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Courtesy of the Times.
Spain will announce a royal decree tomorrow to limit the impact of a no-deal Brexit on British tourists and expatriates. Under the plan healthcare provision for British residents and tourists would be guaranteed until at least December 31, 2020. British residents would also continue to have access to the social security system, which gives rights to unemployment benefits and pensions. The Socialist government will also guarantee freedom of movement for workers between Gibraltar and Spain.
The law will come as a huge relief to about 300,000 Britons in Spain, many of whom are pensioners living on the costas who rely on access to local hospitals and doctors. Madrid hopes that the measures will limit the damage Brexit might do to its tourism industry, the second largest sector of the economy. Last year 18 million British tourists visited Spain. However, today the European Commission ruled out an EU-wide agreement with the UK to ensure that the rights of expatriates are protected across Europe in a no-deal Brexit. The proposal, for a UK-EU commitment to preserve citizens’ rights, was passed without opposition in the House of Commons yesterday. But a commission spokeswoman said in response that the EU was not willing to conclude “mini-deals” with the UK outside the main withdrawal agreement. The agreement includes reciprocal commitments to maintain the rights of an estimated 3.5 million EU citizens in the UK and 1.5 million Britons on the Continent to live and work in their chosen homes after Brexit. The prime minister has pledged to honour this commitment for EU expats in Britain even if her deal fails. There has been no similar promise from the EU, which has left it to individual member states to decide how they will act in a no-deal scenario.
Asked whether the EU was ready to strike an agreement of the kind proposed by Alberto Costa, a former parliamentary private secretary who was forced to quit to bring his amendment, Mina Andreeva, a spokeswoman for the European Commission, said: “We will not negotiate mini-deals because negotiating such mini-deals outside the withdrawal agreement would imply that the negotiations have failed.” She said that the best way to protect the rights of expats was through the withdrawal agreement. So far all EU states have pledged that British nationals can continue to live in their countries in the event of a no-deal but some have insisted that UK residents will have to pay a registration fee.
