- This Friday, Brexit officially entered into force, activating Britain's exit from the European Union.
- The final terms of the exit agreement must be determined before the end of the year.
- For the many French expatriates living in the British capital, uncertainty about their future across the Channel dominates.
Stay. Go. Want to stay but feel that we would like to see us leave. While Brexit officially entered into force this Friday evening, for the French community based in London, the time has come for questions but also for administrative procedures. From Covent Garden to South Kensignton, via Notting Hill (where we did not meet Hugh Grant), 20 Minutes spent the moments before, during and after Brexit with French expatriates in small tricolor enclaves from the city.
J-1. A little corner of France across the Channel, in a beautiful setting in South Kensington, a well-to-do and charming London district, popular with the French in London. This Thursday evening at the French Institute is the atmosphere of big evenings, on the occasion of the "night of ideas". The event has an English name, but the conversations mostly resonate in the language of Molière. At the helm of one of the day's conferences devoted to ethical fashion, Maïa, a journalist with a banter all over Paris and who feels as Londonian as French. Settled in London for a dozen years, she "could never have imagined that Brexit would happen one day, it is something violent", she confides. In his entourage of expatriates, the announcement of Brexit also had the effect of a bomb, “some of my friends made the choice to pack up and returned to France. And in this tumult, my [Franco-British] children, who have always lived here, never felt as French as when the "out" won in the referendum! ".
"Like any separation, we will recover, but it will be painful"
At that time, while Great Britain is only part of the European Union for a few hours, Maïa feels caught in the crossfire. "I am Londoner and French, it is at the very heart of my job", explains the one who launched Culture Alt, a bilingual podcast magazine "dedicated to French and British culture and the link that unites them," he says. she. For me, Brexit is a divorce between the United Kingdom and France, and like any separation, we will recover, but it will be painful. ”
In the hall of the Institute, Mikael is chatting with other expatriates. Installed for three years in the British capital, he can not see himself leaving, he who launched his start-up, Twisted Mirror TV, a VOD platform for short humorous programs. "I am an entrepreneur and I know that things will change in the future, but I do not know in what proportions or with what repercussions," he says. For the moment, it's a transition period, but for the moment, there are no visible changes. ” While the consequences of Brexit do not yet weigh on his daily life in London, Mikael prefers to see things with optimism. "London is the center of the world, it is my city, there is always hope here", he philosophizes.
For the time being French citizen, the young man has a residence card, which brings him a certain serenity as for his future in Great Britain. But the unresolved Brexit equation raises an unknown for him: “my health coverage. Today, I am attached to the British equivalent of Social Security, but if we move towards a "hard Brexit", things could change ". Not enough to discourage him so far: "in any case, I want to stay".
"Are we going to be able to stay or have to leave?" "
D-Day Lunch service is in full swing at Antoinette, a pretty little restaurant nestled in the heart of the Covent Garden market. But by closing your eyes, you might think you are in Paris, since all the staff talk in French. And the music that caresses the ears has nothing of the English pop which resounds in certain shops a little further. My preference to me or Manhattan-Kabul : we are here in a small corner of France. However, we are in the center of London. "We are almost all French here, there is a family spirit between us, and every day, we always have several tables of French", describes Mathieu, assistant manager of the establishment. Londoner for almost eighteen months, the young man of 24 years "a little stress. We don't really know what's going to happen: will we be able to stay or will we have to leave? "He wonders. If for the time being he has not taken any administrative steps to secure his future in the British capital, he is thinking of doing so quickly, "all the more so since our French customers ask us all the time what we expatriates will become after Brexit ”.
And French customers are also wondering about the future of the restaurant. "We bring wines, cheese and cold meats from France," says Mathieu. Whatever the terms of the Brexit deal, we are preparing for a drastic rise in taxes, which will have an impact on our costs, and on our prices. ”
The midday service is coming to an end, but the hungry stomachs continue to crowd Chez Antoinette. Mathieu goes back to work. A few hours later, thousands of Brexiters will celebrate the end of their country's European adventure in Parliament Square, galvanized by the presence of Brexit's father, Nigel Farage.
"Today I feel like a stranger"
D + 1. Brexit is official. The night before, the Brexiters have whistled many cans of beer , and many of them are probably waking up happy with a sore hair. For many Londoners in France, the feeling of hangover is there, without having drunk a single drop. An appointment is made with Hélène, in a restaurant in Notting Hill chosen by her care: The Prince Bonaparte, "for the snub", she jokes. For nineteen years, Hélène has lived in this neighborhood where she feels at home. But now something has changed. “Today I feel like a stranger. I am not seen as an expat, but as an "immigrant". With this Brexit campaign which started several years ago now, racist speech has infused political discourse and has been freed up, carried by a feeling of legitimacy, ”she deplores. When she arrived in London, Hélène heard a few French and hostile words here and there, but "Europhobic and anti-European discourse was not the norm, and nobody ever told me at the time that I was there to take advantage of the system. "
The Leave campaign went through that, "with formidably effective marketing," comments Hélène, who works in legal publishing. A cocktail made up of very simple ideas, sprinkled with a large dose of fear of others and lies: the recipe was taken immediately, based on a share of stupidity and racism of those who joined it. Today, Hélène sees the Brexit effect every day. "The hateful feeling towards foreigners is much more present and assumed, politicians speaking of" low valued people ", of people of low value, it is abject. And the Brexiters felt free to make the same speech. Some people said to me right in the eyes: "There are enough foreigners, especially those who are poor! Finally, you are not the same". It is incredibly violent, especially since this anti-European feeling has rekindled latent racism towards other foreign communities, ”she protested.
A climate that made him want to take a one-way trip several times. "On polling day, when the results fell, I wanted to cry and go back to France," she recalls. If I had not had a British companion, I would have left, so disgusted I was with this campaign based on lies and a denial of democracy. But my life is here, with the good and the bad. ” So, Hélène had to complete a certain number of steps to be able to stay. And if today, she has her settled status in her pocket - which allows her to reside and work across the Channel, she does not feel serene. "I will end up applying for naturalization, but I will drag my feet."
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