By Euro Weekly News Media • Published: 17 Sep 2016 • 16:00
UNCERTAINTY: Expatriates need to know how their future will be affected.
PENSIONS, properties, taxes and healthcare, it only took the scratch of a pen for British voters to seal an uncertain fate for the country, but the consequences of their decision are very real, particularly for the millions of expatriates living across the EU.
It is precisely this ambiguity over the future of legal and financial arrangements that inspired five British expatriates to establish a group with the seemingly simple, but infuriatingly complex mission of answering important questions that simply didn’t exist just three months ago.
Initially named ‘Brexpats in Mijas,’ the group quickly garnered so much online attention from information seeking expatriates that it evolved into ‘Brexpats in Spain,’ almost overnight. They now have thousands of British nationals among their membership.
What makes ‘Brexpats in Spain’ such a potent organisation is that it is not comprised of experts, nor does it pretend to be. The apolitical and not-for-profit group, was set up by ordinary expatriates searching for answers to extraordinary questions. Will they be able to continue living and working in Spain? What exactly will happen to pension schemes? To properties? To healthcare provision?
‘Brexpats in Spain’ have informed the Euro Weekly News that they intend to pressurise the British parliament for immediate answers to these questions and are embarking on an extensive campaign across the Costa del Sol to give all expatriates the opportunity to make their voice heard.
With the firm backing of Mijas Mayor, Juan Carlos Maldonado, ‘Brexpats in Spain’ have already held several well attended public meetings and will be holding many more in the weeks and months to come.
From September 9, the group opened a weekly drop-in office manned by volunteer expatriates in Fuengirola on Fridays from 4pm to 6pm, and there will be public gatherings at La Cala Town Hall on September 30 at 7.30pm, the Casa del la Cultura de Benalmadena on October 4 at 11am, and at Lux Mundi in Torre de Mar also on October 4 at 3pm. More are set to come across Spain.
The team is fully aware that not all expatriates are able to attend the meetings in person and will strive to visit groups of people at alternative locations at their request if it is feasible.
Euro Weekly News pledges to put its full weight behind this endeavour, and is also working hard to answer the questions that matter most to our readership. Follow ‘Brexpats in Spain’ on their website www.br expats.es and contact EWN with any Brexit related questions you may have.
In the coming weeks you can follow this page for new and important developments.
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oh dear!
Will there be any meetings organised inland?? I live in Osuna, Sevilla any meetings from Antequera or further inland toward Seville? All info would be appreciated
We live in Torre de la Horadada, Are there or are you plan some meetings this way. Tlorreveija, Playa Flameca, Punta Prima, La Zena. Cabo Riog, San Meguil. Torre. San Javier, San Pedro, Cartagena. Thousands of brits living in this part of Spain.
Pat Burt
It would be helpful if there was something in the costa blanca where I live .I have many many problems all caused by returning to uk and my son getting assaulted there – then coming back for his health – the NHS in uk is absolutely CRAP. Now problems with exchange rateect ect ect too too much to cope with at 72yrskay
PLEASE ⦠PLEASE ⦠PLEASE â N-O-B-O-D-Y K-N-O-W-S.
Teresa May doesnâÂÂt know.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission doesnâÂÂt know.
âÂÂPARLIAMENTâ very, very, very certainly doesnâÂÂt know.
All the disclaiming politicians and the earnest civil servants in UK and throughout Europe may have IDEAS about what They Would Maybe Like (âÂÂwantâÂÂ) the outcomes to be:
B-U-T, A-S O-F T-H-E-S-E L-A-S-T M-O-N-T-H-S O-F 2-0-1-6 , N-O-B-O-D-Y H-A-S A-N-Y I-D-E-A W-H-A-T T-H-E A-C-T-U-A-L O-U-T-C-O-M-E-S W-I-L-L B-E.
THERE’S MONTHS OF NEGOTIATING YET.
Look at the last couple of days alone: the eastern European countries within the EU say they will block any BREXIT deal on immigration control that does not suit them. And Germany and France are coming up to national elections where competing parties have very divergent ideas.
In 1940 neither Winston Churchill nor Adolph Hitler could have been anticipating how Europe would change by 1944/45.
A-S O-F T-H-E-S-E L-A-S-T M-O-N-T-H-S O-F 2-0-1-6 , N-O-B-O-D-Y H-A-S A-N-Y, A-N-Y, A-N-Y I-D-E-A W-H-A-T T-H-E A-C-T-U-A-L O-U-T-C-O-M-E-S W-I-L-L B-E.
Doesn’t matter what you say or how you say it John…. you just won’t get through to them! 🙂
Thanks Mike in ESP.
But what really creases me is that, all the way along the line the âÂÂwideboysâ (âÂÂchicos de anchoâ in Spanish), will now be seeing a way of taking even more money off daft-minded punters with their âÂÂadviceâ or âÂÂways round itâ or âÂÂthings you can do to prepare for the worstâÂÂ.
One has only to look at the âÂÂclinicsâ and âÂÂpublic meetingsâ that opportunist âÂÂfinancial advisersâ have been heavily heavily promoting ⦠must have made a killing out of it ⦠or been hoping they would.
I am so very sorry for those people whose ideas are at least honest and well-intentioned ⦠but âÂÂBrexpats in Spainâ and all their public meetings and weekly drop-in offices and heavy endorsements by Mayors and demands for answers from âÂÂParliamentâ just arenâÂÂt going to be able to tell anyone ANYTHING that is real.
AS OF THESE LAST MONTHS OF 2016 â AND VERY LIKELY THE LONG EARLY MONTHS OF 2017 â NOBODY HAS OR WILL HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT EVEN THE SHAPE OF THE OUTCOMES MIGHT BE. NOT EVEN MRS MAY. NOT EVEN THE EU PARLIAMENT.
Firstly these are not worrying times for everyone Angela, there are many millions who are very happy with the leave vote, for being out of the corrupt EU run by self serving despots we can’t sack and being run by our own self serving despots that we can sack is better than what staying with what the EU might bring.
As everyone has been told “goodness knows how many times”: no one knows exactly what will happen… so you won’t get all your answers for years.You have a property, you have a bank account and an income, you are legally in the country… tell me, why would you think you would not be able to stay? “Not sure you noticed but they are letting everyone into the EU from countries that have no connection with it” Why would your Austrian husband not be able to get back into the UK? Probably at worst you will need to apply for a visa…. that I doubt will be any more complicated than applying for a driving license and no one complains of doing that. You might find by the time the UK is ready to leave there will be no EU but one thing is for sure, the EU will have bigger problems by then than they have now than with Brexit!
Worrying will do nothing except cause you grief, especially when the things you are worrying about might take years to get answers for so sit back and relax until you hear “officially” what standing has been taken. Unless it comes from number 10 don’t listen to it and even then take it with a pinch of salt until it is in writing 🙂
Oh what calm, solid, sound good sense Mike in ESP writes.
Frances and Pat and Kay and Angela and and and … please, please read what he so sensibly writes.
Well. The question is not about being able to stay but rather being able to still afford to stay once our beloved govt have silently negotiated away our rights in the same under-the-table way the NHS is slowly being privatised. Once our pensions are no longer rising with inflation and double-taxation takes effect coupled with the need to pay for our own medication and operations and if by then you are still coping with the continuing falling value of the pound, if by then you can spare the cash to actually take a pinch of salt, maybe then you might wish you had at least got off your arse and tried to make your concerns known and been taken seriously in parliament that you actually give a toss about your future rather than leave it up to the cheating liars that caused this mess for no good reason but for self-interested party uinification. So, am I getting through? Anyone?
Well you are one of the reasons we have people panicking, how do you know anything you are saying is correct, do you have some inner vision that the PM and the EU leaders don’t even have? Why don’t you wait and see what is actually negotiated, as I mentioned before the EU might not even exist as it is today by the time the UK comes out… if it actually even does come out fully!
On the NHS, personally I don’t see any other option than to have a privatised or paid for HNS, one or part of those options is inevitable as it has been mismanaged, milked and badly run for many years mainly stared by Mr. Blairs government. A line needs to be drawn as to what the NHS is there for, for example, sex changes and breast implants are not something it is there for in my opinion. Checking people coming into the country who are not British citizens or have been paying into it to make sure they have health insurance is a must.
Maybe if people could see that the UK has many more millions of people living in it than expats living out of it and that the huge majority that are still in the UK was what Brexit was about, not expats or those of us who selfishly think of themselves over the majority of British living in the UK and the UK itself in general! The falling value of the pound might hurt expats but it brings major benefits to the UK…. “but hey who gives a toss about that, the UK or its people there as long as I get my cheap medicine and better exchange rate while outside the UK”.
BREXPATS, I’m afraid you are ranting utter Round Objects. So sorry to be so blunt … but there you go.
There seems to be at least a whiff of some rabid ‘Party Politics’ clearly showing through in what you write, BREXPAT … and rabid ‘Party Politics’ simply ain’t what this is about. And it helps no one to try to introduce it.
Frances, Pat, Kay, Angela â and all your worried friends: PLEASE READ WHAT “MIKE IN ESP” WRITES and leave Brexpat and his party-political friends to wallow in their personal dramas of Terrrible Turbulence.
Frances, Pat, Kay, Angelaâ and all your worried friends: WHAT “MIKE IN ESP” WRITES TRULY, TRULY COULD NOT BE BETTER PUT. TRULY.
Brexpats in Spain is just that. In Spain. Here by the agreement and support of the British and Spanish governments and as British citizens living in a EU member state entitled to the same rights as British citizens back home by grace of reciprocal agreements. Many expats here are relying solely on their pensions, pensions which they have earned by paying into the UK system, and in some case, into the Spanish system. When Theresa May stated, you know in words and everything, that Expats are merely a bargaining chip in their more important negotiations, it doesn’t take a crystal ball to realize that the time for complacency has passed or that we are no longer being treated the same as other British citizens. So, those who belittle us for trying, spout all you want while you do nothing, but we mean for the government to hear us and treat us fairly and not sit back and ignore us in the way you are doing. That isn’t being selfish. If you are not happy with our efforts well at least we have your attention which is our aim. We represent British citizens who wish to stand up for their rights while they still have some. Whatever way you voted is irrelevant, but what is finally agreed will affect us all for a long time to come. Hope it works out for you.
Actually, Mike you are missing the most important fact: Everyone with a British pension has paid into it and it is our money; lso circumstances differ. I donôt have to care what happens in Britain; I was born in England but left 40 years ago and lived in several different countries. The only reason I still have a British passport is that you donôt have the opportunity everywhere to change your nationality. My pension is from 15 years of work in Northern Ireland. So Iôm not obliged to care what happens in Britain now. I had no vote in the referendum and would have voted to remain if I had. I have a degree in Politics and many other relevant qualifications but, of course, you donôt like experts do you? The British prefer to believe so-called journalists who work for Murdoch. There is no reason why anyone who has chosen to live elsewhere should have to pay for what is only a very small majority decision. That is one of many flaws which made the referendum seriously undemocratic. None of this is our fault, nor is it the fault of the many EU nationals living and working in the UK, whose situations are also threatened. I suggest if you want rid of me and others like me that we evaluate everyoneôs pension contributions and you pay us back what we have paid in. Otherwise, I for one will never return to Britain and will fight any attempt to force me. I will not be collateral damage through othersô stupidity. Try looking up ôadvisoryô and see what you should really do.
You state: “There is no reason why anyone who has chosen to live elsewhere should have to pay for what is only a very small majority decision. That is one of many flaws which made the referendum seriously undemocratic.”… and you have a degree…. OMG, was it got under T Blairs government by any chance! 🙂
Elisabeth, just to point out the reason you still have your British passport is because you cannot give up your British nationality, even if you wanted to so to say “the only reason you have your British passport is because you didn’t have the opportunity to change it” would not actually be the case! Even in Spain where if you where given a Spanish nationality and the Spanish authorities would not recognise your British nationality beyond that, the British government would, it is not something you can just decide to want or not want!
I am not trying to get rid of anyone who votes one way or another, it is all British citizens democratic right to vote so I am at a loss as to what your actual point is, you have a degree! What my opinion is as I feels and I have every right to have my opinion, that opinion is for the interest of the UK and it’s citizens. I think that comes before any expats interests living outside the UK & I am an expat, I have lived outside the UK for years also but I still care about the direction it goes in and the future for fairly that lives there.
Your qualifications don’t mean much to me when you appear to not even understand what I and others say regarding the whole Brexit thing… even your remark on democracy, you see even people who think they are smart… might not actually be that smart!
Interesting read:https://peterwiddows.wordpress.com/2016/07/18/how-could-16-2m-people-vote-remain/
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