For the first time since she moved from Britain to
France
18 years ago, Frances Bucquet is seriously considering taking French
citizenship -- and she blames British Prime Minister David Cameron.
English teacher Bucquet is angry at the premier's announcement his
government would hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the
European Union if it wins the next elections.
"I feel a bit embarrassed that my original country could be so
uninterested in everybody else. I'm pretty annoyed about it actually,"
she told AFP.
She said she would be happy to take on French nationality, partly because she could retain her British passport.
"I wouldn't mind taking French nationality too because I want to be part of things over here," she added.
The French statistics office INSEE says there are almost 154,000 British citizens living in France.
If Britain were to quit the EU, the status of British nationals in
their adopted home country could change, raising practical questions
about issues like French voting, residency and work rights.
But the rising tide of euroscepticism in the
UK
is also affecting British people in France on a more personal level.
Bucquet and her French husband Jacques are concerned that one day their
two children, who were born in France, will feel forced to choose
between the two sides of their identities.
"If you're brought up with two cultures, two languages, they're part
of you. You can't choose between them. You need both," she said.
The general mood in France seems somewhat ambivalent about the
possibility of Britain leaving the European Union if the results of two
surveys, both published at the end of January, are to be believed. One
study, by pollsters BVA, found that 52 percent of French people want the
UK to go. But the other, conducted by IFOP, found 58 percent were in
favour of the British staying in the club.
Ken Tatham, originally from the northern English city of Leeds, is
France's first ever English mayor. In 1993 he acquired French
citizenship and for the past 18 years he has been at the heart of
political life in the tiny Normandy village of Saint Ceneri le Gerei.
Throughout that time, he has tried to foster friendship and
understanding between France and Britain and he feels the recent rise of
anti-European feeling in his former home country is not making his job
easy.
"I have discussions with French friends and they say, 'There you go.
Britain's at it again'. And then I become a Brit again. They don't see
me as a Frenchman," he told AFP.
Tatham added that he was, "upset and shocked," by Cameron's referendum announcement.
"I certainly wasn't expecting it and I don't think the UK has played
the role I'd have liked it to have played. I think that Britain would
suffer from leaving the European Union," he said.
"I feel that Britain is blackmailing the rest of the European Union. I
wonder if they really want to leave. It's not in the greatest of shapes
but if we're going to forge a European Union we've got to take the good
with the bad."
The French mayor also sought to reassure any compatriots thinking of taking the plunge and opting for French nationality.
"When you take out French nationality, you don't lose your British
nationality. You can't lose your British nationality unless you do
something like commit high treason. So there's nothing to lose," he
explained.
British national Michael Dodds is the director of Tourisme Bretagne.
It's his job to try to encourage people to visit the western French
region of Brittany, famed for its rugged coastlines, mysterious standing
stones and proud
Celtic culture. He feels Cameron's statement was a disaster.
"You can imagine that for someone trying to promote Anglo-French
relations through tourism, this kind of announcement doesn't help at
all," he said.
"Up until now I've never felt the desire or the need to adopt French
nationality but perhaps now is the time to think about it," he added.
Dodds has a French wife and young children so, like Tatham and
Bucquet, feels personally affected by the UK government's eurosceptic
attitude. But he also argues that Britain pulling out of the EU would
have a very concrete effect on Franco-British projects he is trying to
promote.
"We're working on a scheme with partners in Dorset, Devon and
Cornwall to create a network of cycle trails that would link up the
southwest of England with Normandy and Brittany. It's a
nine-million-euro project funded by the EU that simply wouldn't exist if
the UK wasn't a member," he said.
Réunion un peu en ordre dispersé vendredi dernier pour l'Union des démocrates et indépendants UDI ornais. Le rendez-vous n'a réuni qu'une vingtaine de personnes à Alençon. «
J'ai reçu énormément d'excuses de sympathisants et de nos militants qui
ne pouvaient être là pour raisons personnelles ou professionnelles, justifiait le président de la fédération ornaise de l'UDI Ludovic Assier. Dont celle de notre délégué départemental Eric Guillemot, en déplacement à l'étranger ».Pas
de chance, Patrick Lindet et Ludovic Assier ont à leur tour disparu de
la tribune en cours d'assemblée pour honorer des rendez-vous imprévus. « Depuis lundi que nous sommes entrés en campagne (à Alençon en vue des municipales), nous
sommes sollicités et je crois qu'il faut savoir être sur le terrain
pour se fait largement l'écho de la candidature de Christine (Roimier) », a expliqué Patrick Lindet.
Le président (divers droite) du
conseil général de l'Orne, Alain Lambert, vient d'être promu au grade
d'officier dans l'ordre de la Légion d'honneur, le 1er
janvier, au titre du ministère du budget. Alain Lambert était chevalier
de la Légion d'honneur depuis 2004. Ce chrétien-démocrate centriste de
coeur se voit ainsi récompensé pour son action au service de l'État.
Ancien ministre délégué au Budget, conseiller à la Cour des comptes
auprès du socialiste Didier Migaud, il est un des pères de la « Lolf »
(loi organique relative aux lois de finances). Cette haute distinction
souligne son parcours de grand serviteur de l'État : rapporteur du
budget de la justice, puis rapporteur général du budget en 1995, et
enfin président de la commission des finances en octobre 1998. Alain
Lambert siège également depuis 2008 à la commission de surveillance de
la Caisse des dépôts et consignations. Dans l'Orne, il est également
conseiller municipal de Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei et conseiller général du canton de Putanges-Pont-Écrepin (depuis le 15 février 2009).
