On
Friday 24th of November, EuroCitizens held its ‘asamblea annual’ to
celebrate our seventh year as an official Spanish association. We discussed key
matters affecting Britons in Spain covered by the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and our continuing membership of the coalition British in Europe – as well
as re-electing the current committee under chair Nigel Aston.
Nigel gave
us an update of recent activity of BiE: a meeting with the undersecretary of
state for Europe, meetings with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development
Office, appearances at the House of Lords European Committee and the
Specialised Committee for Citizens’ Rights covering the Withdrawal Agreement
(WA). Nigel reported that the Spanish government has in general done a good job
for Britons in Spain with the rollout of the special ID card (TIE) for those
covered by the WA.
There is
good news on ‘Votes For Life’, our right to continue voting in UK elections
after living fifteen years abroad. It is hoped that this will be in place
before the next general election, which will happen sometime in 2024. We
discussed ways of proving our previous residence, in the place in the UK where
we will be able to vote. As well as documentary proof we can also be obtain
proof by the attestation of another UK voter. We will publish the
information when the details have been confirmed by the UK government and we
are pressing for a major publicity campaign.
The UK
Embassy in Spain no longer has a dedicated person for citizens’ rights, and we
are now dealing with the head of the political department. The main issues are
institutions, private and public, not accepting the validity of the green
residence documents (which do remain valid). However, due to the explicit
mention of the protection of the WA, EuroCitizens recommends that we all get the
new TIE. Unnecessary passport stamping is still happening at some airports (including
passports of TIE holders but the Spanish government has assured us that this
does not affect our residence status. There have been some examples of Britons,
covered by the WA, affected by Spanish Defence Ministry restrictions about
buying properties near military bases. The bilateral agreement on driving
licences is now in place and Britons must exchange them after six months
residence in Spain.
We
discussed the new visa-waiver schemes due to come out, possibly next year: ETA
(UK), ETIAS (EU). Again, we will publish information when the conditions for
both the UK and EU schemes are clear. And, again, we are pressing for major
official publicity campaigns.
The
litigation of Joshua Silver, about the loss of European citizenship for UK
nationals, has been rejected by the Court of Justice of the EU and has reached
the final level – The European Court of Human Rights, which unfortunately has
no capacity to legally enforce its decisions.
Margaret
Hauschild attended the recent EU summit for lawyers where it was made
clear that the UK is very much a Third Country. This could complicate
civil law
issues like divorce and inheritance for Britons in Spain, even if
covered by
the Withdrawal Agreement.
Nick Green
commented on the application of British in Europe for a grant from the UE
programme Citizens, Equality, Rights and
Values
(CERV). This is not to cover BiE or Eurocitizens running costs but will enable the
training of two members in advocacy for citizens’ rights – for Britons in Spain
covered by the Withdrawal Agreement. They will then be able to train members of
EuroCitizens and other associations in Spain, to help Britons realise what
rights we hold and how we can defend them. This is very important as Britons in
Europe currently receive none of the protection of Europeans in the UK who are
covered by the Independent Monitoring Agency – a body which ensures the correct
implementation of rights established by the Withdrawal Agreement.
Unfortunately, we anticipate that issues impacting UK citizens in the EU will last
many years into the future.
The
EuroCitizens committee was re-elected with one small change. Nick Green is now
a vice-chair in place of Mike Harris who will continue as a ‘vocal’ in charge
of the blog and email.