RENNES, France: After Britain leaves the European Union some 900 Britons serving on local councils in France will also have to give up their seat at the table.
Like all EU citizens living in another member country, Britons in France have the right to vote in local elections and stand for election to their local council.
But in leaving the bloc Britain will forfeit that right, meaning that British residents will no longer be able to represent the communities some have served for years.
Sandra Sheward and her husband moved to the western French region of Brittany 13 years ago.
“Our children fled the nest and we decided to drop out of the rat race in London,” said Sheward, 58, a former training specialist for a property services company.
The pair restored a farmhouse on the edge of Saint-Caradec, a riverside village of 1,200 people, where Sheward was courted by the mayor to join his slate of candidates for the municipal council in 2014.
Being the only non-French councilor, and one who has yet to fully master the language, has not been an obstacle, says Sheward, a born organizer who developed the village’s Christmas art market and helped set up a yoga class, among other activities.
“She doesn’t speak much during council meetings but when she does it’s always very constructive,” Mayor Alain Guillaume said.
In a region that draws large numbers of British tourists and where a number of Britons have second homes, it’s also helpful to have a native English speaker to call on for translations and other assistance.
But if Britain leaves the EU as expected, Sheward will be forced to bow out of politics at the next local elections in 2020.
“French villages are like ghost towns so it has been nice to be on the council. You get to meet more people!” said Sheward, who has applied for residency in France.
“I’d like to be re-elected but it depends on Brexit,” she said, adding with a sigh: “I just wish they’d get on with it so that we too can get on with our lives.”
According to official British statistics, France is home to a little over 157,000 British citizens, making it the biggest expatriate British community after that of Spain.
Outside Paris, large numbers are to be found in Brittany and the southwestern Dordogne region.
France has given them a year after Brexit to apply for residency but many have decided not to wait for divorce day to get their papers in, swamping local authorities.
The government has attempted to fend off panic, with former European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau assuring in March: “We want them to stay. They are an asset for France.”
About 10 kilometers to the west of Sheward’s village in Brittany, an Englishwoman is also a lynchpin of her community.
Jacqueline Bertho, 60, from Yorkshire, ended up in France in 2000 after a divorce, and began a new life in “Kreiz Breizh” — Breton for the center of Brittany, where she lives with her Breton husband and their daughter.
In the village of Saint-Guen (population 450), which is “very rural, like 1960s Britain,” the chatty 60-year-old is a well-known figure. “I’m the mad Englishwoman with the dogs,” she jokes.
While still feeling “very much British,” Bertho says she has thrown herself into community life, volunteering to teach English to local schoolkids, helping the elderly and, since 2014, becoming a member of the council.
A year after her election, Bertho obtained French citizenship, meaning her place in France is assured.
But she worries that other British couples who retired to the region, where they restored old houses and helped revive villages that were in their death throes, will struggle.
“Most won’t be able to become French,” she said, citing their French language skills, which are put to a citizenship test, as a key hurdle.
Tim Richardson, a British winemaker who sits on the council of the Dordogne village of Eymet, is one of those waiting for news on his citizenship application, which he submitted last year.
The father-of-two, who has been living since 1991 in the region nicknamed Dordogneshire after its large British population, is confident of becoming French.
And if he is forced to give up his council seat? “Tant pis (too bad),” he said in a telephone interview.
“It’s not the end of the world. There is no reason I cannot continue helping out in local life.”
Brexit axe looms for British office-holders in France
Brexit axe looms for British office-holders in France
- Britons in France have the right to vote in local elections and stand for election to their local council
- But in leaving the bloc Britain will forfeit that right
Canada PM Carney says can’t rule out military participation in Iran war
- Carney had said the US-Israeli strikes on Iran were “inconsistent with international law”
- However, he supports the efforts to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon
CANBERRA, Australia: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that he couldn’t rule out his country’s military participation in the escalating war in the Middle East.
Carney’s visit to Australia this week has been overshadowed by expanding war in the Middle East, sparked by a massive US-Israeli strike on Iran that killed its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Speaking alongside local counterpart Anthony Albanese in Canberra, Carney was asked whether there was a situation in which Canada would get involved.
“One can never categorically rule out participation,” he said, while stressing the question was a “hypothetical” one.
“We will stand by our allies,” said Carney, adding that “we will always defend Canadians.”
Carney had said the US-Israeli strikes on Iran were “inconsistent with international law.”
However, he supports the efforts to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon — a position that Canada takes “with regret” as it represented “another example of the failure of the international order.”
The Canadian leader reiterated on Thursday his call for a “de-escalation” of the conflict.
Carney’s trip is part of a multi-country tour of the Asia-Pacific aimed at reducing reliance on the United States — a hedge against what he has described as a fading US-led global order.
The Australia leg of the tour is aimed at bringing in investment and deepening ties with a like-minded “middle power” partner.
‘Middle power’ rallying cry
On Thursday morning he issued a rallying cry in Australia’s parliament to “middle powers,” urging them to work together in an increasingly hegemonic world order.
Nations like Australia and Canada faced a stark choice — work together to help write the “new rules” of the global order or have great powers do it for them, he said.
“In this brave new world, middle powers cannot simply build higher walls and retreat behind them. We must work together,” he said.
“Great powers can compel, but compulsion comes with costs, both reputational and financial,” the former central banker added.
“Middle powers like Australia and Canada hold this rare convening power because others know we mean what we say and we will match our values with our actions.”
The Canadian leader also said the two countries would together as “strategic collaborators” to pool their vast combined rare earth mineral resources.
And he detailed renewed cooperation in areas from defense to artificial intelligence.
“We know we must work with others who share our values to build solid capabilities,” he told parliament.
Otherwise, he warned, they risked being “caught between the hyperscalers and the hegemons.”
The Canadian leader has frequently clashed with US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to annex Canada and slapped swingeing tariffs on the country.
In a speech to political and financial elites at the World Economic Forum in January, Carney warned the US?led global system of governance was enduring “a rupture.”
