City councilor in Plazac, Mark Lawrence was denied French nationality and, since February 1, 2020, has been removed from the electoral lists in France. - MEHDI FEDOUACH / AFP

  • Nearly 800 British elected representatives without dual nationality were unable to stand for municipal elections. Following Brexit, they were struck off the electoral roll on February 1, but could finish their term.
  • There are 70 in Charente, nearly 60 in Dordogne, while New Aquitaine is the first French region to welcome British residents of France (39,000 residents).
  • Among them, Edwina de Tonary or Mark Lawrence, elected in Dordogne, and who wonder today what their status will be when they can no longer vote either in France or in their country of origin.

“I am very sad because it was a great experience. For the past six years, Norman Cox has been a municipal councilor in Montrollet, in Charente-Maritime, and like him, nearly 800 British elected representatives were unable to stand in the last municipal elections. Brexit requires, elected officials without dual nationality were removed from the electoral lists on Friday January 31 at midnight, while being authorized to terminate their mandate. “It annoys me, it saddens me, advances to 20 Minutes Edwina de Tonary, elected for four years in Verteillac, in Dordogne. I feel abandoned and disoriented. I arrived here thirty-nine years ago, with the election of Mitterrand and, today, I am told that I am a second-class citizen, that I no longer have the right to invest in my village, when I still have the keys to the church. "

Edwina is not alone in feeling "deprived of civil rights". Some 150,000 Britons would be [many are not registered] settled in France, according to figures communicated by INSEE in 2018. They would be nearly 40,000 in Nouvelle-Aquitaine [first French region for receiving British residents of France] and would count thus for 0.7% of the regional population. Most would have thus lost their right to vote in municipal and European elections. In France, of course, but also in their country of origin, England striking out voters who have been gone for more than fifteen years.

In Eymet (Dordogne), more than a third of the inhabitants are British who came to seek the sun and the sweetness of life in "Dordogneshire". - BOB EDME / AP / SIPA

"No one could tell me about my current status"

In Charente, of the 6,300 British nationals, 70 were still municipal councilors until Sunday, according to Le Monde . They are 59 in Dordogne, often nicknamed "Dordogneshire" because of its popularity with our neighbors across the Channel. This is where Edwina de Tonary experienced the "divorce" between her country of origin and the European Union: "I have neither a residence permit nor dual nationality, but my life is here in the Dordogne . I pay my taxes in France, I no longer have contact with England. All this disturbs me a lot, especially since no one has been able to tell me about my current status. We're in the dark. "

During her mandate, the sexagenarian, secretary of a local association, took care of the links with the merchants of the village of nearly 700 inhabitants. Solicited by the mayor after the defection of an elected official, she also orchestrated twinning with an Italian village or taught English voluntarily at school. Further on, in Plazac, about thirty kilometers from Périgueux, Mark Lawrence had known the mayor since childhood. Florence Gauthier came to get her English friend to take care of "youth and culture" and "make the link between rosbeefs and frogs", smiles Mark, 47 years old.

"We are the collateral damage of Brexit"

Elected for six years but "invested for twenty-seven years", the carpenter carpenter becomes serious again when he talks about his "loss of freedom" and this dual nationality that he is denied "for lack of sufficient income". "We are the collateral damage of Brexit and it shows how far our policies are from real life, loose Mark at 20 Minutes , with his nifty British accent. I have the support of local elected officials, 3,000 people signed a petition for me to obtain French nationality, but someone in the Castaner offices said "no", while I never cost France anything. . It makes me sick. "

The former elected official, who does not want to return to England, would have liked to be part of the new municipal team. "But with a thorn in the side, we learn to walk differently and I will continue to invest myself," advises this father of four born in France. I am not looking for wrongdoers, but the English do not really know what they are doing with this Brexit. Honestly, I do everything to be a good Frenchman: I eat garlic and cheese every day. Today, I am deprived of my rights but luckily I can still vote at home… ”

Our file on municipal

With Mark, as with Edwina or Norman, there is still humor to tell "this French drama". All however advance these taxes paid in France, these real estate or financial "brought back" in Dordogne, this time given to their commune "to relieve the French State". "Finally, I no longer checked the right boxes and, in France, we have to go into boxes," analyzes Mark Lawrence. Today, I am nothing, even more European. "

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