Lobbying !

[Chassaing]

[quote user="lebois"]

Hi Everyone,

Here is another opportunity!  Tell all your friends and family.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/healthinFrance/

Regards

[/quote]

I have heard that some people have been having problems with this site.

For instance, some have waited about 8 hours for the automated email.

Please keep trying.

[Tony F Dordogne]

[quote user="lebois"][quote user="lebois"]
If the UK PMs won't sort the story attached, what  can be done for a few French Expats?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=N0BJB0203DQKPQFIQMFCFF4AVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/10/11/ncdiff111.xml

Regards

[/quote]

I'm sorry everyone,  but letting people die in UK hospitals and UK Citizens in France is unacceptable.  It is about time MPs were in court for Manslaughter as well, perhaps the laws would be more carefully worded to protect people.  Please keep lobbying!  We need to shout louder.
[/quote]

Surely nobody is suggesting that the French approach to this issue is in any way similar to the appalling situation in the Maidstone hospitals where people died - apparently - as a result of neglect and poor hygeine standards?  Not heard any reports of UK citizens dying in their French hospital beds because of C dificile and the issue here is one of the effect of the application of administrative rules, not of care.

Trying to link the two issues is the sort of thing that will get the campaign negative publicity if this - increasingly public and better used - forum is going to help to change the approach of the French government.

As I've said to Cooperlola privately, we need to be seen to see to take a measured and sensible approach to this issue, no matter what our personal views may be. 

 

[Chassaing]

Yes Tony F, I know what you mean about taking "a measured and sensible approach to this issue", I have been reading the UK MPs' email replies to expats. If they wish to do nothing then nothing will be done.  I'm glad that Mary Honeyball MEP is taking action.

Everyone, please keep signing this petition and lobbying..

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/healthinFrance/

[Ron Avery]

Lebois said "I'm sorry everyone,  but letting people die in UK hospitals and UK Citizens in France is unacceptable.  It is about time MPs were in court ............. bla bla bla "  

Sorry Lebois, this story has nothing whatsoever to do with the French issue and to attempt a link is at best ridiculous and at worst well even more ridiculous and frankly unhelpfu.l

I cannot see any benefit in trying to discredit the people, (MPs)  that we are trying to get on our side, by blaming them for an issue that quite frankly has buggar all to do with them.  Hospital managers manage hospitals and cleaners clean them, few if any of these are MPs.

If you are really concerned write to the local MP, Anne Widdecombe MP at Conservative Central Office and tell her that she is responsible for the deaths of these people.

 

[Chassaing]

Thank you Ron for your comments.

I am concerned that not enough is being done to help the people in need in France who have lost or will soon loose their health cover.

[rothrugby]

Re te UK petition. We need 200 signatures to force the UK to at least  respond. As at 5 minutes ago we had 177 so keep them coming. I am the secretary of the Charente-Limosuine-Exchange who submitted this petition. We are still working hard to get some movement on those with serious illnesses as we feel this is the most urgent need at the moment. Many of our members have E106's due to expire shortly and also have a serious illness. We felt that our first priority was to attempt to get their plight heard.

Thanks to everyone on this forum for their active support- it makes you realise you are not alone.

[Benjamin]

I've just been reading an online financial article from Reuters ( yes I know ..yawn...yawn ) concerning this weeks pre Budget report speech from Alistair Darling and found some of the terms used in the article almost an echo of what's being said about Governments and this health care debacle.

A stockbroker says " the changes are iniquitous "

The Tories are calling it "shambolic"

The Lib/Dems are referring to "retrospective changes"

I don't think there is any likelyhood whatsoever of the UK Goovernment backing down and I certianly don't think they will do anything to help the poor people who are caught up in this iniquitous, shambolic and retrospective changes situation. Better to put our efforts into trying to persuade the European Union that this decision is wrong, rather than wasting time with the UK Government.

[A Wood]

Dear all,

 

Mary Honeyball has submitted a written declaration to the European Parliament calling on all member states to uphold the principle of reciprocity of health care provision across the EU.  This will be available for other MEPs to sign from the 22nd October.

 

Thank you to all those who have sent letters or emails.  Mary is in the process of replying to them so if you have not yet received a reply you will shortly.

 

Many thanks for all your support and hard work in providing information.

 

Best wishes,

 

Abigail Wood

Office of Mary Honeyball MEP

[Deimos]

If available for other MEPs to sign, I assume the more that sign the better.  Is this then something that us (the public) should be encouraging other MEPs to seek out and sign (e.g. e-mail them telling them about it and that they should represent us by going and signing it, etc.)

If so, does somebody have a list of MEPs (or a site to find them) and details they would need to find this thing that is available for them to sign ?

i.e. is there is anything us public can do to help the written declaration be successful or to have greater impact ?

Ian

[Clair]

[quote user="Deimos"]does somebody have a list of MEPs (or a site to find them) and details they would need to find this thing that is available for them to sign ?[/quote]

Ian,

the list of MEP can be found under the LOBBYING section of this post: Useful links and websites

[Deimos]

[quote user="Clair"][quote user="Deimos"]does somebody have a list of MEPs (or a site to find them) and details they would need to find this thing that is available for them to sign ?[/quote]

Ian,

the list of MEP can be found under the LOBBYING section of this post: Useful links and websites

[/quote]

But should we be pestering them to sign or is this something that is put before them all anyway.  I'm afraid I don't know how such things work.  It might be that there are several thousand such things per day and ignored by most MEP - so they would need to be pushed by their voters to get them to sign.  Might be it will be discussed for a couple of days in a debate all MEPs are obliged to attend - in which case no need to pester them too much.

What info would they need to be given to direct them to the thing to be signed (so it becomes really easy for them to do).

Ian

[rothrugby]

Has anybody taken a look at http://www.ecas.org/ The European Citizens Action Service. It contains the directive that the french are using to deny us CMU.

I have today emailed the President of ECAS, presenting our problem & asking if ECAS can clarify the situation, his email is [email protected]

It may be useful if everone takes a look at the website & emails Mr Venables

ECAS was created in 1990 as an international non-profit organization, independent of political parties, commercial interests and the EU Institutions.  Our mission is to enable NGOs and individuals to make their voice heard with the EU by providing advice on how to lobby, fundraise, and defend European citizenship rights.

Citizens free movement rights

ECAS is an advice service for individuals as well as NGOs.  We run hotlines and our team of legal experts has handled over 50,000 complaints.

Our priorities are:

• To run the Citizen Signpost Service for the European Commission at a high level of quality and to help solve cross-border problems.

• To promote a "dual citizenship," both national and European, based on residence and going beyond free movement rights.

• To organize conferences and develop co-operation among citizens advice services

[cooperlola]

I have added this to the list of "useful links and websites", Rothrugby.

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1038102

[Joshua]

The auto reply on the Petition does not seem to be working all the time.

It should generate an email but I know with at least 4 names its not done that

Any clues ?

Joshua[8-)]

[Jazzer]

Keep trying. It took me 3 attempts, my wife on the other hand got an immendiate email response.

[sunshine 2]

Joshua - I tried the petition twice with my Dordogne address and pressing the 'expatriate' icon - and I did not receive the confirmation email.

In frustration I did it a third time and put my previous UK address and it worked immediately.

[Deimos]

[quote

user="Joshua"]The auto reply on the Petition does not seem

to be working all the time.

It should generate an email but I know

with at least 4 names its not done that

Any clues

?

Joshua[8-)]

[/quote]

Earlier today I signed it and

the automated confirmation e-mail thing took over 5 hrs to be

delivered.  No idea why.  I thought it was not working for

ages but it came through in the end.  I think your vote is not

counted until you click on the confirmation link.

Also, my

French Wanadoo/Orange system marks the e-mails from the petition site

as SPAM.  Fortunately I went in (ages ago) and modified the

Wanadoo/Orange.fr e-mail settings so that things they call SPAM are

not automatically deleted (their default is not to deliver them but

to put them in a special "undesirables" folder accessible

only via webmail).  Thus, depending on your ISP, settings, etc.

it might be that they have been processed as SPAM (Wanadoo do not

fully understand SPAM and they have even classed some of their own

messages as SPAM before !!).

Those are my only thoughts.

Ian

[Maricopa]

I signed this petition the other night choosing the expat option and got my e-mail within minutes[:D]

[Joshua]

Cheers, Thanks for all those comments. We'll try again after checking the settings on my PC.

Joshua[:D]

[londoneye]

Also marked as SPAM for me - made me chuckle - 10 Downing Street email marked as SPAM.    

[cooperlola]

Mary Honeyball has submitted the following declaration to the European Parliament

"XXXX/2007

Written declaration on health care provision for European Citizens residing in another Member State

The European Parliament,

–    having regard to Rule 116 of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas EU law upholds the right to freedom of movement and freedom of residence across the European Union,

B.   whereas access to health care is fundamentally important to all citizens

1.   Recognises the fundamental principle of reciprocity of health care provision across the European Union,

2.   Expresses grave concern that some EU citizens not born in France but legally resident there are being denied state health care provision despite paying all relevant taxes,

3.   Recognises that private health care may not be available or affordable for citizens with disabilities or those with existing conditions,

4.   Calls on Member States to uphold the principle of reciprocity of health care provision; further calls on Member States not to make changes to health care provision that will deny EU citizens, who are non-nationals access to state health care,

5.   Calls on the European Commission to undertake a review of the manner in which Member States generally are operating the principal of reciprocity of health care provision to ensure that all Member States are complying with their obligations under the Treaties in this regard,

6.   Instructs its President to forward this declaration, together with the names of the signatories, to the Council, the Commission and the governments and parliaments of the Member States."

She will be contacting me on Monday with details of how we can encourage MEPs to back the declaration.  Watch this space.

 

[cooperlola]

I have received this from Mary Honeyball today - please get writing!

"I attach, once again, the written declaration to the European Parliament
which I referred to in my recent email to you.   All MEPS are eligible to
sign it. The more that do the stronger it becomes. If more than 393 MEPs
sign it then the motion is adopted by the European Parliament.

The written declaration is eligible for signature for 3 months. It is
now important that as many MEPs as possible are lobbied to sign the
declaration.

To do this please write to your MEP in France requesting they sign.
For those of you with a UK address please write to your MEP there.
Similarly if you have a residential address in another European Union
country please write to your MEP there.

The power of email is a strong way to take this campaign forward.
Please write to all your friends and contacts in your address book.
Explain to them how the issue  affects you. You could even draft a letter
they could cut and paste requesting their MEPs sign the declaration.

For people in the United Kingdom they can use the website
http://www.writetothem.com/
to identify their representatives. For other countries go to
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/public.do?language=en
this is available in all European Union languages.

Do ask your friends in France to write too please. I will be lobbying
my fellow MEPs and writing to them as well. From experience though the
most effective campaigning tool is a large number of letters and emails
being received to bring this to the attention of my colleagues.

I would also encourage you to ask your friends to sign as I have

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/healthinFrance/

I am pleased 500 people have signed but again many more need to sign
to increase the impact.

For more detailed enquiries I am happy to investigate further for
people who have a London constituency connection. For those of you
elsewhere please write to your former UK MEPs, and your current French
MEPs and MPs.

I am unable to take up the personal detailed cases of those who do not
have a direct link to my constituency. This is an important Parliamentary
convention. I know that my Labour colleagues will be pleased to hear
from you. Every email or letter sent helps advocate the argument. If
possible why not visit their offices?

I would also ask that you write letters to newspapers and also to
other media that may be helpful. From correspondence many of you are
retired members of trade unions and professional organisations. These
will often have resources to assist their retired members."

We now have a really solid contribution to make and real people to push.  Thanks.

[Deimos]

What do we tell them (the MEPs) to sign ? Do we

just refer them to XXXX/2007 or do them need additional info (e.g.

that it was started by Mary Honeyball or anything else). Just say

that there is this "Declaration on Healthcare" or does it

make life easier for the, with more info.

Being a cynic, I think that if you make something

very easy for a politician they might do it. However, if they have

to start hunting around to track stuff down then the chances of them

doing anything a lower.

Ian

[cooperlola]

Good point, Ian (as ever!)  I'll get back to her and find out the best way to do this.  I would personally say, "The declartion submitted by Mary Honeyball MEP and others on Healthcare......"  I'll check the date too.  Thanks for bringing that up.[:)]

[Mrs B]

I have written to all my UK MEPs asking them to support Mary Honeyball's declaration on healthcare provision and I've had the first reply from Dr Charles Tannock MEP for London:

"I regret that as I understand the legal situation under EU law provision
of Health Services is the primary competence of EU member states and the
only requirement is non discrimination against resident EU citizens on
their territories which does not apply in this case ie French nationals
under retirement age who retire early will also be expected to pay or
have private insurance to cover their costs. I am not a lawyer but
believe this situation has been checked by the French government and is
in line with EU law. In the UK we do not apply reciprocity only non
discrimination so French nationals (not many as it happens) who retire
and become long term UK residents will be entitled to the NHS along with
any other foreigner permanent resident in Britain.

Best wishes

Dr. Charles Tannock MEP

London Region
Deputy Coordinator Foreign Affairs Committee for EPP-ED Group
UK Conservative Foreign Affairs Spokesman"

I thought that French nationals who are early retired still have access to the CMU or have I got this wrong?