GOOD NEWS: For Theresa and (right) Jorge Toledo
GOOD NEWS: For Theresa and (right) Jorge Toledo

SPAIN has backed a common agreement for EU and UK nationals living abroad.

While not making promises, the country has said it agrees to a reciprocal deal ‘in principle’.

It is good news for UK prime minister Theresa May, who has been keen to secure a commitment from EU countries to protect the rights of Brits living on the continent after Brexit.

Speaking to the Times, Spain’s EU secretary Jorge Toledo said: “We are broadly in favour of retaining a reciprocal agreement on questions like healthcare and freedom of movement.

“As regards to the rights of EU citizens in the UK and the rights of UK citizens in the EU, Spain is in favour of the amplest respect of these rights in the future but the modalities and conditions will and should be a matter of negotiation.”

Diplomatic sources have also hinted that Madrid may support a deal that would keep the relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic, where free movement of labour and goods is guaranteed under EU rules.

May’s government has refused to guarantee the rights of EU nationals in Britain until the rights of Brits in EU member states are also guaranteed.

The House of Commons scrapped a House of Lords bid to write a commitment to EU nationals into law by rejecting the peers’ proposed amendment to the Article 50 Bill last week.

It is thought the issue will be at the top of the agenda once Brexit talks begin.

May will be looking to secure an early deal on the topic after she triggers Article 50 on March 29.

Some 300,000 Brits are officially registered as living in Spain, although the actual figure is thought to be closer to one million.

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18 COMMENTS

  1. Fair deal!
    Spanish and British highly skilled English and Spanish speaking taxpayers in both countries allowed to remain and use NHS and SS. Spanish and British not English or Spanish speaking, just paying VAT retirees: visa and private health insurance required.

  2. It would be good if the current system could remain exactly the same as it is now. Complete freedom of movement, barrier free trade, no visas, no time limits, no work permits, no employment quotas, same rights and reciprocal healthcare arrangements.

    The existing arrangement between Spain and the UK isn’t broken and doesn’t need fixing, it has worked extremely well for both countries for many years. The UK needs Spain for holidays (close proximity to the UK with good weather) and a retirement location and Spain needs the UK for tourism and employment opportunities.

    • Jane G. Hope this may help!. Had sent before on the comment section.
      Brexit and Expats.
      How many British expats are there in the European Union?
      Just over 4.5 million Britain’s live abroad, with approximately
      1.3 million of them in Europe, according to the United Nations

      Where are Britain’s expats in the EU?
      The top destinations for British expats in the European Union
      Are Spain (host to around 309,000), Ireland (255,000) and France
      (186,000)

      Could expats really be barred from EU healthcare and benefits?
      It’s possible, but unlikely-not least given that it would open the door
      to retaliatory measures from the UK, which hosts its own share of
      expats from European nations.

      Could Brexit see expats deported by EU members?
      Almost certainly not. Many lawyers argue that British expats living
      elsewhere in the EU at the time of Brexit would have individual
      “acquired rights” under international law.

      Could my second home in France or Spain be seized if Britain leaves?
      No matter how hostile European nations become after Brexit, they still
      Have to respect individual property rights. Both the United Nations
      Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention
      on Human Rights make this clear.

  3. Well gibmouth, disproof the reports. Please indicate which other news out contest such news. If you notice such reports are actual quotes not a pack of lies that were thrown out by the remaining crowd who lost the referendum due to bad quotes. March 29th, liberation day.

  4. Jane, it will not be an arrangement between Spain and the UK, but between the EU and the UK.
    The UK may arrange anything with single countries like Donald Trump’s USA, but not with Spain.
    Be careful, Mr. Trump has allready claimed that he only accepts deals where the US is the winner (America First!). Only inside the EU Great Britain could claim UK FIRST!

  5. Wolfgang, my post was based on wishful thinking but I voted to Remain in the EU! You are quite right of course and that is why voting Leave was such an incredibly risky and stupid thing to do. As far as the UK is concerned, there will be no winners at the end of the two year divorce process and whatever happens, Britain will have a worse deal than the one it has now. Put very simply, Brexit is far more trouble than it’s worth.

  6. Jane G, not quite sure what you mean when you say, quote:- “As far as the UK is concerned, there will be no winners at the end of the two year divorce process and whatever happens, Britain will have a worse deal than the one it has now. Put very simply, Brexit is far more trouble than it’s worth”. Perhaps you tend to forget the reasons that the UK is leaving. Perhaps you are just thinking of people that wish to retire, have visits or own properties in Spain, but what of the people that do not have these priorities. If it’s regarding financial reason there are some for and against and perhaps this article may also show the good side of the financial reasons that contribute to leaving. Just a thought.
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/13/not-only-can-britain-can-leave-the-eu-and-have-access-to-the-sin/

    • Carlos, thank you for the link!
      I have just flown over the book of Michael Burrage, which is mentioned in The Telegraph and which is based on data of 2010 to 2014. The book may be downloaded for free from http://www.civitas.org.uk/content/files/mythandparadox.pdf
      Burrage says, that developed countries which have no special trade contract with the EU, produce a bigger financial gain against the EU, than those countries that have such a contract. The reason is, that between developped countries the extra cost of foreign trade tax is about 4% which is less than the 6 to 9% of the cost for payments to the EU which have to be made in order to be allowed to participate in the EU internal market.
      Burrage himself points out that he only inspected the results onto the financials, not onto other benefits of the EU like open frontiers, EU subventions, joint anti-terror protection, a major weight in global environmental policy, common law standards within all EU member states, free living as an expat in any EU country etc.
      Burrage says, export gains between developed countries is much more dependent on first class quality goods being exported than on the absence of import taxes. As an example he refers to Switzerland. I can give another example: While the US has export gains against the entire EU, Germany as a EU member state has increasing export gains against the US.
      While the asende of a trade deal with the EU may be no real burdon for large UK companies, it will be a burden to small businesses:
      In online markets consumers will not buy from sellers from different jurisdictions with different rules of warranty and when they have to care themselves for customs clearance. Large companies may circumvent that burden by establishing a second warehouse inside the EU. For small businesses that does not pay.
      Burrage says that negotiating trade agreements between the EU and foreign countries needs much more time than an agreement between the UK and a single country, as always 27 EU memberstates have to agree to the new arrangement. I’m curious as to how this will be confirmed during the Brexit negotiations between UK and EU as well as between the UK and those countries that had been linked to the UK before by EU trade agreements! Hopefully the UK employs enough world class negotiators with varying language skills for those new contracts. Even if the UK decides to abstain from new trade contracts and fall back onto WTO trade terms, the UK still has to negotiate a lot of things bilaterally. For instance think about 27 new agreements on fishing rights.
      While the EU member states will be ongoing in doing real trades, the UK will waste it’s time negotiating trade agreements. Some of their new partners may insist on applying EU standards as they are not keen to produce for extra UK standards (will Mr. Trump allow steering wheels on the left side of cars to be exported into the UK?) . The people of the UK will soon recognize that they cannot exist from paperwork alone. Good luck with this!

    • Wolfgang before I reply to your lengthy reply with short sharp detail’s could you please tell me how many country’s, all with with different languages, were involved in the TTIP agreement. Give it much thought before you reply, if any.

      • Carlos,
        as long as TTIP had been negotiated between the US and the EU, the negotiations had been in English. Multilingual negotiations between member states will not start as TTIP has already died. I wonder if English may remain a official EU language after the UK has left us. In that case English will only remain as a local official language in Ireland and Malta.

        • Unfortunately Wolfgang OP didn’t allow my reply, don’t know why as it just a rely to your comments. But to cut to the chase, regardless, English was used in preference for all the other different languages as most foreign MP’s and diplomats speak English the same as all aviation flights etc are regardless of what country is flying and all correspondence are in English and don’t think it will ever alter. English is the universal language, even Putin speaks English!. BTW Wolfgang, the TTIP was killed by one person, even Hilary Clinton would have done the same. Take note. Many Germans speak English but not many Brits speak German, no need. lol.

    • Wolfgang before I reply to your lengthy reply with short sharp detail’s could you please tell me how many country’s, all with different languages, were involved in the TTIP agreement. Give it much thought before you reply, if any.

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