship at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) after winning a landmark legal ruling.

It comes after five expats in the Netherlands asked a court in Amsterdam to refer their case to the ECJ last month. The group argued their existing rights could not be taken away because of a referendum in the UK. The judge ruled yesterday that the case could be referred.

A spokesman for Brexpats – Hear Our Voice, which led the challenge, said: “We are grateful to the court and obviously delighted with the decision. However, this is just the first step in clarifying what Brexit could mean for our EU citizenship.

“This case has always been about seeking clarification, not only for the 46,000 Brits living in the Netherlands, but also for all the 1.2 million Brits living in other EU countries.

“As has been demonstrated in recent days, what Brexit means is still extremely unclear. You cannot play with the lives of 1.2 million people as if they are pieces on a chessboard.”

Brits Living in the EU are Not Reassured

Dec 22, 2017 | Articles

Reply to PM’s letter to Brits in the EU…

Dear Theresa May,

Your Christmas message to ‘UK nationals living in Europe’ sought to reassure us.

We are not reassured.

Firstly, please stop the pretence that Brits in the EU have been your first priority from the very beginning and, incidentally, we do not refer to ourselves as “expats”.

We are immigrants, no different or better than any other EU citizen that has chosen to live in another EU country.

Had you really wanted to protect us, you would have accepted the EU’s initial offer on citizens’ rights. Instead, in an effort to remove rights and freedoms from EU citizens in the UK, you came back with a significantly inferior offer, which resulted in a downgrading of the EU offer.

You may well be delighted with your “achievements” but if you had been listening to us, you would know we’re not equally “delighted” because what’s currently on the table is less than we have now.

We moved to the EU in good faith and made life-changing decisions based on what we thought were known facts.

‘Sacrificed on the altar of trade’: Britons in EU feel betrayed by Brexit deal

Dec 15, 2017 | Articles, News

British nationals living in mainland Europe say they are alarmed by claims that their rights have been protected by the Brexit deal sealed by Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker.

One Briton, Ingrid Taylor, who is settled in Germany, described claims that their rights were now guaranteed as “a barefaced lie”.

Brexit impacts on the future lives of an estimated 1.2 million Britons settled in mainland Europe, most of them working. They have accused May and Juncker of sacrificing them in the rush to sign off phase one of Brexit talks.

Taylor said that she believes the European commission has started to use British people in the rest of the EU as “bargaining chips” in reaction to the “intransigent stance” Theresa May took on EU citizens living in the UK.

“After what happened on Friday, the anger has risen,” she said. “We feel betrayed, we feel anger, we feel we have been sacrificed on the altar of trade.”

One of the biggest fears of such Britons is that they will remain “landlocked” in the country in which they now live, unable to move across borders to work for meetings, or for business contracts.

Read the full Guardian article…

Expats still none the wiser despite “sufficient progress” in Brexit talks

Dec 15, 2017 | Articles, News

There was bitter disappointment from the organisation British in Europe to a joint report by the UK government and the EU which outlines the progress made during the first phase of Brexit negotiations. The 17-page document, released last Friday, talks of “agreements in principle” and states the caveat “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”, leaving millions of EU and UK citizens uncertain about their futures, some 18 months after the referendum result.

Chair of British in Europe, Jane Golding, said: “This deal is even worse than we expected. After 18 months of wrangling, the UK and EU have sold 4.5 million people down the river in a grubby bargain that will have a severe impact on ordinary people’s ability to live their lives as we do now.

The key areas focused on during the first phase of talks were citizens’ rights, the Irish border and a financial settlement. The publication of the report, which announced that “sufficient progress” had been made, now allows them to move on to phase two.

Read full article in the Sur…