Expats rights in Europe is not a done deal according to British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Union chief negotiator Donald Tusk.
Both have refuted speculation that Britain and the EU had reached a reciprocal agreement over the right of expats to carry on living and working in their new homes without interruption.
Tusk blamed Brexit uncertainty for expats on the referendum vote to leave the EU and angrily insisted no talks about expat rights could start until May triggers the Article 50 process to decouple from Europe.
In Prime Minister’s Question Time in Parliament, May told MPs she was right not to trust the EU by giving away rights to Europeans living in Britain.
Spending power
“I think the reaction that we’ve seen shows why it was absolutely right for us not to do what the Labour Party wanted us to do, which was simply to give away the guarantee to rights of EU citizens here in the UK, because as we’ve seen that would’ve left UK citizens in Europe high and dry,” she said.
Meanwhile, expats are seeing their spending power collapse as the value of Sterling drops due to Brexit concerns.
Emerging markets are suffering with the highest inflation rates, according to the latest official figures.
The BRICS nations have the highest inflation rates among developed countries.
China has the lowest rate at 2.5%, while Brazil (7.9%), Russia (6.1%), India (4.1%) and South Africa (6.7%) have seen the cost of living rise by much more in the past 12 months.
In comparison, year-on-year inflation in the USA is 1.6%, 0.9% in Britain.
Cost of living rises
Outside Europe, the cost of living in popular British expat destinations is higher UK but much lower than in BRICS nations.
In Australia, inflation is 1.7%, while in Canada, the figure is 1.4%.
All the rates are based on the national consumer price index for October 2016.
The latest inflation figures for the European Union show the year-on-year rate is 0.6%, but the figures do vary between countries.
Six countries are reporting deflation between 0.1% in Italy and 0.5% in Greece. The rest of the nations in the EU report a rising cost of living – with Belgium’s 1.8% the highest.
