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UK Referendum on continued British membership of the EU

Posted: Sun 24 May 2015 15:18
by Smiley G
A referendum on continued British membership of the EU could be held as soon as next year.
A vote to leave the EU would have major consequences for Ex-Pats who are resident in France.
An exit timescale is not known but I suspect would be within 3 years of a NO vote.
The consequences are varied depending on individual circumstances. It appears that those in retirement who are in receipt of UK State and occupational pensions would be hit the hardest.
For example, no State Pension increments-the same as for pensioners in say, Australia.
Loss of S1 Healthcare cover, have you seen what 100% medical insurance costs?
The Double-Taxation treaty. What would happen then? HMRC AND French tax authorities grabbing your money!
Perhaps we need to pool resources over the coming months as various organisations publish their Ex-Pat guides. Both HSBC France & Barclays France will issue briefing notes to Ex-Pats and those thinking of becoming Ex-Pats so there are probably a few of us who can report some of the facts.
Perhaps Kate may wish to add a forum title to the index as the referendum vote draws closer.

Posted: Sun 24 May 2015 17:13
by Kate
OK, no prob. Can do that. Do you have a specific title in mind. And a brief description to follow? I will set it up within 'General' as its own forum.

Posted: Sun 24 May 2015 21:34
by Smiley G
Kate, I have PM'd you.

Posted: Mon 25 May 2015 23:27
by Smiley G
If there was a NO vote followed by a "Brexit", UK citizens would fall into the "Non EU Citizens" group.
This would mean the requirement of a Residency permit. These are listed as follows;
Carte de Séjour temporaire....VALID 1 YEAR AND RENEWABLE
Carte de Séjour "compétences et talents...VALID 3 YEARS AND RENEWABLE
Carte de Séjour "retraité".....VALID 10 YEARS AND RENEWABLE
Carte de Résident.....VALID 10 YEARS AND RENEWABLE

I understand that the French Government would look at applications based on historical residency but any new UK Ex-Pats would be treated the same as if they were from say Canada or the USA.
If we've got any English-speaking non EU nationals using the forum, perhaps their experiences would be of great use.

"BrExit" Healthcare Cover

Posted: Mon 25 May 2015 23:45
by Smiley G
Following on from my previous post, if we have any English-speaking non-EU nationals on the forum, I wonder if they might wish to provide some input concerning French Healthcare in respect of;
CPAM/CMU membership & URSSAF contributions.
This is going to potentially be the most complex area to report to the forum as the number of variables would be quite large based on Income, Age, Employment Status, the early retired & S1 holders etc. etc.

Posted: Tue 26 May 2015 18:56
by Gus Morris
I think that worrying about this is futile until we know the outcome. We can speculate endlessly on what might or might not happen. But all we do is risk stressing ourselves for no purpose.

Gus

Posted: Tue 26 May 2015 20:23
by malcolmcooper
Well said Gus, I was thinking the same.

Posted: Tue 26 May 2015 21:38
by lonesome paddy
Obviously worrying about it is not going to change anything but i think its a very good idea of Smiley G to try and get a list of options in place so that if it did happen at least you would have some idea of what to do.

Posted: Wed 27 May 2015 07:37
by Gus Morris
If you really must anguish about the possible outcome then I suggest you take a positive stance. Devote your energies to promoting continued UK membership of the EU. Assuming, of course, that you are in favour of such a course of action! Be positive, promote and defend what you believe to be right. Persuade others to your point of view.

Scaring yourselves and others needlessly serves no purpose other than to give comfort to those that oppose UK membership of the EU. They want you to be afraid. Don't do their dirty work for them!

Gus

Posted: Wed 27 May 2015 11:23
by lonesome paddy
Gus Morris wrote:If you really must anguish about the possible outcome then I suggest you take a positive stance. Devote your energies to promoting continued UK membership of the EU. Assuming, of course, that you are in favour of such a course of action! Be positive, promote and defend what you believe to be right. Persuade others to your point of view.

Scaring yourselves and others needlessly serves no purpose other than to give comfort to those that oppose UK membership of the EU. They want you to be afraid. Don't do their dirty work for them!

Gus
Thats a big overreaction especially when your thinking is inclined to que sera sera

Posted: Wed 27 May 2015 13:33
by Smiley G
I seemed to have opened a debate which is a good thing because it is something that may, at some future date, affect those of us who are resident in France.
Personally, I believe that Britain should stay in the EU even though the EU is a different entity now compared with what the UK voted for in June 1975 with 67% in favour of remaining in what was the EEC.
The purpose of this topic is to pool information well in advance so that when the outcome IS known, matter of fact data can be published, if required.
I sincerely hope that it will not come to that but as the Bank of England, Pan- European banks and the Foreign Office all seem to have working parties in place, I see no harm in Ex-Pats doing the same.

Posted: Thu 28 May 2015 11:21
by Santiago
I think it's helpful to lay out the rights of non-EU residents in France so Brits can see what would happen if Britain exits. Britain pulling out of the EU has no benefit to any Brit who lives in the EU, whether they are there working for an employer, have their own business, are retired or early-retired.

It would benefit all of us therefore to publicise the loss of rights and benefits among the ex-pat community and to all those people back in Britain who harbour dreams of living and/or working in France, Spain, Italy, Croatia, ...

And these are simply the personal disadvantages of a Brexit. Perhaps worse would be the effect on the numerous businesses that rely on simple and fair exchange of goods and services between Britain and its EU partners.

It seems to me that the only points for pulling out of the EU are to curb immigration of unwelcome Eastern Europeans and to limit funding civil projects in the poorer EU states. There is also the mistaken view that French and Spanish farmers lounge around all day receiving vast benefits from the taxes of some hard-working British van-driver.

Posted: Thu 28 May 2015 12:21
by Owens88
Santiago wrote: Perhaps worse would be the effect on the numerous businesses that rely on simple and fair exchange of goods and services between Britain and its EU partners.

It seems to me that the only points for pulling out of the EU are to curb immigration of unwelcome Eastern Europeans and to limit funding civil projects in the poorer EU states. There is also the mistaken view that French and Spanish farmers lounge around all day receiving vast benefits from the taxes of some hard-working British van-driver.
Brexit will only happen if some free trade arrangement is a likely alternative. The UK buys more from europe than we sell to it so the eu want us as customers.

Similarly thre are more French in London than Brits in France. OK the ones in France are older :D and the ones in the UK work.

The anti eu feeling has been building up over years and therefore some is emotion and some rational. The British Civil Service obeyed the EU rules more completely than their French counterparts and therefore our industry suffered.
However just like with 'elf and safety' a lot of things were blamed on the eu that were not strictly true. Give a jobsworth an umbrella to hide behind and the umbrella gets bigger.

Posted: Thu 28 May 2015 18:42
by Santiago
I like that comment John.
Health and Safety in Britain is like employment rules in France. Both are tediously over-the-top. Neither have much to do with the EU.

Personally, if I was president of the EU, I would make driving licences European, force the Brits to drive on the right and use Kms on roadsigns. I'd make car insurance cross-border and standardise things like road tax, MOTs and speed limits. And that's just looking at how motoring could be standardised for the better.

Later in the week I shall be proposing my "Dictator of Europe" views on Mobile phone packages, School Education and Daylight Saving. :twisted:

Posted: Mon 01 Jun 2015 10:23
by Gus Morris
I maintain my position that detailed discussion is pointless until we know the outcome. However I would be interested to know how many UK citizens live in the PO. I have had no luck in my research. Any ideas?

Gus

Posted: Mon 01 Jun 2015 19:59
by Allan
I'm with Gus on this.

As far as I know, no country has left the EU so it is all uncharted waters.

It is pointless to assume we would have the same status as say Norway because nobody actually knows what would happen. Hopefully it wont happen but if it did then I cannot see the UK government putting 2million expats in a position that a large number are forced politically or economically to return to the UK. That would blow a massive hole in any attempt to limit net migration.

I'm firmly in the wait and see camp.

Posted: Mon 01 Jun 2015 20:18
by lonesome paddy
Gus Morris wrote:I maintain my position that detailed discussion is pointless until we know the outcome. However I would be interested to know how many UK citizens live in the PO. I have had no luck in my research. Any ideas?

Gus
A couple of years ago some site gave a breakdown which they claimed was reasonably accurate as to numbers of British people living in France (not just holiday homes). For the life of me i cant recall the name of the site but the highest figures were in Brittany & the Dordogne

Posted: Mon 01 Jun 2015 20:28
by lonesome paddy
Santiago wrote:I like that comment John.
Health and Safety in Britain is like employment rules in France. Both are tediously over-the-top. Neither have much to do with the EU.

Personally, if I was president of the EU, I would make driving licences European, force the Brits to drive on the right and use Kms on roadsigns. I'd make car insurance cross-border and standardise things like road tax, MOTs and speed limits. And that's just looking at how motoring could be standardised for the better.

Later in the week I shall be proposing my "Dictator of Europe" views on Mobile phone packages, School Education and Daylight Saving. :twisted:
In your Dictator of Europe State of the Nation speech can you also include a few words on a single currency. :roll:

Posted: Mon 01 Jun 2015 22:00
by Owens88
Oh, if you are going to be like that then may we have an edict across the eu, to assure good quality cask real ale to be available within 2 miles of any habitation of more than 25 people.

Posted: Tue 02 Jun 2015 15:07
by lonesome paddy
Owens88 wrote:Oh, if you are going to be like that then may we have an edict across the eu, to assure good quality cask real ale to be available within 2 miles of any habitation of more than 25 people.
Very sorry Owens88 but we cant proceed with your Real Ale request. You used incorrect wording ............you said miles instead of kilometres......jobsworth and EU regulations and all that :wink:

Posted: Wed 03 Jun 2015 23:07
by Santiago
Glad you brought up beer. France should be brought into the 21st century with other civilised EU nations and start making proper beer with a head, hops and a flavour that lasts more then 1 millisecond. It should be served only standard glass of 56.82612 cl or 50% or that.

Furthermore only cafés and bars serving proper beer will be allowed to call themselves cafés and bars and brasseries shall be reserved for those brewing beer on their premises. Cafés must serve fresh coffee and Bars must have a physical bar, at which one can lean. Bars must also serve all beers onto a beer-mat conforming to the regulation whereby a standard man can toss and catch at least 5 of them with the same hand.

Everyone else shall be a restricted to calling themselves a "snack".

See, life will be much simpler with Britain in the EU and more rules and regulations, not less. :lol:

The Demise of the Beer Mat

Posted: Thu 04 Jun 2015 10:40
by Owens88
I attribute the economic crash to the demise of the proper beer mat (even in Britain they are becoming scarce).

For a long time I have been in 'Bizzness' and was even a acccredited Business Planning Consultant when we used to have a department for trade and industry (as opposed to 'shoring up the finance sector' ).

It may seem shocking now but Business Planning is not a spreadsheet exercise. Our rule of thumb was that if you peeled apart a beermat you had enough space to write down the guts of a Business Plan.

No Beer Mats, no real Planning, Economic Crash. Quite simple really!

Santiago I am with you. I might have to change my allegiance from the party #YorkshireFirst to yours !

Posted: Thu 04 Jun 2015 13:46
by lonesome paddy
And i dont think that women should be allowed into our new pubs

Posted: Thu 04 Jun 2015 18:52
by Gus Morris
Seems like we've gone from tragedy to farce!

Gus

Posted: Tue 04 Aug 2015 17:47
by Smiley G
Latest "Brexit" Poll based on the question "Would you stay in the EU on current terms?"

41% Leave
37% Stay
20% Don't know

I haven't a clue about the missing 2%, presumably didn't understand the question?
Amazing that 1 in 5 of people polled didn't know. They will be the targets of the in and out campaigns.
I heard yesterday that June 2016 is likely after the May elections.

51% WANT TO LEAVE THE EU

Posted: Sun 06 Sep 2015 07:30
by Smiley G
Latest Survation poll for the Mail on Sunday indicates 51% wanting out with 49% wishing to stay in the EU.

http://news.sky.com/story/1547487/major ... om-eu-poll

Posted: Sun 06 Sep 2015 15:04
by martyn94
Like anyone I know who ever had close dealings with "Brussels", I have always regarded Europhobia with a certain wry amusement, like homeopathy or the Lib Dems. But it could just be getting beyond a joke. God knows what Corbyn's forthcoming anointment will meant: he could stuff things up, one way or another, whatever he says.

Posted: Sun 06 Sep 2015 15:20
by Smiley G
It seems that the latest surge in the "we want to leave the EU" vote has been triggered by immigration issues.
PaddyPower's latest odds for the EU referendum are:
• 1/5 In favour of staying in EU
• 3/1 In favour of exiting the EU

Posted: Sun 17 Jan 2016 07:44
by Smiley G
The latest Surveytion poll for the Mail on Sunday shows;
53% in favour of leaving EU
47% in favour of staying in.
However, the poll found that if Boris Johnson were to lead the "Brexit" campaign the figures would be;
54% to leave
46% to stay
The main changes (where the figures have switched) is as a result of the Paris Massacre, Cologne Attacks & the migrant crisis.

Posted: Sun 17 Jan 2016 13:12
by neil mitchell
I am greatly in favour of leaving the EU but not just the UK, every country should leave and we can then get back to normal.