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northOne hopes for a happy new year in 2021. Covid-19 will make sure of that. However, news that a collision between the pandemic and Brexit may also result in the British being unable to enter the European Union for non-essential travel starting on January 1 has added to the misery.
As things stand now, EU rules asking member states to ban citizens of high-risk Covid countries from entering should apply to UK citizens when Big Ben stops ringing at 11 a.m. pm (which marks midnight in Brussels). This may or may not change by then. But why the surprise?
The idea that ending “freedom of movement” simply prevented one-way traffic of Polish plumbers and Romanian fruit pickers in Britain was always absurd.
From the beginning, Teresa May made “reciprocity” the mantra of the Brexit negotiations. If Britain “cracks down”, to use a term favored by critics of immigrants, on the travel freedoms of European citizens, then the British must pay a price too.
“It is a two way thing. We’ve always warned about that, ”said Jane Golding, Berlin-based British Europe group co-chair.
This is now being realized by those who make occasional trips to the EU, that is, a large part of the UK population.
The new reality is this: traveling to France is not an absolute right. Neither travel to Spain, Greece, most of the best resorts in Europe or anywhere else in the EU the British love to go. Among many other things, that is what it means to lose European citizenship.
Tourism must now take place in different conditions. That doesn’t make them impossible, not even difficult. But it does mean that they can be stopped at any time. Covid is one of those moments.
Everywhere, there is a hierarchical order among those who enjoy freedoms, with citizens at the top. This is a principle that the UK loves to apply, as the Windrush generation, or the 3 million EU citizens in Britain forced to fill out an established status form, know this very well.
Brexit, then, always meant curtailing the rights and freedoms of the British in Europe. The surprise is that some people are just realizing this. Maybe no one bothered to tell him.
More “surprises” await you. Britons may still have to buy health insurance every time they travel, adding to the cost of a family vacation considerably. They will definitely pay € 7 per person for travel authorization under the European Travel Authorization and Information System (ETIAS) by the end of 2022.
Since Brexit has been wrapped up and sold on big terms, the minutiae of real day-to-day disruption, the part that affects everyday life, have been ignored.
The so-called swallows, British second home owners in Spain, France or elsewhere, must now leave after three months and not return for another three. “Some people still think they can cross the border into Gibraltar and go straight back,” explained Anne Hernandez, who runs a group that helps British immigrants living on the Costa del Sol. “Other people wonder if it’s worth it or if they should. just sell, ”he added.
Concerns about the validity of health cards and the expense of health insurance add to the burden. Hernández just helped someone install a 90-year-old relative from the United States in their Spanish home. Insurance costs are € 600 per month.
For the 1.2 million UK citizens living in the European Union, the damage that loss of citizenship could cause became apparent – and deeply disturbing – four years ago.
When some of us started organizing and lobbying through the British in Europe, it was telling that Michel Barnier’s door was immediately thrown open. Getting into the Brexit ministry was much more difficult.
We were told that the British government was determined to protect us. In fact, restrictions on freedom of movement mean that many low-income British immigrants to the EU are no longer able to return home to their families because they are not rich enough to meet the new government criteria for bringing their families back. “foreign” spouses. Over time, they may be forced to choose between caring for an elderly parent or living with their own partner and children.
Other UK citizens in Europe are now desperately trying to obtain the qualifications to allow them to continue pursuing their professions, worrying about whether they can continue to trade or offer their services across borders, or whether they have already closed their bank accounts in the UK. United.
A broader inability to see migration as anything other than a one-way process that threatens the British way of life ignores the fundamental truths about British people as migrants.
In fact, 5 million Britons, or 8% of us, live elsewhere. In percentage terms, Great Britain is the world’s tenth largest exporter of emigrants and the largest in the European Union. Some 350,000 Britons live in Spain. They are the third largest immigrant community, after Moroccans and Romanians. However, the UK’s upside-down attitude towards migrants means that they cannot be counted on to help or protect them.
The truth is that Spain needs British tourists. Its economy depends 12% on tourism and, in provinces such as Alicante, much of it comes from Great Britain. One fifth of its annual visitors have UK passports.
Spain will do its best to allow British visitors in and treat them well. However, it is worth remembering that it can only be bent to the extent permitted by any agreement between the EU and the UK. Or Covid restrictions.
There is also a sting on the tail. Before the EU introduced express extraditions, the Mediterranean coast of Spain was also known as the Coast of Crime, as British criminals loved to hide there. As of January 1, when extradition becomes more complex, that part of British migration is very likely to pick up.
