It appears to me that the consequences of Brexit are starting to strike home. Its most vocal advocates in the press in 2016 seemed to want to quit the EU sphere, stop EU nationals from moving here but otherwise keep all the advantages of the free movement of only British citizens, goods, services, and capital. Looking back now, both the Leave campaigns seemed to have been based on this simple fallacy. From Digby Jones saying no jobs would be lost to BoJo telling us we would still have the right to study, live, or work in the EU after Brexit. As we know, none of it was true.
The Daily Express is finally waking up to the damage Brexit has caused. An article in the last few hours is headlined: France's 90-day visa hell as Brits forced to sell their homes over 'crazy' EU rules
I had to check the date to make sure it was 2024, but no it was from yesterday. The article explains:
"Britons who fell in love with France and decided to invest hundreds of thousands in a home there can no longer spend as much time as they want in the country. Following Brexit, UK citizens became third-country nationals when it comes to the European Union and lost their rights to stay in the bloc indefinitely.
"Those remaining in the EU for more than 90 days over a period of 180 face expulsion and a ban not just from the country in which they were found but from the whole union.
"Britons are also facing longer queues at border control and need to get their passports stamped every time they enter and exit the bloc.
"From mid-2025, Britons will also need to apply - and pay - for an ETIAS travel authorisation lasting three years to be able to enter the EU."
The story was about a couple of teachers who had hoped to retire to France but had now given up due to the hassle and were in the process of selling their home in the Occitanie region.
Virtually all of this was known and understood by the end of 2019 when Johnson and Frost announced the Withdrawal Agreement when Britain's central demand to be treated as a third country so far as the EU was concerned became clear. It is certainly not news. So why the article and similar ones in The Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph?
The Mail describes it as a "Blow for British expats in France."
You may have seen various reports in the last few weeks in the same newspapers about France being on the verge of relaxing visa rules allowing UK homeowners to remain in France longer than the 90 days in any 180-day period limit. Under the terms of a bill approved by the French parliament, long-term visas would have been issued automatically to British owners of second homes in France. An amendment allowing this was inserted into a government immigration bill by some right-wing senators but opposed by President Macron.
The news was greeted by Brexiteers as signifying that France somehow desperately needed UK citizens to buy and own homes in France and was willing to offer them rights no other non-EU nationals would enjoy.
The Daily Express, Mail, and Telegraph all carried reports of the move. The Telegraph even suggested in a headline that UK homeowners had been "punished enough."
Now a Constitutional Court has rejected the plan and canceled the controversial preferential visa clause favoring British owners of holiday homes, ruling it had no direct or indirect link to the core aim of the bill.
The professor of law Steve Peers tweeted the Express headline with a pithy comment:
The UK chose to leave the EU and free movement. Brexiters wanted to treat EU citizens in the UK the same as non-EU citizens; therefore UK citizens in the EU are treated like other non-EU citizens. FFS grow up and stop whining about the consequences of your actions. pic.twitter.com/lIj3haQCsK
— Steve Peers (@StevePeers) January 26, 2024
Most of the replies to his tweet were critical of the Express and its double standards with some pointing out that Brits now have the same rights as Mexicans or Nigerians or Australians when it comes to living, visiting, or working in the EU. In short exactly as Johnson wanted.
Not everybody was unhappy though. Note these:
Jason Potter is apparently quite happy for the UK government to issue 1.2 million visas each year to non-EU economic migrants provided (a) they aren't mainly European and (b) a few retired art teachers are prevented from moving to France.
I am not sure I will ever understand it.
