Brit Expats In France Offered $60 For Brexit Opinions

UK expats living in France are being offered £60 to give their Brexit views at British Embassy outreach meetings.

As part of the British Embassy’s Brexit-focused outreach campaign in France, UK expats living in and around Paris and Nice are being asked to attend and give their views at targeting focus group meetings. Each meeting will last around one and half hours, and participants in three groups, students, working people and pensioners will each receive a gratuity of £60.

Those attending will be asked for their opinions on the 2016 referendum as well as Brexit itself, and will also be able to share their feelings on the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Brexit-aimed communications campaign as well as the Embassy’s outreach meetings. The only requirement for would-be attendees is being a British expat living in France.

The meeting in Nice will be held on June 18 at 16.00 for retirees and at 18.00, 18.30 or 19.00 for working expats, dependent on the response, and the Paris meetups will be held on June 19 at 18.15 for students and 20.00 for workers. For exact details of venues and times, Akiko Gharbi can be reached at ag.researchgroup@gmail.com or at 06 10 054 054. The initiative has been organised on behalf of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Meanwhile, a date of July 5 has been given for the hearing at the EU’s General Court in Luxembourg of the case brought by Bordeaux lawyer Julien Fouchet in an attempt to stop Brexit in its tracks. The case was brought in support of disenfranchised British expats in EU who were denied the chance to vote in the referendum although its result could wreck their lives.

Fouchet's legal argument is based on his informed belief that Brexit should not happen as the referendum itself was illegal for excluding large numbers of long-stay expats who would be worst affected by a UK/EU divorce. If he succeeds, it’s possible the Brexit vote could be annulled, meaning a new vote including the disenfranchised would need to take place.