Good news for UK expats living in France

UK expats in France will welcome an initiative by the PM to facilitate their residency in the case of a no-deal Brexit.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has requested his cabinet to work out contingency measures for a hard Brexit including ‘facilitating residency’ for British expats living and working in the country. The announcement came following a special ministerial meeting to discuss preparations for the ‘unprecedented challenge’ of Britain’s leaving the EU without any agreement, but leaders of both countries as well as the EU itself are continuing to aim for an orderly exit including a satisfactory deal.

In addition to hopefully ending expat anxiety, the French government is searching for ways to maintain fluidity at border checkpoints once the UK is no longer an EU state. Special measures will be applied in the form of a ‘loi d’habilitation’, a type of legislation which enables lawmakers to ask permission to issue orders without first debating their content. The measures thus taken need to be retrospectively ratified by parliament to prevent their lapse. As regards Brexit negotiations, it’s now thought talks will continue on into November in order to mount a final push to avoid a no-deal exit.

In the meantime, the anti-Brexit campaign group British in Europe has dramatically changed its stance from ‘officially neutral’ about the Brexit vote itself to calling for a new referendum to hopefully reverse the result of the 2016 ‘advisory’ referendum. A spokesperson for the group stated it’s now crystal clear the two available alternatives – deal or no deal- would both lead to Britons’ loss of significant rights available to EU citizens. The most important is the right of free movement anywhere in the EU.