Opalienne

UK.   I will be worth much less in France and it will be very hard to find anyone who wants to buy a UK reg car with no MOT

I thought you were expected to do it for free!   Certainly people do so in Spain..... (You're talking about the St Jacques pilgrimage?)

Do you have an American Express card?   Their worldwide travel insurance is very good

Exactly.   EU rules are about the free movement of labour - i.e. people moving because of work - and not people who are not working any more and who are living in a particular country through choice.  The EU has no competence in matters of healthcare systems, pensions, etc and very likely never will have.   Sorry if this sounds a bit harsh, but why don't people inform themselves properly before they move to another country?   There are very many things that are totally different in France.   Only last week we had to spend ages trying to help an English woman had had been threatened` with an 'interdiction bancaire' because of a bouncing cheque.   "I didn't know that you couldn't write a cheque when there was insufficient money in the bank", she said. "It's not like that in England......." 

Controle technique, French version of MOT, is needed every two years for cars over 4 years old.

We have loads in our garden (Pas de Calais).   They also live in the cellar.  When I saw the first one I thought it was a plastic toy until it moved rather quickly!   The babies are brown and only turn black and yellow at adulthood.

Here's the latest news:   No overnight price hike threat in EU VAT row 26.01.2006 - 09:59 CET | By Lucia Kubosova The European Commission does not believe house renovation or bike repair prices would suddenly jump up if there is no VAT deal by the weekend, as it will take longer to change national laws on taxation. The deal was agreed by finance ministers from 22 member states on Tuesday (24 January), but Poland, the Czech republic and Cyprus are still deciding whether or not they will sign up. The decision applies to an EU-wide scheme under which member states can levy VAT rates as low as 5 percent instead of their national standard rates on a set of "labour-intensive services," such as small construction works or bike repairs. At the moment, nine "old" member states are using the derogation, although the scheme legally expired on 31 December. The ministers on Tuesday agreed that they would postpone the deadline for the project until 2010, but if Warsaw, Prague and Nicosia decide not to bow down to EU pressure, the VAT holiday will end. The European Commission confirmed it will start infringement procedures against countries carrying on with lower tax during next week. "Legally all member states that apply reduced rates, they have to come back to the minimum standard VAT rate in the European Union, which is 15 percent," commission spokeswoman Maria Assimakopoulou said on Wednesday. But she added it is not clear whether in practise countries would be fined if they do not act "immediately" in the event of no VAT deal. The official added that it is understood that most countries need to "pass laws in national parliaments in order to move from one regime to the other and this can take a certain time." Meanwhile, the Polish finance minister Zyta Gilowska has hinted that an agreement is likely, while the Czechs and Cypriots have not yet decided on their position. "We are convinced that negotiations will end favorably," Ms Gilowska said at a news briefing, according to IHT. "There is goodwill from our side, although the situation is difficult. We are beginning an analysis of the possibility of an amendment of our position," she noted. Prague - the staunchest critic of the deal on the table has not yet given its last word however, with the country's finance minister Bohuslav Sobotka saying on Tuesday that his government was willing to veto the deal on its own if need be.

It does but we have been doing it for ages and it hasn't caused any problems!

In Belgium 'bleu de toi' means 'mad about you'.   Very confusing.......

No, it has not been approved.  The dissenting countries have been given until the end of the week to change their minds, otherwise it falls - the decision has to be unanimous. 

[quote user="tmto"]Wen, if new arrivals had adapted to American culture rather than the other way round, the native Americans would not be parked in reserves right now.[/quote]   Those who were not exterminated!   The US is about the worst example of new arrivals adapting to culture that I can think of.

A good way to light an open log fire is to start it with one of those long-burning artificial logs you can buy in supermarkets and bricolage shops.   They cost about €1.5 and burn for 3-4 hours.   One of those under your conventional logs will allow the fire to really get going before it burns out.

Le Bouffon is not correct (I suppose given his name we should not be surprised....)   Although in principle EU citizens have the right to settle in any other member state, member states are also allowed to impose their own rules as to whom they accept   This may change in future, but currently this is the status quo.  For example, I paste below what applies for people wanting to live in Belgium: As a citizen of the Union, you may enter a Member State with a valid identity card or passport and reside there for three months without any formalities. As a citizen of the Union who does not enjoy a right of residence under any other provisions of Community law, you have a right of residence in any other Member State on condition that you have sufficient resources to avoid that you and the members of your family become a burden on the social assistance system of the host Member State during your period of residence and you and the members of your family are covered by sickness insurance in respect of all risks in the host Member State. Resources are deemed sufficient when they are higher than the level of resources below which the host Member State may grant social assistance to its nationals or if this criterion cannot apply when they are higher than the level of the minimum social security pension paid by the host Member Stat

I agree with Jond's remarks about French inheritance and can see how forcing the sale of property might cause problems.  But this doesn't mean that its value shouldn't be taken into account when determining whether or not someone can receive RMI.   Selling 'en viager' disinherits children but is completely legal - and plenty of people do it when they need the extra income.   Maybe that is the answer?   Although forced sale should be a last resort, it seems to be that it's fairer to everyone than allowing the current situation to continue.

Actually the original post was about claims for RMI, not for health benefits - but these are automatic if you are in receipt of RMI.   You also don't have to pay tax d'habitation and get some kind of reduction on your phone bill, I think.  I agree that it doesn't help to get personal. In response to those who have said that it's all the same as the British getting hot under the collar about asylum seekers, I don't agree with you at all.   Many asylum seekers are very highly qualified people and are hoping to find work in the UK. Another difference is that they are usually poor and unable to buy their own homes, having in many cases spent all their money in trying to get to a safer place.   This, in my view, is totally different from people who cash in on the inflated British housing market to buy the most expensive property they can afford in France, large cars, swimming pools, etc and then find they don't have enough to live on.  The answer would be for the French system to take all assets into account when deciding whether or not to award the RMI, while leaving enough flexibility to cater for people have become sick or whose circumstances have changed in other ways.   Let's hope they do this - not because I am being holier than thou about exploiting the current system (though I certainly don't approve of people who do so), but because of the effect that this kind of activity has on the reputation of the British in a country which is by and large very tolerant and kindly disposed towards them.  

You can find historical exchange rates on http://www.oanda.com/convert/fxhistory   and average them from that.      

I am the person who started this thread and am therefore guilty of using the word 'scam'.   If you read back to the beginning you will see that I caught the end of a news item and wasn't fully informed..   Knowing more about it now - there was an item on TF1 news tonight - I accept that it probably isn't a scam.   But I do think that it doesn't make for good relations when people (whatever their nationality), some of whom are clearly well off at least in terms of property, claim benefits which are intended for the poor - the vast majority of whom cannot afford to buy and are having to find money for rent. There's always the posibility of borrowing against a house, or even selling it and buying something cheaper, hard though that decision may be.

I jhust caught the end of a very short item on France Info about the President of a Conseil Regional (didn't hear where but it was somewhere where there were lots of British residents) launching an enquiry into British people living in 'maisons cossues' and claiming to have no income - something to do with RMI but I missed most of it so can't be more specific.    I'm sure it won't be our region but more likely somewhere in the SW.    Just so you know, in case you need to!

Not round us, though some communes have a 'cyberpoint' which is subsidised and pretty cheap to use

Isn't the point that the girl and her parents were in France for 2 years and still couldn't/wouldn't  speak any French?  How can anyone say that they had the right intentions in coming to France if that is the case?   I have come across too many people who move to France expecting the country to adapt to them rather than the other way round.  And this is not being superior or having anything to do with not eating baked beans, before anyone says so, it's just common sense (not to mention showing kindness to your children).

I agree with Deimos - the only way to learn 'useful' French is just to jump in at the deep and and do it for yourself.   My husband hardly spoke a word when he moved full time in 1996 but he had to get on with it.   At the beginning of the first year he would hardly dare answer the phone, and waited for me to come at the weekend to sort things out.     But by year two he was nearly fluent - just through trying todeal with things himself and asking for help and explanation from neighbours when he couldn't.  I can't see any point in paying for total immersion courses when you are already immersed......

It depends on lots of things: where you are going to live, what size house you are going to be living in, what kind of transport you will need (will you be in the middle of the country or in or near a town), what kind of standard of living you are expecting.   But in principle I would say that the answer is Yes, you could live quite comfortably on that kind of money if you had no debts.

But you would say 'mortally wounded' in English, wouldn't you?

What about 'se suicider'?   Tautology or what?

It means that the model exists in more than one form (probably different colours, but I haven't looked)