" Many of the things like EHIC were in place before the EU."
The EHIC came into existence in 2006.
Well facts where politicans are concerned are in short supply. There were no ‘facts’ just lies when we were asked to vote on staying in the EEC… nothing to do with sovereignty we were assured, just a Customs Union.
But whilst it is true it is not known what will happen if UK leaves, it is equally not known what will happen if it stays… where are the ‘facts’ for the latter?
However we do know, well some of us with a memory or a knowledge of recent history, what happened before the EU (that is before 1992) and we can also see what is happening in other Countries not memebers of the EU, and of course we can see what state the EU is in now.
Some of us, a minority apparently, understand the facts about freedom and liberty, Common law and absolute right to self determination… what other facts are needed?
Don't panic!
It is impossible to say what the options will be because it will depend on whatever agreement is subsequently made between UK and EU… some none EU Countries have same rights as EU Countries.
My opinion is it is in the interest of all parties to keep movement of people much as it is now. Many of the things like EHIC were in place before the EU.
British people did move to, live and work on the Continent (and vice versa) long before the EU (the EU dates only from 1992 anyway, prior to which it was a Customs Union, the EEC). People from other Countries manage to move to the EU with not much difficulty and they are not all illegal immigrants. Look how many non-EU citizens have entered the UK for example over the last 20 years.
There aren't any facts. It is all about the future and predictions. Both sides make up fearsome facts but they are all smoke and mirrors based on emotions and words like 'sovereignty'. I am a floating voter (I have returned to UK after 20 years in France but not because of Brexit) and am more and more annoyed by the name calling and insults being flung around in place of facts. This is mainly in the Westminster village. The polls show a fairly persistent majority in favour of staying in, this majority is mainly amongst the young.
In a word (two actually) Sit Tight.
There is nothing that the UK voting to leave the EU can actually do the rights of people already living in France and it will take a couple of years before the whole sorry aftermath can be settled.
Personally, I'm not convinced that the vote will go for a Brexit anyway but you can help by making sure you vote to stay in!
No one knows! Not even the politicians, nor the financial "experts", nor the EU MEP's, etc.... But, yet, we're supposed to vote on probably the most important issue of our lifetimes!!! And without any facts!!!
I am lad to see that someone has at least done some research rather than rely on subjective media comments or vague personal memories. Having lived through the Thatcher years as a student and employee I am gratefuk that she was restricted by the EU and it was the issue of the EU that finally (thank god, biased moi?) toppled her. For me it is membership of the eu that levels the partisan differences in left and right in the UK - which seems to me to be more about what the tabloid media want us to think rather than any real informed opinion.
As a card-carrying wishy washy pinko liberal, I believe the EU is a good thing. Those most vocal as Brexits seem to be more likely to gain but mostly politically. It seems to me that the "man in the street" will see little difference. Immigration? If the worst happens and there is a mass return of British expats, my understanding is that there are more expats than immigrants and I doubt many of those returnees will be fit enough to make useful contributions (unlike many current immigrants in the UK).
False information abounds about the EU. For example - "European Union STILL wasting billions every year as auditors refuse to sign off accounts for 18th year in a row... Court of Auditors refuses to give accounts a clean bill of health... again" whereas actually the EU Budget has not been "rejected" or "refused" by the auditors - its payments have been consistently found subject to significant error for the past 18 years. This is hardly good news, but it isn't as serious as some headlines imply and no worse than most large companies. Have a look at fullfacts.org there's a lot of surprises there
I thought it was the poll-tax issue which toppled Mrs T ?
I am not sure why it is assumed that UK Nationals living in EU coutrioes will be unwelcome in the case that UK votes to leave.
In the case of those who work in EU countries they will have established residency and pay taxes and social contributions pari passu with all residents of the country. In the case of UK pensioners their income derives from external sources and they also pay local taxes on it and thus are contributing to the GDP of their host country. To encourage any of these toleave would be detrimental to the host country irrespective of other, more subtle, factors.
At the risk of contributing further to "Forum creep" I would add that the UK referendum is a farce and probably a fraud in that the question on which we will be asked to vote "Do you want to remain within a REFORMED EU (or leave) is irrelevant to the actual situation since the EU has not been reformed and there is little indicationthat it will be in the future. Such concessions as the OM has "achieved" are not settled and will be subject to a complex validation process of which the outcome is by no means certain. Others have observed that if the PM had so much trouble in negotiating changes to the EU against the background that he had stated he would reccomend leaving if he could not achieve what he wanted how likely is he to achieve as much once the decicision to remainhas been made?
NB to moderators - can we have the spell checker back?
The facts are in short supply for the simple reason that the Leavers are able to agree among themselves what they propose post Brexit much less tell the rest of us.
There will undoubtedly be some form of protection for those who are permanently resident in another EU country. But whether that extends to social security & health benefits or continuing freedom of movement between EU countries isn't known.
It is very possible that UK expatriates in the rest of the EU will find themselves in some sort of limbo and undoubtedly our children, grandchildren who are still in the UK will not have the same advantages that we have.
There is only one way to be certain that the benefits & privileges we have as EU citizens remain and that is to campaign for the UK to Remain in the EU.
Talking of facts and speaking as somebody who voted in the 1975 referendum, it was always made very clear that the EEC was a political union as well as a customs union. Harold Wilson made that very clear in 1967 when reporting to the House of Commons.
More importantly the official "No" campaign leaflet distributed to each household made it very clear that a major objection to the EEC by the "No" campaigners was the so-called loss of sovereignty. The headline for the leaflet was "THE RIGHT TO RULE OURSELVES"
You can read a copy of the leaflet by following https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9OPHg_u_B2Bb0pNMllUUXc1R0U/view?usp=sharing