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CULTURE

Europe & You newsletter: Government’s no-deal Brexit letters to Brits around Europe cause alarm

Brits around Europe are steadily receiving communication from the British government regarding the impact of a no-deal Brexit, but far from reassuring the recipients the letters are causing alarm.

Published: 27 September 2019 17:19 CEST
Europe & You newsletter: Government's no-deal Brexit letters to Brits around Europe cause alarm
Photo: AFP/Jean-Jacques Ganon

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Hi readers,

Have you been receiving letters from the British government either urging you to 'get ready for Brexit' or advising you what you need to do to ensure you have health cover in future?

Boris Johnson's government is desperately trying to get word out to the 1.3 million Brits in the EU including  200,000 pensioners that they need to take action to prepare for Brexit on “October 31st”.

“The UK is leaving the European Union (EU) on 31 October 2019,” reads a letter sent from the NHS Business Services Authority that is aimed at warning British pensioners what they need to do to ensure their health costs will be covered in future.

The government announced this week that their healthcare costs would be covered for up to six months in a no-deal Brexit.

“The UK Government is working hard to secure a deal covering healthcare arrangements, but this letter provides guidance as to what you should do now if the UK leaves the EU without securing a deal.”

 

“You should be ready for possible permanent changes to how you access healthcare if there is a no- deal Brexit,” British pensioners are warned before being advised on what action to take including possibly getting private health insurance.

But the letters are been causing a certain amount of stress for pensioners, many of whom are receiving treatment for serious ongoing health conditions.

The healthcare one is very very unclear and is causing alarm (again!),” Kalba Meadows from British in Europe and France Rights tells The Local.

“It's not at all clear about the six month transitional arrangement and anyone reading it who isn't following the updates is likely to panic when the read this sentence “The UK’s participation in the S1 scheme will continue until at least 31 October 2019.”

“I think it's a great shame – and really concerning – that the government's communications on health care haven't been clearer – it's such a fundamental issue for people, and especially those with serious health conditions, and the Department of Health and Social Care needs to be sensitive to that.

“It should be the UK government's job to inform and communicate – instead we find ourselves doing it for them in order to mitigate the panic and the damage that letters like this are inadvertently doing,” said Meadows.

If you are pensioner on the S1 scheme and haven't yet received a letter from the British government you can read it HERE.

If you wanted to know why the letters and indeed the government's announcement have caused such anger among recipients then our columnist Sue Wilson from Bremain in Spain explains.

“Like thousands of others, I moved to Spain expecting free healthcare for life. I paid into the National Health Service for 38 years. I did not envisage paying for private healthcare or prescription charges in my retirement,” she writes.

“National Health Insurance has that name for a reason. When you pay into an insurance policy for years, you expect payback when it’s required. Whether I spend my retirement in Bradford, Bournemouth or Barcelona should not make any difference to the cover I receive.” For more from Sue Wilson click on the link below.

OPINION: I moved to Spain expecting free health cover for life

All Brits in France and around the EU are also being sent letters from the ambassador telling them to get ready for Brexit. It includes instructions for what to do in the event of a no deal Brexit including that they will need to apply for residency within six months.

And the government is also sending out a third letter outlining that if the UK leaves without a deal, pensions for those in the EU will be uprated for a further 3 years.

Here are three other Brexit related articles from our sites this week that might interest you.

Thanks for reading.

Remember to email me your questions at [email protected]

Ben

Managing Editor, The Local Europe

 

 

 

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CULTURE

Why is the Mona Lisa so famous (and why is it even in France)?

Being lauded as either the greatest artwork in the world or the most overrated tourist attraction in France, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa does not struggle to get attention. But why is this small portrait so famous?

Published: 17 May 2024 17:47 CEST
Why is the Mona Lisa so famous (and why is it even in France)?

Paris’ Louvre museum has recently announced that the Mona Lisa painting is to get its own room, a move that is at least partly in reaction to increasing complaints about the artwork being overrated, while tourists struggle to see it in the small, crowded space.

There aren’t many paintings that get a room of their own, so just what is it about Mona Lisa (or La Joconde as she is known in France) that attracts so many millions of tourists each year – and should you bother going to see her?

Why is it in France?

Let’s start with why the painting is in France in the first place, since both painter and subject are Italian (although Italy at that time was still a collection of city states which would not be unified into the modern country until 1861). 

In short, Mona Lisa is in France because her creator Leonardo da Vinci travelled with her, and he was in France when he died in 1519. The reason that he was in France is that he spent the last years of his life working on special commissions for king François I. He died at the Château du Clos Lucé in Amboise, in France’s Loire Valley. 

Upon his death Mona Lisa was taken into the French royal collection and various descendants of François I hung her in their palaces until the French Revolution happened in 1793.

After the Revolution, with the exception of a brief stint in Napoleon’s palace, the painting entered the collection of the newly-created Louvre gallery which – in the spirit of revolutionary equality – was opened up to the people so that they too could enjoy great art.

Various requests over the years – some polite, others less so – from Italy to return the painting have been firmly declined by the French state. 

When did it get famous?

In the 18th and 19th centuries Leonardo’s painting was a popular exhibit among museum visitors, but didn’t have any particular fame and wasn’t regarded as any more special than the numerous other artworks exhibited there.

Although some academic interest in the painting’s subject – most commonly thought to be Lisa Gherardini, wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo – stirred in the 19th century, her real fame didn’t arrive until 1911.

This is when the painting was stolen from the Louvre, a crime that became a sensation and a cause celèbre in France, even more so when the painting was finally found in 1913 after the thief had attempted to sell it in Italy.

The fame of the painting and the crime inspired contemporary artists such as Marcel Duchamp who created a playful reproduction of Mona Lisa (complete with beard and moustache) which in turn enhanced the painting’s recognition. The artistic trend continued with everyone from Andy Warhol to the ubiquitous student posters of Mona Lisa smoking a joint.

Former chairman of the French Communist Party Robert Hue views moustachioed Mona Lisa by dadaist painter Marcel Duchamp, lent out by his party for the first time for an exhibition in January 2002. Photo by NICOLAS ASFOURI / AFP

A tour of the painting to the US in 1963 and to Japan in 1974 further enhanced the celebrity status.

21st century

These days it’s perhaps accurate to say that the painting is simply famous because it’s famous. As the best-known piece of art in the world it’s automatically on many tourists’ ‘must see’ list when they come to Paris – and a lot of tourists come to Paris (roughly 44 million per year).

Meanwhile the Louvre is the most-visited museum in the world, attracting roughly 9 million visitors a year.

Although some visitors find the painting itself disappointing (it’s very small, just 77cm by 53cm) the most common complaint is that the room is too crowded – many people report that it’s so jammed with visitors that it’s hard to even see the picture never mind spend time contemplating the artwork.

Should I go and see it?

It really depends on what you like – if your taste in art is firmly in the more modern camp then you probably won’t find that this painting particularly speaks to you. You will, however, find a lot in Paris that is much more to your taste, running from the Musée d’Orsay (mostly art created between 1848 and 1914) to the Pompidou Centre (featuring contemporary and experimental art) and much, much more.

If, however, Renaissance art is your bag then you’ll struggle to find a finer example of it than Mona Lisa, with her beautiful brushwork, detailed and intriguing background and realistic presentation.

If you do decide to visit, then be prepared for the gallery to be crowded – the Louvre now operates on a pre-booking basis but even having a pre-booked ticket won’t save you from the crowds.

If possible try to avoid the summer and school holidays and prioritise weekdays over weekends – the early morning or late evening slots tend to be a little quieter than others, but you’re going to have to be prepared to share her with many other art-lovers.

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