EU referendum
Could somebody tell me the implications if the UK left the EU, with regard to health care, taxation, driving, buying and selling property etc.as we would no longer be EU citizens. Would British holidaymakers coming here need travel insurance? I have no idea what it is like to be a non-EU citizen in the EU, what are the regulations regarding work residency, driving licences, health care etc.
The Health care would be the first thing and if you are of pensionable age you are enjoying one of the finest systems in the world FOC via a reciprocal arrangement, so if you had to bridge the gap that the current Briton 4 Britons mob want could you all be able to afford to be here with the standing health problems that you bought from the UK and decided to let them treat here?
Bit of a daft question really as we will never come out of Europe. Even the crazies in UKIP are not suggesting that. If we fully come out, try imagining living in the USA with no healthcare. I suspect your trying to worry people
marko, may be a daft question but why are the British government proposing spending taxpayers money on a referendum that is (according to you) a complete waste of time? electrons, what does " the days od the bail bond" mean?
If and when the UK came out of the EU, then unless special arrangements were made form UK citizens already residing in Spain, then we would be treated as non-EU citizens are treated now. However, I think that the likelihood is very remote that the UK will leave and if it did it would be many years hence and transitional arrangements would be made. After all, the numerous EU citizens residing in the UK now would have the same concerns and problems.
The referendum i think Harks back to James Goldsmith's party, (the Referendum party) who if memory serves took enough Tory voters away from their native vote in a general election in the late 90's that it enabled His Tonyiness's labour government another four years to try and reunite the handbasket and Hell.
Prior to the Eu and widespread harmonizing of motoring laws, if you travelled to Spain in a non Spanish registered car, you had to be able to provide (via your insurance company) a cash bail bond to prove you are a person of means and should not be thrown in prison etc etc. At this point in the late 1990's no one was sure if Franco was dead or not, However little progress seems to have been made on this matter in the last 25 years (insurance has come on leaps and bounds but as to whether Franco has left the building still seems to be a mystery to almost all native Spaniards and bureaucracy).
Bit tricky Squash,but one main thing is holidaymakers are told to always have travel insurance even in Spain as the EHIC only covers emergency treatment.
As for the rest it may not bode well for us Ex-Pats,We will almost certainly lose our health cover as pensionistas,but somehow I think that the British Government will come up with sort of cover,as they pay Spain around 3500 pounds annually per British pensioner in Spain,so perhaps they will buy some insurance.Another thing we may lose could be the annual rise in our pensions.I wont go into any more yet as it is all speculation,and lets face it ,U.K. cannot get out of it yet, we have around 4 years of negotiating to do, and a possible change in government before then