‘It is such a relief to hear UK PM Andy Burnham talking this way’

This interview is part of a series The Connexion conducted looking at the UK Prime Minister's recent comments about rejoining the EU - and how likely this is to happen and in what form.

Groups representing Britons in France have welcomed the prospect of a UK return to the EU.

EU Britizens president Alice Bouilliez, who has been involved in a long legal fight over her lost EU and local election voting rights since Brexit, said: “I am feeling bucked up by this development, which could render my own efforts unnecessary – which would be fantastic.”

She added: “It is such a relief to hear Burnham talking this way. 

“I would absolutely love to officially become a European citizen again, because that has been such a big worry. I felt I didn’t belong any more, that I was a second-class citizen.” 

She added there were both emotional and practical reasons for wanting EU citizenship, including easier access to jobs, recognition of diplomas, and the right for people who move to France as retirees to carry out side activities to top their pensions up.

Rejoining would not, however, fully erase the harm done, she said.

“We can say ‘thank you, thank you’ if we do go back in, but can’t forget those who did suffer horribly, from pilots who found their diplomas weren’t accepted to people who moved out and thought they could do some part-time English or French teaching online, but then found that it wasn’t allowed on their visas.”

Local and EU voting rights are also major factors, she said.

“From one moment to the next you were a fully-fledged emancipated human being, and then you had no rights whatsoever.”

Another issue is family reunification rights, which are automatic for the spouses and minor children of EU citizens living in other EU countries, but are not automatic for non-EU citizens in France – or, post-Brexit – for Britons who return to the UK with foreign spouses.

“I remember several people who rang me up in desperation. One of them was a Briton who had married a Tunisian – and they weren’t allowed to live in either Britain or France. But there was nothing I could suggest, there was no sensible route.”

She added: “The sooner good sense is realised – and I think it has been now – the better. I think the summit [in Brussels on November 20] will be a crucial moment. 

“I think the tone has already been set – a lot of people have come out of the woodwork saying they want more defence and free trade cooperation, but so far fewer people have been saying that we want our EU citizenship back.

“For people living and working in Europe it is so important we are recognised as EU citizens again.”

Nevertheless, she welcomed the expected return of the UK to participation in the Erasmus student exchange programme in 2027 which was a first step, she said.

Christopher Chantrey, who chaired the British Community Committee of France in the years after the Brexit vote, said: “I would be in favour of closer ties and even rejoining, if the EU would have us back. 

“However, if the UK wants a referendum on the subject, UK nationals living in the EU must be allowed to vote in it this time – unlike in 2016.

“Holding a referendum will, presumably, require a new act of parliament.”

Many Britons were excluded in 2016 due to the UK’s former ’15-year rule’, which removed voting rights in national elections, and referendums with the same franchise – as was the case with the Brexit vote – from people who had lived abroad for more than 15 years.

Albeit, this rule has now been scrapped, which should resolve the problem, assuming the franchise for any future referendum is similar to that used in 2016.