France is to relax its rules on the admission of expat early retirees into the French health system.
The change of policy has come about after pressure from the European Commission, who consider France is in breach of EU regulations by requiring early retirees to have five years residence before they can obtain health cover.
As a result the French Ministry of Health is to issue new guidance on the right of access to the health system.
Related: Health cover worries lifted for many
The recently approved but much diluted law of Christian Jacob banning 'hydraulic fracturing' was finally debated in the Senate on the 8th June. It was a close run thing ( 167 UMPs 'for' and 152 Socialistes/others 'against' ) after an extended and heated debate.
REGULAR autoroute users who want to pay in pounds and pence can now do so with the opening of the Liber-t automatic toll payment service to UK motorists.
An English language website, Sanef Tolling, has been opened enabling people to register for one of the small transponders that is attached to your windscreen.
Users of the service are asked to set up a Direct Debit, pay a small returnable deposit for the transponder, a yearly fee and an initial administration charge.
MANY people are sure to be welcoming friends and family to France this summer, but you might want to check they have full travel insurance should things go wrong.
That is the message from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) as part of its Know Before You Go campaign, who say that instead of bringing tea bags out on holiday ensure you are properly insured.
Minister for consular affairs Jeremy Browne said: “With over five million Britons living abroad, people are increasingly making the most of opportunities to visit their loved ones across the world.
THIS explanatory video has a bit of a patronising air about it, but the way that UK passports are now processed has changed.
WORK on converting an old property in The Roannais, in the Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France, continues as more of the project is completed.
Here Brian Franklin writes up his thoughts about what he has learnt from managing the work he and his wife, Lucy, were involved with to slowly and sympathetically repair a collection of outbuildings found in the grounds of the Chateau des Cresses.
During the autumn of 2005 our ‘Grand Design’ project in the Roannais continued apace. Incredibly, all the work progressed like clockwork.
Once you establish residency in France, you are taxed here on your world-wide income. Under French law, you are a resident in France for tax purposes if you meet any one of the following four conditions:
Your permanent home (habitual home for you and/or your family) is in France. You spend most of your time in France (at least 183 days during a calendar year, or even less if you spend more time in France than in any other country). Your professional activity is in France. The centre of your economic or financial interest is in France.
via www.expatica.com
BEING exiled in France out of choice, and being a UK bus enthusiast since at least the age of eight years old when I had memories of Midland Red D9s and Leicester City Transport PD3s, I had come to realise that I missed seeing English buses quite a lot, writes John Nelson.
Anger at shale gas incursions has turned into protests and legal challenges – and the noise has reached the corridors of power.
SO just what is involved in converting an old property in The Roannais, in the Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France?
Here Brian Franklin continues his story of how he and his wife, Lucy, slowly and sympathetically returned a collection of outbuildings found in the grounds of the Chateau des Cresses.
As time moved on, and building progressed, all our earlier plans and decisions were now coming to fruition.
We could start to see the fundamental structures and layout taking identifiable shape.
It was an exciting time as there were always new things happening and new stages to see.
Lucy and I were always eager to receive the photographs taken by Raymond Vu Van, the father of our friend Adeline, of each new stage, development and structure.