Sue Wilson Writes – OPINION: It’s no surprise some Brits in Spain would now accept a soft Brexit

Sue Wilson Writes – OPINION: It’s no surprise some Brits in Spain would now accept a soft Brexit

Feb 5, 2019 | Articles, News, Sue Wilson Writes

In her weekly column for The Local Sue Wilson, chair of the Bremain in Spain group explains that while many Brits in the country would now be willing to accept a soft Brexit, she is not one of them.

Do we have good news? Not really.

The EU has recently agreed to give British citizens visa-free travel to its member states, even if there’s a no-deal Brexit. This proposal would allow Brits to visit the EU for up to 90 days; reciprocated by the UK re EU citizens who want to visit the UK.

The no-visa news was almost buried amongst considerable foot-stomping and grumbling from the UK government about Gibraltar being described as a “colony” of the British crown, despite the UK widely using the same term to describe it in the past. Heaven forbid that the UK government would welcome any move made by the EU for its citizens’ benefit!

So, what does the visa news really mean? A stay within a Schengen travel area country, such as Spain, could only take place for 90 days within any 180-day period.

While this move is good news for British tourists, it hasn’t been well-received by those who live in Spain full-time, or what the British Embassy describes as “swallows” – i.e. Brits with second homes in Spain who like to fly south for winter.

The potential loss of our rights and freedoms has been a major concern since the referendum on 23 June 2016.

Despite government claims about us being one of the three “priorities” in phase one of the Brexit negotiations, we’ve been ignored throughout the entire process.

We’ve never managed to secure an audience with the Prime Minister, or any of the three heads of the Department for Exiting the EU, and not for lack of trying. The EU, on the other hand, has engaged with us throughout, even offering meetings with Michel Barnier.

At the end of 2018, when the Withdrawal Agreement was agreed by May and the EU – if not by UK parliament – British citizens in the EU felt an element of relief.

Read Sue’s full article in The Local

 

Fear and anger stalk thousands of Britons living on Costa del Sol

Fear and anger stalk thousands of Britons living on Costa del Sol

Feb 5, 2019 | Articles, News

“We are petrified that will be taken away,” Soffe said. “There is not a single insurance company that will touch him.”

A couple of years ago, Michael Soffe seemed to have a charmed life. A gourmet tour guide and wedding planner, he’d made a home and built a business in sun-soaked Málaga, the increasingly hip city at the heart of Spain’s southern coast.

Now he fears that everything he’s worked for is hanging in the balance as heedless politicians push Brexit negotiations to the brink. His biggest worry is that his partner, a two-time cancer survivor still in treatment, could lose his right to public healthcare.

“We are petrified that will be taken away,” Soffe said. “There is not a single insurance company that will touch him.”

There is also his pension. Having spent more than 30 years living in Spain, the savings that he was relying on to retire in a few years’ time would be much reduced if EU agreements to share welfare credits earned in different countries were abandoned, he said.

Pension and healthcare worries loom large among British immigrants in Spain, particularly those clustered on the coast. The cliche of Costa del Sol life is played out in many small settlements where older Britons enjoy a sun-filled version of retirement in seaside towns, with breakfast menus featuring fry-ups instead of tortillas, and no Spanish required.

But they are actually a minority of nearly 300,000 UK citizens formally registered to live in Spain. Two-thirds of that group are working, said John Moffett, vice-chair of the campaign group Bremain in Spain, which is pushing to protect their rights.

Read full story in The Guardian

 

Shock horror for Brit expats as no-deal means no healthcare

Shock horror for Brit expats as no-deal means no healthcare

Jan 31, 2019 | Articles, News

A no-deal Brexit will rob British expats in EU countries of their rights to free healthcare.

British expatriates living in EU member state, including France, Italy and Spain, will no longer be entitled to free heathcare in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The news is a major blow to retired British citizens living in popular destinations such as the Spanish Costas, France’s Provence region and Italy’s Tuscany. It’s also bad news for the UK’s NHS, now struggling to cope after many of its EU citizen medical staff have opted to return to their home countries. Should a large number of UK pensioners decide to repatriate in order to get free medical treatment, the strain on the NHS could result in its breakdown in many areas.

Freedom of movement campaigner and immigration lawyer Colin Yeo sees the situation as just another example of how British lawmakers in favour of Brexit are playing with expats’ lives in order to gain points in the negotiations. Yeo believes few pundits and politicians even bother to find out how their policies would pan out when real people are involved. The news broke via a no-deal technical notice leaked to the press, which stated S1 certificates would not longer be valid after March 2019.

Full article in Expats blog

The view from Spain: British migrants fear Brexit impact

The view from Spain: British migrants fear Brexit impact

Jan 31, 2019 | Articles, News

Costa del Sol – There are an estimated 1.3 million British expatriates living in the European Union. The greatest number live in Spain. Officially, 310,000 Britons live there, although this figure is believed to be a third of the actual number.

Al Jazeera spoke to British people living in Costa del Sol and in the Valencian Community about their home country’s impending divorce from the EU.

‘My biggest concern is losing freedom of movement’

Molly Williams, 24, volunteer

“My biggest concern around Brexit is losing freedom of movement, which is the right that my family and I have used throughout our lives, as I have lived, travelled, worked and studied across Europe.

Read article in Aljazeera

¿Qué? podcast, episode two: What Brexit means for Brits in Spain

¿Qué? podcast, episode two: What Brexit means for Brits in Spain

Jan 26, 2019 | Articles, News, Radio, Podcasts & TV

So the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union. But is it really? Will there be a second referendum? Will it crash out with no deal?

It seems that no one has the answers to those questions right now, something that’s leaving a lot of British residents in Spain, and Spanish residents in the UK, feeling very unsure about their futures.

In this second episode of our new podcast, ¿Qué?, the editor of the EL PAÍS English Edition, Simon Hunter, and his colleague, Melissa Kitson, discuss what Brexit might mean for British and Spanish migrants living in each other’s respective countries, in particular in the light of recent news that Madrid and London have reached a deal over voting rights in future municipal elections.

Full article in El Pais

Brits in Spain more concerned about future after the rejection of Brexit deal prolongs uncertainty

Brits in Spain more concerned about future after the rejection of Brexit deal prolongs uncertainty

Jan 18, 2019 | Articles, News

The latest events in what some are branding the “Brexit pantomime” have done nothing to ease the concerns of the 40,000-plus Brits living on the Costa del Sol.

Tuesday’s historic vote in the UK’s House of Commons, which saw Theresa May’s Brexit deal rejected by a majority of 230 votes, was followed the next day by a narrow victory for her government in a vote of no confidence tabled by Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

The 19-vote difference means that Theresa May’s Conservative party was given a mandate by Parliament to continue to negotiate some sort of withdrawal deal.

There has been mixed reaction from groups representing Brits in Malaga province and throughout the Spain.

Speaking to SUR on Wednesday, Anne Hernández, spokesperson for Mijas-based Brexpats in Spain, said this week’s events have been, “more senselessness.” She added that from the beginning the aim of her group, which represents both ‘Remainers’ and ‘Leavers’, has been to ensure that “the UK doesn’t leave without any kind of deal” meaning that the rights of Britons living in the EU are protected. The rejection of May’s deal means that the “anguish” felt by Britons is being extended and that people she talks to are “more worried than ever”.

For Sue Wilson, chair of anti-Brexit group, Bremain in Spain, the collapse of the Withdrawal Deal was as welcome as it was expected. She told SUR in English, “I have found myself in the strange position this week of wanting Theresa May to lose one vote on Tuesday and win another on Wednesday, both of which duly happened.”

Full article in The Sur