British Expats Mourn ‘Independence Day’

Brexiters are exulting and in a celebratory mood. It has been nearly four years since a slim majority in Britain voted to break with the European Union, but what Brexiters like to call independence day has now come. “Populism has triumphed as we return to being a self-governing, independent, normal nation,” says Nigel Farage, one of the leading Brexiters, who has campaigned for Britain to leave the European bloc for more than 27 years.Farage casts Brexit as a victory of populism over globalism. “You may loathe populism,” he told European lawmakers Wednesday, “But I tell you a funny thing, it’s become very popular.”Not with the 1.5 million Britons living in EU countries. For them Brexit is something to be mourned, corroding their sense of belonging as they lose EU citizenship. How will they mark Brexit day?“Like many British people on the continent, I haven’t decided,” Jane Golding, the co-chair of pro-EU campaign group British in Europe told the Local news-site.“I fluctuate between wanting to mark Brexit quietly but symbolically with some friends in Berlin, or just staying home with my husband and going across the road to our local bar for a couple of strong cocktails. Or maybe just going to bed and hiding under the duvet. Whatever I end up doing, the mood deep down will be sadness,” she said.For the past four years British expats had been riding an emotional rollercoaster as the long Brexit saga played out, anxious about what rights they would retain, fearing they could lose their access to public health care and livelihoods, even homes.For British pensioners living in Europe, the anxiety has been compounded by watching the purchasing power of the pound weaken as sterling fell in value after the Brexit vote. “As a couple living in Italy for 12 years, and retiring on UK-earned pensions prior to the referendum, we have lost nearly 20 percent of our annual income due to the devaluation of sterling since UK citizens voted for Brexit in June 2016,” says Donald Law, a retired British doctor living in Pisa, Italy.Brexit will have a very direct and immediate impact on the lives of British expats once the withdrawal transition period comes to an end on December 31— more so than for many of their compatriots back in the British Isles.Many of the British in Europe were disenfranchised in 2016, barred from voting in the Brexit referendum because of British electoral law, which strips voting rights from anyone who has been living overseas for more than 15 years. Only 200,000 British expats registered to vote.When asked about their reaction to Brexit, many expats raise the issue of disenfranchisement. If British governments “had really cared about our rights, they would have made good on their pledge to give us back our votes in the referendum,” says Golding.Expat Lia Borrutzu says she’s “dismayed, disgusted, disheartened and disenfranchised.”Expats say they have felt abandoned by Britain and complain British ministers paid them little attention as Brexit negotiations unfolded — a case of out of sight, out of mind. They say they were promised nothing much would change for them, but they’re finding a lot will change. Nor has the British media, they say, covered their plight to the same extent it has in reporting on the impact of Brexit on EU citizens living in Britain.As with the estimated 3 million EU citizens living in Britain, British expats will have to reapply to their host countries for confirmation of their residency rights. This should prove just a formality, and unlike British authorities when it comes to processing EU citizens in Britain, EU countries aren’t planning to exact a fee.A host of other practical issues remain unresolved, including whether professional and academic qualifications held by Britons will be recognized in the EU. That’s a worry for one of the leading British lawyers practicing in Italy, Charlotte Oliver, the first British solicitor admitted to the Italian bar council. The Rome-based lawyer says it is unclear whether her bar membership will be revoked.Already disenfranchised in Britain, expats who don’t have dual nationality will also find themselves stripped of their rights to vote or run for office in their adopted countries.  That undermines a sense of belonging, they say. EU nationals have the right to vote and stand in municipal elections where they live, even if they’re not citizens of that country, under the terms of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, which established the EU.For some, Brexit means giving up their work this week as elected local officials. In the German village of Brunsmark, Brexit is forcing Scotsman Iain Macnab to cut short his third term as mayor. He told AP: “I will have a glass of sparkling wine with the local council Friday and then thank them for doing an excellent job, and I will disappear into the twilight, ride off into the sunset.” 
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