Category: Current Affairs

THE fight is on to save the La Poste office in Villefranche-du-Périgord after notice was given that its opening hours will be reduced.

Bosses at La Poste have said that the office will close on Monday afternoon, it was already closed in the morning, but local mayors and villagers are opposed to the closure notice.

La Poste say the number of customers has declined, forcing the reduction in hours, but it is feared that like other villages in the Dordogne, the decision will see a slow strangulation of the service until it is ultimately closed.

Villefranche-du-Périgord mayor, Claude Brondel, said that local funds are given to La Poste to provide services and that they are obliged to provide postal deliveries six days our of seven.

He said that La Poste also has to ensure banking options are available to local inhabitants and warned that if La Poste decide to close the office it will be increasingly difficult to attract people to live and work in the area.

Already the gendarmerie service has been scaled back, while a primary school in nearby Saint-Cernin-de-l’Herm closed its doors for the last time in the summer.

Claude Brondel warned that as public services disappear all that will be left behind is a deserted region.

The reduced opening hours for the La Poste office are set to begin early next year, but a petition was launched to show the volume of support to ensure a full service is available in the area.

A ROUND table meeting was held in the National Assembly in Paris on Thursday to discuss the impact of Brexit on British people living in France.

I watched the full two hour discussion and I think it was the first time that any French MPs really got a first-hand account of what the UK’s decision means for those with homes, family and connections here in France.

The chair of the meeting was Claude Bartolone, president of the Assemblée Nationale, and he highlighted that with as many British people in France as there are inhabitants of Bordeaux there are likely to be many questions as well.

But he said after the meeting that the last thing he wanted was for “our British friends in France” to feel unwanted.

Here are some write-ups of the morning’s meeting:

Brexit may not have happened yet, but the impact of the EU referendum on Brexpats in France has hardly been positive.

via www.thelocal.fr

A specialist in EU law Myriam Benlolo-Carabot told the round-table meeting that was chaired by Claude Bartolone, the president of the National Assembly, that unless reciprocal agreements are made the impact on the rights of Britons would be “cataclysmic”.

via www.thelocal.fr

BREXIT would be ‘cataclysmic’ for Britons’ rights in France unless it is agreed otherwise in the negotiations after article 50 is invoked, an EU law professor said at the National Assembly today.

via www.connexionfrance.com

A meeting of the French National Assembly this week, chaired by the Speaker (président) of the House, Claude Bartolone, heard at first hand the anxiety now felt by British families who have chosen to make their homes in France.

via www.ecreu.com/

One thing that was raised at the meeting was that some British people had faced difficulties with social security, and other administrative, applications with French civil servants saying that British people could no longer be helped.

This is not true and whilst the long drawn out procedure of the UK leaving the EU is running its course, the right for British people in France under EU legislation remain in place.

Should you need to print off an official statement one is available here:

Lors du référendum du 23 juin 2016, le Royaume-Uni a voté pour sa sortie de l’Union européenne.

Pour l’heure et pendant une période transitoire au cours de laquelle les modalités de la sortie seront négociées, les règlements européens de coordination en matière de sécurité sociale continuent de s’appliquer entre le Royaume-Uni et la France ainsi que plus généralement avec les autres États de l’UE/EEE et la Suisse. Cette période est d’une durée maximum de 2 ans à compter de la notification officielle au Conseil par le Royaume-Uni de sa volonté de sortie (Cf. Déclaration faite lors du Conseil européen du 29/06/20016).

THE UK government has said it plans to end the 15-year limit on the right of British people living overseas to vote in UK general elections.

Legislation will be introduced enabling people to vote in time for the 2020 election, it said in a policy paper.

It follows a long campaign waged by World War Two veteran Harry Shindler (pictured).

“We shall vote at the next general election,” he said. “All those who have taken part in this long campaign will know that it was worth it, and as we kept saying, we will win because we are right.”

The proposal, which was in the 2015 Conservative manifesto, would allow overseas British citizens who have been previously resident or registered to vote in the UK, to vote in future UK parliamentary elections.

They would not be allowed to vote in local elections, elections to the Welsh Assembly, Holyrood or Stormont.

Also with the fallout from Brexit still unsure, those British people living in the EU may yet lose their right to vote in local elections in their adopted countries.

MORE soldiers are to be deployed to tourist attractions and towns in the Dordogne as security measures are maintained following the terrorist attacks in France.

Sud Ouest reports that 27 additional troops will be on patrol, joining the 61 that were ordered to cover the region following the Nice lorry attack, with the soldiers set to be deployed to Périgueux and Bergerac.

They will support local security at larger events in the Dordogne, with the armed forces set to continue to operate at tourists sites such as La Roque-Gageac and Bergerac Airport.

A SHORT video capturing the flight of the cranes, or les grues, as they head south for winter shows them passing over Saint-Cernin-de-l’Herm here in the south of the Dordogne.

The clip shows them high in the sky in the early evening, and for many it marks the arrival of winter as the birds head towards southern Spain and north Africa.

It is estimated that there are around 160,000 birds in the west of Europe and when migrating fly at an altitude of between 200m and 1km.

The map above shows recent observations of les grues across France, the darker blue showing increased activity, and for more details take a look at the European Crane Working Group.

GRASS fires are still a risk in many parts of the Dordogne, with the sapeur pompier of the region having dealt with a number of fires in recent days.

Fire teams operating under the Service Départemental d’Incendie et de Secours de la Dordogne (SDIS 24) have dealt with outbreaks in La Chapelle Faucher (3 hectares), Villefranche du Périgord (1,5ha), Vergt (1ha), Saint Paul La Roche (5000m²) et Saint Eulalie d’Ans.

THE fight is on to battle for the rights of UK expats following the referendum vote on 23 June that saw the United Kingdom decide to leave the EU.

Expat Citizen Rights in EU (ECREU) is a lobby and self help group that aims to ensure the voice of British people living in Europe is heard during the Brexit negociations.

ECREU has some very experienced campaigners fighting to get Parliament to focus on the rights of UK people in the EU as well as EU members in the UK.

They are also fighting to remove the 15 year voting rule and for winter fuel payments to be reinstated.

The group is free to join and is not political in essence but needs members across the EU so that they can talk on behalf of as many people as possible.

There are currently about 2,500 members but one aim of the group is to increase this number significantly, forcing MPs and MEPs to listen.

THERE was a very light frost in the air this morning as I drove a short distance to a field covered in poppies where the Dordogne becomes the Lot-et-Garonne.

Flakes of ice could be seen on the poppy petals, but slowly as the sun warmed each flower drips dropped off on to the red soil below.

A heron beat a path along the edge of the field and up over the hillside, and with the roads quiet on this Lundi de Pentecôte, I could hear the Lémance stream bubbling away as the water tumbled over the rocks.

Related:
A magical walk with the trois évêques, Lavaur

A HUNTER has been shot by his own dog, sustaining an injury to his hand and forearm.

The accident took place in Mesplède, a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and occurred after the hunter propped his gun up, but his dog knocked it over and stood on the trigger, shooting the man.

BFMTV reports that the 61-year-old man was treated at a local hospital.

Ce chien sera remis à la France en temoignage de la solidarité https://t.co/HdQqzky1VH #SaintDenis #JeSuisDiesel pic.twitter.com/qQpoWXtKud

— Сайт МВД России (@mvd_official) November 20, 2015

RUSSIAN police dog handlers are to send to France a puppy to replace Diesel, the police dog killed in the assault on a flat in Saint-Denis.

He is called Dobrynia, and has been named after Dobrynya the invincible Russian knight who was uncle to Vladimir the Great.

The Russian police say that Dobrynia has been given to France as a sign of solidarity with the French people in their fight against terrorism.