Brexit updates - November 2018

• Campaigners for Britons in France report that new S1 health forms include an end date at the expected date of Brexit, March 29, 2019.

They suggest those who are covered under an S1 print off attestations of their rights from their spaces at ameli.fr as they said these currently show rights continuing after this (unless your S1 is up for annual renewal before then).

• French barrister Julien Fouchet has launched a movement called Pan European Citizens Solidarity (PECS) calling on all EU citizens, including Britons “to rise against Brexit”. Attendees at the London launch meeting included academics and UK and European politicians.

He said: “Now is the time to act, before it is too late. It is our duty as European citizens to protect our British friends, our brothers and sisters who want to remain in the EU family. “We must protect Europe as a democratic, peaceful force in the world.”

People can support it on Twitter at EU27Voices4remainUK (@EU27k)

Mr Fouchet is also leading a legal bid on behalf of Britons in the EU, including rights campaigner Harry Shindler, 97, arguing that the Brexit negotiations are illegal because of the exclusion of many of long-term expatriates from the referendum vote. He is still awaiting a decision from the EU’s General Court.

He has now launched a new challenge based on the fact that Britons in a French commune have been excluded from registering to vote in EU elections next year.

• The ECJ is to hear on November 27 a case originally launched in the Scottish courts which seeks to find out if the UK may call off article 50 unilaterally and stay in the EU unconditionally. This could be important in the case of any decision to stay after a ‘People’s Vote’. The legal team behind it hopes for a decision this year.

• The British embassy has changed the contact method to get in touch about problems with carte de séjour application procedures at prefectures. Instead of the email address previously given, people should now use the online form: https://tinyurl.com/y7apmqo9

• Reader and dog lover Anna Thompson, who lives in the UK, wrote to say her friends and local dog clubs “are in shock” over UK government no-deal contingency guidance on pet travel.

It said owners wanting to take pets to the EU may have to discuss preparations with an official vet at least four months before travel if the UK is an ‘unlisted’ third country when it leaves.

“Anyone who has a dog is going to have major issues if there is no deal,” she said. This would put many off coming to France with their pets, she said, as requirements risk being much more complex than the current simple ones related to an EU pet passport.

• In other recent ‘no-deal’ contingency papers the UK said:

* British drivers would need an international certificate of insurance from insurance providers (unless the EU and UK agreed to waive this before Brexit day).

This may involve a small extra fee from the insurer. Drivers from the EU would require the same to travel in the UK.

* EU-licensed airlines would no longer be able to operate internal UK services and UK airlines could not operate ones inside the EU (eg. Nice to Paris).

UK and EU-licensed airlines would lose an automatic right to operate services between the UK and EU and would need to seek individual permissions.

The UK said it would give this to EU firms and hoped the EU would do the same. The paper said: “It would not be in the interest of any EU country or the UK to restrict the choice of destinations that could be served, though, if such permissions are not granted, there could be disruption to some flights.”

The UK said it would seek a new multilateral agreement between the UK and the EU states, or bilateral ones with individual countries if that is not possible.

For non-EU and non-UK airlines, the UK says it is putting in place arrangements with 17 countries which currently only have the right to fly to the UK due to its EU membership. The UK said it would retain EU passenger rights laws with regard to air passengers on flights leaving the UK.

* The government advised people booking international train journeys such as with Eurostar to book flexible tickets with “insurance and ticket terms and conditions... sufficient to cover possible disruption” instead of the cheap fixed ones. The UK would need to make bilateral deals to keep trains running.

* The UK would leave an agreement allowing coach operators to run occasional and regular services in other EU countries. If the UK rejoins as a third country this would apply to coach holidays and tours, not regular services.

For more updates see Brexit section of connexionfrance.com