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Brexit: No, France doesn’t want to inflict ‘maximum pain’ on Brits living here

Reports in the British press that France and its president Emmanuel Macron had concocted a bill that in the event of a no-deal Brexit would force British tourists to have visas to cross the Channel and "cause maximum pain" for UK nationals in France are wrong.

Published: 18 October 2018 19:34 CEST

Brexit: No, France doesn't want to inflict 'maximum pain' on Brits living here

AFP

On Wednesday the press in Britain all jumped on reports that fist emerged on Twitter about the French government's draft bill that would be pushed through in the event of Britain crashing out of the EU without an agreement

The bill was actually published on or shortly after October 3rd when the country's Europe Minister Nathalie Loiseau presented it to the cabinet.

So even though it was published two weeks ago it was presented in the British press on Wednesday as France ramping up the pressure on Theresa May just as she headed off to Brussels for a crucial EU summit on Wednesday.

“France was the first to ratchet up the tension yesterday, publishing guidance on the Senate website,” said the Daily Mail.

Whereas The Sun said: “France last night published their doomsday No Deal scenario planning just hours before Theresa May’s arrival at the EU Council.”

But the big problem with the reports wasn't only the mistaken timing of the bill's publication, it was the whole interpretation of the legislation.

Much of the bill laid out the factual and fairly dramatic consequences of a no-deal Brexit such as the fact Britons would become third country nationals and therefore need residency permits to be able to stay, visas to enter France and how companies could be in trouble if they employed British workers without the necessary permits.

But the legislation printed on the Senate's website was interpreted by some as what France intends to do if there's a no-deal.

The anti-Macron Daily Express headlined on: “Macron to introduce plans for UK tourists to need visas to visit France if no-deal exit”, while The Sun's Westminster Correspondent Harry Cole focused on the fact that British nationals in France would lose their automatic right to remain in France as EU citizens.

“An explosive draft law published in Paris seems designed to cause maximum pain to Brits living in France short of kicking them out,” wrote Cole, comparing the perceived plan to a very different statement by Theresa May “to automatically protect the rights of French people living in the UK.”

“Brits would automatically become third party nationals that bars them from holding jobs reserved for EU citizens and restrict their access to healthcare and welfare,” read The Sun's article as if France was planning to close hospitals to British patients after Brexit.

“If President Emmanuel Macron approves it Brits would be barred from jobs reserved for EU citizens as well as restrict healthcare and welfare.”

And this was the Metro's front page:

Emmanuel Macron's government has “proposed that Britain's living in France instantly be deemed illegal if there's no deal”, the paper said.

But it's simply not true.

The purpose of the French bill is actually to allow the French government to quickly pass decrees without debate in parliament in order to prevent upheaval to the lives of Brits living and working in France, tourists who just want to visit and to enable the ports to be able to cope with the extra checks on trucks that would need to be carried out.

The bill was not a list of threats from Paris designed to shock Theresa May into accepting the EU's offer of a deal.

It simply listed the real consequences of a no-deal (just as the UK government has been doing in recent weeks) on the rights of Brits to remain and work in France as well as the impact on their access to social welfare and health cover and importantly the areas where France would need to pass urgent legislation to deal with the resulting impact.

France's Europe Minister Nathalie Loiseau has already stated that Brits already living in France would be looked after in the event of a no deal.

“We must make sure that in the absence of a deal on March 30, 2019, Britons living in France do not find themselves suddenly with irregular (immigration) status,” she added.

Indeed the French bill states that Brits in France could be given more preferential treatment than third country nationals (citizens of EU member-states) following Brexit.

The Europe Minister reiterated that position in a Senate debate on Wednesday.

It's also worth pointing out that even if there is a deal it's like Brits will have to apply for a residency permits and are currently being urged to do so already by the British embassy and France's interior ministry.

The really important caveat is that the French government has repeatedly said that everything still depends on London and the future of Brits living in France will only be guaranteed if London acts likewise to protect the French living in the UK. Minister for Europe Nathalie Loiseau has said that the French citizens residing in the UK are the priority for Paris.

The bill states France would retain the right to cancel any decree it takes to allow Brits to stay legally in France if London does not put in place a similar measure.

But given that Theresa May has already stated this would happen it seems likely that in the event of no deal a bilateral agreement would be made between Paris and London to ensure each country's citizens can carry on with their lives almost as before.

One important point to add is that while this sounds like a safe fall-back option, campaigners are concerned about any reciprocal deal because if London downgrades the rights of EU citizens in Britain then Paris and other EU governments will do the same.

Kalba Meadows, from the Remain in France Together Campaign group told The Local: “The only moral and secure outcome for our rights and those of EU citizens in the UK in the case of no deal is a legally binding, ring fenced citizens' rights agreement.

“There is already a draft agreement that could be honoured even if the rest of the deal failed, and it would show that both sides really did care about people before politics,” she said.

The campaign groups British in Europe and the “3million” which represents EU nationals in the UK have also urged London and Brussels to act by ring-fencing the current citizens' rights agreement.

“Enough is enough, we need legal certainty now, and we ask you to do the right thing by providing it,” British in Europe said.

A source close to France's Minister for Europe told The Local on Thursday they were surprised at the coverage in the British press, who had clearly mixed up the reasons for the bill with the legislation itself.

“The aim is certainly not to cause 'maximum pain' to Britons living in France in fact it's the exact opposite. We want to take action so they don't find themselves in an irregular position if there's no deal.

“However the French citizens in the UK are our priority so we would look for a reciprocal agreement if the main negotiations between London and Brussels fail.”

So while Brits in France and the French in the UK remain bargaining chips in the negotiations process, it's clear that France is not intent on ruining the lives of it's 150,000 British residents if there's a no-deal.

Member comments

Anonymous - 18 October 2018 at 18:10 CEST

The Red Tops deal in lies and complete fabrication as was shown in the run up to the referendum. They, the gutter press, should be held accountable for the rubbish they print causing fear and misunderstanding. They are, to a great part, responsible for the current situation by siding with the likes of Farage, Johnson, Gove, etc and giving credence to the rubbish they touted before the referendum.
Anonymous - 18 October 2018 at 20:31 CEST

It`s a well known, but sad fact, that a lie can travel around the world, and be believed, before the truth has got it’s running shoes on.
The red tops are gutter press and distorters of the truth.
Unfortunately the vocal majority of British xenophobics believe them and the truth does not fit with their stupid views.
Anonymous - 19 October 2018 at 08:02 CEST

Years ago, a few of these “papers” were actually respected news-sheets with proper journalists working for them but now they seem to only employ children, that scourer the playgrounds of Twitter and Facebook looking for anything that justifies what they have written, then just cut & paste it.Unfortunately they don’t seem to have the brain power to actually check a story and their editors are just as guilty by sheer complacentry.
Anonymous - 19 October 2018 at 10:42 CEST

This article states that “France is not intent on ruining the lives of it’s 150,000 British residents if there’s a no-deal”.
But it also states that “The really important caveat is that the French government has repeatedly said that everything still depends on London and the future of Brits living in France will only be guaranteed if London acts likewise to protect the French living in the UK”.
Then we read “Theresa May has already stated this would happen it seems likely that in the event of no deal a bilateral agreement would be made between Paris and London to ensure each country’s citizens can carry on with their lives almost as before”.
What I understand from this article is simply that Macron will protect the Brits in France, IF May protects the French in Britain. And as we all know SHE’S A LIAR, we just have to hope she honours what she says.
Anonymous - 19 October 2018 at 16:01 CEST

It was’t just the red-top gutter press that reported the matter in this way, the supposedly respectable broadsheets joined in. Nevertheless, setting this typical tabloid hysteria aside, it is true that a ‘no-deal’ exit is distinctly possible and that, if that happens, UK citizens living (either full-time or for part of the year) in any of the 27 who have not exercised their current EU citizen rights to take up official residence there will after Brexit revert to the status of ‘third country’ citizens. If they are still in France at that date they will be technically ‘undocumented’, that is without formal documented permission to be in the country and could, in theory at least, be arrested and deported, although this is unlikely in the immediate short term. If they leave France then they (as with any other UK visitor to France after 31/3/19) will need to have some kind of visa (either from the French embassy or the online all-Schengen system when/if it goes active later in 2019) if they return: either a tourist visa (cost €60) which allows 90 days total visit in any 180 day period (you’ll need one also for your three day Citybreak in Paris) – either a ‘single visit’ visa or a ‘circulatory’ visa which allows for repeated visits over any 180 day period. If you want to stay longer than this then you will need a long-stay visa (€90) for a year which then has to be validated at the local prefecture where you live. Taking out one of the latter means you also become fiscally resident in France and subject to French income tax (including capital gains tax and social charges of 37% if you cash in any share ISAs or SIPPs you have in the UK). Taking a train to Italy or Germany won’t help either as those 90 days cover being in any Schengen country not just France. The Remain in France website has an excellent discussion of the relevant issues. These dangers are real and people should make themselves aware of the issues.

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INTERVIEW: 'A lot of people think Brexit is done, but it's not for Brits in Europe'

In the early days of 2021, after the United Kingdom had left the EU and completed the final stage of Brexit, many British citizens returned to their home countries in Europe only to face a grilling at the border.

Though the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) technically guaranteed their right to live and work in the countries they’d settled in before Brexit, there was widespread confusion about these fundamental rights and many were treated like new arrivals.

Over time, the chaos at the airports subsided as border officials and airlines were given clearer guidance on the treatment of Brits. But three years later, a number of Brits who live on the continent still face problems when it comes to proving their post-Brexit rights.

This was the reason campaign group British in Europe decided to set up their new EU-funded ICE project. Starting this year in March, it aims to build valuable connections between UK citizens abroad and mentor the next generation of civil rights advocates around the continent. The acronym stands for ‘Inform, Empower, Connect’ and the project’s organisers describe it as “the first project of its kind”.

“It’s a completely innovative project – especially the fact that it’s across so many countries,” Jane Golding, chair of British in Europe and one of the project’s founders, told The Local.

Bringing together groups from 11 EU member states, the project aims to train up volunteers to understand both the Withdrawal Agreement and EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, as well as learning skills like advocacy and communication, using real-life civil rights cases that are referred to British in Europe.

“The ultimate goal is to amplify the messages across the wider group,” said Golding. “You start with the volunteers, they go back to their groups, then the people that we train, they go back and train people. Then they pass on that knowledge to the wider groups, on their Facebook accounts and through social media, and hopefully it all snowballs, not just in their countries but across the EU.”

‘Far-reaching repercussions’

So many years after Brexit, it’s hard to believe that there’s still a need for a project like ICE that empowers Brits to protect their rights. Indeed, the future of groups like British in Europe and regional groups like British in Germany and British in Spain felt uncertain just a year or two ago.

But Golding says there are still serious issues cropping up for Brits in several countries around Europe – they just have a different quality to the problems that arose at the start.

“In some ways it’s needed even more because as we predicted right at the beginning, at the first stage of implementation, you’ve got the more routine cases,” she explained.

“What we’re seeing now is not as many cases, but when the cases come up, they’re complex. They can have such far-reaching repercussions on people’s lives. And of course, memories start to fade. A lot of people think Brexit is already done, but it’s not.”

Volunteers in British in Europe ICE project

The volunteers of the British in Europe ICE project pose for a photo at the kick-off meeting in Brussels on May 21st, 2024. Photo courtesy of Jane Golding

Though the rights set out in the Withdrawal Agreement apply across the continent, different countries have taken different approaches to implementing them.

That means that while in Germany, for example, UK citizens simply had to declare that they lived in the country, people in neighbouring Denmark had to apply for their rights.

This led to a notorious situation in Denmark in which as many as 2,000 Brits were threatened with deportation after not applying in time or completing the right application process. According to Golding, this had a lot to do with the fact that people who arrived in 2020 weren’t given the same information as other UK migrants who arrived before.

In Sweden, meanwhile, the situation is still difficult for many Brits who lived there prior to Brexit.

“There have been issues with an anomalously high numbers of refusals compared to other countries, and they seem to be taking a very strict approach on late applications,” Golding explained.

Portugal has been another difficult case. Although the country opted for a declaratory system where Brits could simply exchange old residence documents for a new ID card after Brexit, reports suggest that the authorities have taken years to issue these cards, leaving many of the some 34,000 Brits in the country in limbo.

“While people are still waiting to have their status confirmed and have their card in their hand, it’s difficult to access a whole range of services, like health services, or applying for jobs or dealing with the authorities, or even going to the bank,” Golding said. “All of these problems just affect people’s lives.”

A French border guard checks a passport at the border

A French border guard checks a passport at the border. Photo by DENIS CHARLET / AFP

There are also concerns about the EU’s new exit and entry system (EES), due to come into force in October, which is based on biometric documentation.

“We still do not have clear data on how many people in declaratory countries like Germany, where it wasn’t compulsory to apply for the card, don’t actually have a card,” Golding said. “How is that going to play out if it’s a document-based digitalised system?”

A lack of support

In the immediate aftermath of Brexit, funding from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) was still available to support NGOs in Europe helping Brits with their migration and civil rights issues. But that temporary funding soon expired, leaving groups like British in Europe largely on their own.

“The whole point is people’s lives change at very different paces,” Golding said. “And now this project is really going to start to pick up some of those cases and report on those issues, which is really crucial and exciting for the precedent that it sets, and it’s very clearly necessary still, because people don’t just sort their lives in the 18 months that the FCDO chose to supply that funding.”

This feeling of being left alone and increasingly isolated from the UK is one that many Brits in Europe have felt in the aftermath of Brexit. But the upcoming UK election on July 4th could be a game-changer.

This time, following a change in the law, Brits who have lived abroad for more than 15 years will be able to vote for the first time.

Polling station in the UK

A polling station in the UK. Photo by Elliott Stallion on Unsplash

When it comes to the election, the message from British in Europe is clear: “Make your voice count now, make your vote count, make sure you use it,” Golding said.

With the June 18th registration deadline fast approaching, BiE is advising UK citizens abroad to apply for a proxy vote as soon as possible, rather than relying on a postal vote from abroad. Since the 15-year rule was abolished on January 16th, more than 100,000 British citizens have registered to vote, according to official statistics. It is unclear how many were registered before the change in the law.

With an estimated 5.5 million Brits currently living abroad – 1.3 million of whom are in the EU – this could have a significant impact on the electoral landscape, Golding says. But most significantly, the change is creating a feeling of connection and belonging that wasn’t there before.

Nurturing this sense of belonging is one of the main goals of ICE.

With these bridges being built, British in Europe hopes to create a network of support that spans across borders.

“Now we’ve met. We’re going to meet,” said Golding. “We know we’re going to meet again in Berlin in October and then we’ll meet again in the new year in 2025 as well. It means a huge amount because even British in Europe, our steering team, we’ve only met physically three times.”

This opens up the possibility of people sharing their knowledge from country to country, Golding explained.

“There is crossover and the reassurance of having that EU wide view and knowing that you’re not alone and knowing that in this country, we managed to get this solution,” she said. “And then you can go back and say to the authorities in your country, well, in that country they did that – all of that helps. It’s really good.”

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