What is an HLM flat?
habitation à loyer modéré = council flat
Courage, Mandy 
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Thank you.
Hopefully when Brexit is settled the pound may rally a bit. We could all do with a break.
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Merci Andrew.
Avoid those who are vexatious.
Desiderata.
From one survivor to another, the way that Referendum was set up is causing all these problems.
A question of such magnitude should have had the necessity for a much higher majority, no matter which way it went.
We have been in touch with Guy Verhofstadt who is doing all he can to push for a Europewide green card, which will enshrine all the rights we hold at the moment.
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Agree but it was supposed to be advisory only.
but then the prat who set it up in the first place then gobbed up a new bit of spiel to appease the tory toffs by saying that the very next day he would invoke Art 50 - but then jumped ship instead creating an even bigger rift in the party of cretins.
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Agreed, I have said so in several posts.
However we now have a situation where the referendum is but a small part of the overall picture - insignificant against the gigantic cock-up that has been the May government’s handling of the affair, from triggering Article 50 without a plan, squandering her majority in an ill-advised election, the alliance with the DUP; giving them massively more influence over proceedings than they deserve, her Lancaster House speech and her silly red lines and her early acquiescence to the Ultra Brexit crowd which now mean she is boxed in with no way to turn.
If, in early July 2016 when she first took office, she had actually stood up and reminded everyone that the referendum was non-binding (I still wonder if this is what Cameron hoped to achieve by standing down) and that we would keep all options open we might not be in the mess we find ourselves today.
Unfortunately the Leave campaign offered the impossible - continued, unfettered access to the single marker and restoration of the UK as a completely sovereign nation and ceasing to pay into the EU were fundamentally incompatible - instead of realising that she had been set an impossible challenge, and realising that she was bound to piss of some group of politicians she should have gone for the solution which kept that group as small as possible and which minimised damage as much as possible.
Instead she has managed to make that group as large as possible at the same time as locking us in to a future where the chance of damage to the economy is the highest of all the options which might have been viable in 2016 before she opened her big mouth with “Brexit is Brexit”.
This was a case where clear leadership was required rather than appeasement trying to get everyone what they wanted - never has the adage “don’t try to please everyone, you might end up pleasing no-one” been more true. Sadly May is a technocrat with little imagination so she tried to engineer a political solution which has backfired massively.
Rant over 
For now
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And yes, to whoever made that point a few posts back (sorry can’t remember who and shouldn’t even be posting here really as I have Too Much To Do As Per Usual), Americans, South Africans and Peruvians can and do all live here quite happily.
But I happen to know from my US and SA friends (sorry, don’t know any Peruvians and it isn’t that I don’t move in social circles that include different ethnicities, there just are not many in Dax), that living here and coming from outside the EU is a PITA.
As far as I am concerned,my membership of the EU was a right and it’s being arbitrarily removed. So yes, I am incandescent and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.
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And what an excellent and eloquent rant it is Paul. Ever thought of running for PM? Could be a vacancy soon?
You should read the letter I got back from my MP in response to mine which said stuff pretty similar to your rant . I kept mine polite and unlike my usually addled brain, fact filled and to the point. I got back absolute drivel. My husband’s 5 year old niece could have written a better response. Says it all.
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How and why are you safe under French law because you and your husband have been here 11 and 20 years respectively? I’ve been here 35 years and I am terrified. I remember the days when the gendarmes would come round early in the morning and bang on the shutters demanding to see my and my young sons’ passports. Please give me the basis for your statement so I can see if I am also protected.
Have a read of this. I’ve posted it several times now. If you have been here 35 years then France will allow you to stay. This has nothing to do with the EU or Brexit or any of the current shenanigans. No need to be terrified, you may need a CdS but that will just be a formality.
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So, the two provisions of most interest are
and
Basically, if you have lived in France for 10 years lawfully (unless that has been on a student CdS for some reason) OR if you have lived in France for 20 years without further restriction or qualification you have “right of asylum” (i.e. right of abode).
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True, another trampling over the truth.
Good heavens Elizabeth… sounds ghastly… were you refugees…asylum seekers… or what… why on earth were you in such a position… fear of gendarmes in the night… what is that all about?
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Me too.
Exactly Paul. Not enough people know about this and those that do seem to be either ignoring it/suspicious/unbelieving and are still panicking.
If I was as distressed about the potential effects of Brexit on my entire way of life as some people are then I would maybe find myself a lawyer who can confirm/advise on this. I know it’s not the same as being part of the EU but any port in a storm eh?!