French or European

[idun]

http://services.completefrance.com/forums/completefrance-forums/cs/forums/3663019/ShowPost.aspx

ALBF said: The ironical thing about all this is that the French don't do the EU,

immigrants or expats. If you are not French you are not French. It is

that simple.

Most immigrants/migrants are sleeping rough on the streets/jungles

and being fed free heroin by the French drug pushers to get them

addicted. The French authorities stand back and watch.

In the meantime Macron gives a bollocking to Italy for their stance on illegal immigrants entering Italian waters.

So yeah, call yourselves what you like. You will never be French even with French nationality or a CDS.

I have said it before and will say it again, even with Brexit the UK is more pro immigration than France will ever be.

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There was a woman on french news the other evening, british and had just taken french nationality and she kept saying she felt European and that was why as a french resident she had taken french nationality.

ALBF, as far as I am concerned you have that post spot on, I do not know of one french person who 'feels' European, they are PROUD  and French c'est tout!!!!!

When this woman went along for her new nationality I reckon that a question should be been, do you feel french or european, and IF she had said European, they should have sent her packing.

My reasoning being that the EU may not last, but France will and someone who does not 'feel' french should not get french nationality.

For all, even now, I have still spent over half of my adult life in France, I will never be french, I am simply not french, and my goodness, what on earth is a european....... polish, ridding the country of an independant judiciary?????? hungarian, and the extremism?????????? italian, telling the EU to clear off that they will do what they want?????????

European, is that the biggest MYTH of all??????

Although I rather feel that maybe we now have a little tribe of europeans, those that get the hefty salaries from the EU and live in Brussels or Strasbourg, so maybe there are a few, but in general, I simply do not believe.

[EuroTrash]

+1

I like that about the French, I respect it. They really do care about France. They are proud of the good things about it and sad about the bad things. Same with their commune. Not all of them of course but I think there is a big core that does.

When I was fresh off the boat I went through a phase of looking forward to the 5 year mark so I could apply for French nationality. I think I thought it would prove something, although whether to other people or to me I'm not sure. By the time I had been here for 5 years I didn't see the point any more. I am a British person who lives in France. With a French ID card I would still be a British person who lives in France. I can see there are practical reasons for doing it but they don't apply to me.

Being an EU citizen is convenient because it has rights and privileges attached, but beyond enjoying having those rights and privileges, if you basically live in one EU country how do you "feel" like an EU citizen or indeed European? I get that if you have a job that literally takes you all over Europe and your time is spent a month in France, a month in Italy, a month in Poland etc, you might, because you might not particularly feel attached to one country. Maybe Barnier feels European. But I don't think that was this woman's situation.

[alittlebitfrench]

You are both right.

The ONLY thing that has allowed me to survive in France is being British. Most French do in fact (believe it or not) like the British.

Well, not those living in their ghettos in France. But who would ?

So, yeah...all this EU boôllcks is really a load of bôllocks.

OH keeps telling me to get French nationality. I keep telling her I am British. I am happy being British. We are fine as we are.

P.S I would hate to be British and have French nationality. What does that f**ing mean. You are still British and not French.

Pointless.

[EuroTrash]

This is probably going to sound too bitchy but, there is a person on another forum who keeps banging on about how she feels European and she hates Brexit and Brexiters because it will turn her into a foreigner in France (va comprendre). Now she is going to apply for nationality but she finds the language difficult so her wonderful French friends are going to have to help her. FFS.

[BritinBretagne]

I’m not surprised that most French people consider themselves French not European as that’s the same in most countries. People who live, work and do 99% of their shopping in one country rarely look too far beyond that country’s borders. For those people who have lived and worked in several different European countries or those who regularly travel between them the outlook is quite different. My closest friend is always amazed by how much of France I know, that’s because I’ve travelled all over on holiday over the years whereas they, although French, she really only knows her own area and a couple of places she’s been to on holiday a few times. I once had a lecture from a grumpy customs officer about the importance of borders

[richard51]

BnB wrote: "People who live, work and do 99% of their shopping in one country rarely look too far beyond that country’s borders."

Spot on - and hence the rise of the right nationalist in the West. Even brother WB might agree with that.

[BritinBretagne]

I’m not surprised that most French people consider themselves French not European as that’s the same in most countries. People who live, work and do 99% of their shopping in one country rarely look too far beyond that country’s borders. For those people who have lived and worked in several different European countries or those who regularly travel between them the outlook is quite different. My closest friend is always amazed by how much of France I know, that’s because I’ve travelled all over on holiday over the years whereas they, although French, she really only knows her own area and a couple of places she’s been to on holiday a few times. Anything out of France is a complete mystery to her.

[lindal1000]

Since when is applying for the passport of another country anything to do with being honest about your feelings. If I told them what I really felt I would not get a passport from anywhere, including the country of my birth..but I certainly wouldn't say that if I was applying for nationality. You just read up on the answers that people are wanting to hear and repeat them..just like any exam. You don't have to believe any of it. A passport is something that allows you free travel within that country, the same rights as someone born there, and in the case of a passport from an Eu country, access to 26 other countries.

I don't know whether any of you read the writing of Harry Leslie Smith? He is one of the few surviving WW2 veterans..grew up in poverty in the North of England, served in the RAF, married a German woman, had three kids.. At the age of 90 he started writing and campaigning for refugees, the NHS, and the Labour party. He is currently very ill in hospital..at 95 with pneumonia and not a great chance of surviving. However, everything I have heard from him and about him suggested he was British and resident in the UK. Well I found out today that after he married he emigrated to Canada, has dual nationality and spent all his working life there, and now spends 6 months of the year in Canada and 6 months in the UK. In Canada he campaigns the for the same things as he does in the UK.

If you decide to become a national of another country you don't have to give up your roots and culture or necessarily other nationalities. You become an French- Canadian, or a British Canadian or a Greek Australian or a Jamaican British citizen.

[alittlebitfrench]

Hmmm...I dunno.

I have lived in a French 'family' environment for such a long time that I do actually think I have become ALBF. LOL. That was not my intention in life.

I don't no what the answer is. My OH would have NEVER married a French bloke........and she as french as you can get. But she is also very British/American in her way of thinking.

Brit makes a good point. Those who have travelled/lived in other countries have a different outlook on life.

A lot of people in France are backward thinking to be fair. Well, just like many in the UK I guess.

[YCCMB]

Its complicated. It's individual. It's relatively meaningless.

I've lived in four countries in my life, worked in the best part of 60 over time. Mr Betty is a foreign mixture of mongrelness who woke up aged 22 to discover that, contrary to his and his family's beliefs, he wasn't actually British at all, and had to do a mad scramble to become British. He's lived in five countries in his life, including the one he was born in.

We are both very happy to live out our days in the UK, as long as we can travel about a bit and visit places we fancy visiting.

The world, as Delboy would have it, is pretty much still our lobster, but we like the familiarity of coming back to a place where we know how everything works, even if we disapprove of the way it works. Provided nothing terrible happens, we can enjoy the best of very very many cultures, customs and cuisines without having to even buy a plane ticket. I'm happy with that.

[suein56]

Queenie wrote : .. we can enjoy the best of very very many cultures, customs and cuisines without having to even buy a plane ticket. I'm happy with that.

In my view that is the essence of life .. being comfortable where you live .. not everything will be to your precise liking .. but life was ever thus.

For the time being OH and I are very happy where we are .. our only contact with the UK is/are our passports and our offspring .. our life in LBF is our life .. for as long as it lasts.

[Judith]

Lindal, well stated.  I could never "be" French, I cannot loose my innate Britishness for that, but European, no.  I live in Europe, whether that be in France or in the UK, as both are on the continent of Europe, however much others may disagree.  Maybe what I am is a British Francophile, for the moment, at least.

[Chancer]

[quote user="lindal1000"] A passport is something that allows you free travel within that country, the same rights as someone born there, and in the case of a passport from an Eu country, access to 26 other countries. I[/quote]

Dont you mean citizenship rather than a passport Lindal?

 

Plenty of French people dont have a passport but are free to travel within their country, probably the rest of the EU as well with just their carte d'identité, certainly the UK and for one family I knew also the Dominican Republic, never could quite work that one out.

[lindal1000]

Well I suppose it's both..you can't get the passport without citizenship but it's the passport that you right to travel..or if your're French I guess you can do it with an ID card.. To me they are much the same thing.