Three Reasons for British Expats
to Stay Cheerful
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Expats will be ok, spain needs you and the EU
needs the UK
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Most of the Brits who live in Spain are free to live and
work there because of the provisions given to them by the EU. Citizens in the
EU are able to live and work wherever they please in other EU states, including
Spain, provided that they don’t cause any trouble for their host nation.
With the vote to leave the European Union it looks like
things are going to have to change in the long term. The good news is that the
EU is beginning to soften up how it will deal with the UK even though British
politics continue to meltdown.
Many nations in Europe are beginning to speak out in support
of the UK, chief amongst which was the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. He
spoke of the need for calm. With all of this in mind, and remembering that it’s
too early to tell for sure what will happen now, here are three reasons for
British expats to stay cheerful.
1.
Two Years is a Long Time and Anything Can Happen
Article 50 of the EU Agreement was made in order to prevent
the kind of panic that Europe is currently gripped by. The idea behind Article
50, something that has never actually been used yet, is that a member state has
two years to fully extricate itself from the rules and regulations of the
European Union.
Nobody can tell for sure if the UK will have to relinquish
all of these agreements or how substitute agreements could be put into place.
One thing for sure is that the people saying the UK will be tossed out and
never welcomed back are completely wrong. This are definitely going to be a
little more difficult for Brits looking to live and work in another EU country,
but there is almost no chance at all that they will be completely cut off.
2.
The UK and Spain are Close Allies
When people get divorced they sometimes decide to stay
friends for the sake of the kids. While the UK and Spain aren’t the ones being
divorced they can still choose to stay together for the benefit of both
countries. The “kids” in this case would be 100s of thousands of Brits and
Spaniards living in the other country.
It’s best for both countries to come to an agreement that
can ensure these people aren’t displaced or inconvenienced. Brits have been
giving Spain their money, hearts, and souls for decades now and have been buying more property in Spain than any other European country. They were friends
before the EU was even a thing and they can remain friends even now.
3.
The EU is Softening Up
The EU seemed quick to tell the UK that they were gone from
the EU and had to live with the consequences on their own now. Now that the
dust is settling the EU seems to be softening up their approach. The German
chancellor Angela Merkel has said that countries shouldn’t feel the need to be
nasty when negotiating with the UK and that the country should remain a close
ally and economical partner with their European friends.
While more politicians are coming to grips with the result
of the referendum – where 48.1% of people voted to remain in the EU, they are
realising that the needs of these people shouldn’t be ignored, no matter what
the UK government things and feels. All in all we could actually be witnessing
the birth of a brand new, potentially even better, partnership for both sides, which means that buying property in the Costa del sol and Spain will continue to be in demand for many years.
