Clé France

The recent Brexit vote in the UK has left many people wondering about the future of the EU. One aspect in particular has been questioned: the role of l’anglais (English) now that the UK is no longer a member, and the role of the other langues de travail (working languages), French and German.

The role of French in the EU has greatly diminished since its creation. Les Français (the French) were not always pleased with this and until recently were sometimes very vocal about the issue. L’ex-président français (the former French president), Jacques Chirac, famously left une reunion (a meeting) à Bruxelles when the French businessman, Ernest-Antoine Seillière, said:

"I will express myself in English because it is the language of business"

Jacques Chirac was not impressed.

Any linguistic tension has mostly died down in the past decade, although les Français are still known to make mistakes. It has become almost universally accepted that l’anglais is the main langue de travail.

Cependant, tout a changé !

However, is everything about to change?

Is The Future Of The EU French?

According to EU law, members are allowed one official language, and seulement le Royaume-Uni (only the United Kingdom) chose l’anglais as its official language in the EU.

Mais il y a d’autres pays anglophones dans l’Union européenne ?

But there are other English speaking countries in the European Union?

Tous les autres pays anglophones (all the other English speaking countries) chose a different language as their official language dans l’UE.

L’Irlande (Ireland) chose le gaélique irlandais (Irish Gaelic)

Malte (Malta) chose le maltais (Maltese)

Le Chypre (Cyprus) chose le grec (Greek)

Having one of those countries change their language or adding l’anglais as a separate official language would be very hard to do.

Changing a language would require a unanimous vote, and it’s always difficult to get tous les pays (all the countries) to agree on something.

Allowing un pays (a country) to have two official languages or allowing a non-member language into the EU would open up the question for other languages used throughout the continent like le catalan, le corse, le russe, etc (Catalan, Corsican, Russian, etc).

The other issue is that en pratique (in practice), l’anglais is the most commonly used language across Europe. It is also the most commonly used langue de travail in l’Union européenne (with the notable exceptions of le parlement européen à Strasbourg and la Cour de justice européenne).

L’anglais is also spoken as a second language by environ (about) around 38% of Europeans. However, le français is spoken natively by environ 80 millions de personnes en Europe and l’allemand (German) by environ 100 millions de personnes en Europe.

Cela dit (that said), it looks like l’anglais will continue to be used as la langue véhiculaire (the lingua franca) of Europe and l’Union européenne, but the recent vote au Royaume-uni raises questions about the legality of its continued use.

En tout cas (in any case), the role of le français dans l’Union européenne will likely be discussed while these changes take place.

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.

Pucker Up! Bises vs. Bisous

It is always a sure fire blogging success when you title an article 'French Kissing' but here we are looking at the difference between two words, just a nice little post that does not include the word 'Brexit', darn it I have said it again! to clear up any confusion you may also be having with some similar confusing pairs.

If you have mastered c’est vs. il est, dans vs. en, and encore vs. toujours, let’s explore another pair.

Grab your rouge à lèvres (lipstick) because this post involves your soup coolers!

Image courtesy of Céline Mosnier on Flickr.

Ah, lips. They’re the first things to crack in the winter. They’re your first line of defence to cool down your food. They’re what you use to whistle. They’re needed to make the French U sound. They’re also required for the famous French introduction known as la bise.

La bise has been discussed before – what it is, how to do it, how many to give… all that good stuff. In the same post, the word bisous pops up, and we’re told they both mean kiss. I didn’t go into detail there, so let’s delve into that now.

What’s the difference?

We’ll start with la bise. After all, it is an integral part of faire la bise.

Une bise is a simple peck on the cheek. It isn’t romantic and this friendly gesture can be used between anyone. That being said, it mostly exists between males and females or females and females. Two males may do this if they’re family or very close friends, but most men still prefer to shake hands.

A letter or message can also be signed with “bises” (note the pluralisation) as a closer. I remember receiving a message on Facebook from someone I liked that was signed with bises. Naturally, I had to ask all my friends if there was any kind of romantic undertone there that I wasn’t aware of. Alas, it was merely a goodbye, and we both stayed single…

So how about un bisou? Bisou is more informal than bise, and it can refer to either a peck on the cheek or the lips. This is the big difference between the two words: because this can be on the lips, bisou can be used as a goodbye to either a friend or lover! When you see it written at the end of a letter or message, it’s generally always in the plural (who just wants one kiss?).

So there you have it! Not so bad. Une bise is a gesture of friendship only, and un bisou can be that or a little more.

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.

Question: Are British people still allowed to buy property in France and live there full time? Colin.

Answer: Yes, indeed, we sell to British buyers every day of the week, and that has continued into this week of course!

The process of 'BREXIT' will potentially take a number of years to negotiate, and in the meantime nothing changes, British people are still moving to France to live.

So the consensus of opinion is that for now not much will change. The process of withdrawing from the EU will not be a speedy one, and the residency of those ex-pats living in France and elsewhere in the EU will no doubt form a part of that negotiation process.  

And of course we have a large number of French nationals who live and work in London (it is France’s 6th biggest city in terms of the French population).  

So there are people living on both sides of the channel whose lives will need to be accommodated. When I moved to France a residency permit known as the ‘Carte De Sejour’ was required; it was a relatively straightforward application process (or at least as straightforward as a French bureaucratic process can be!)  Perhaps this could be re-introduced for British residents in the future.

Clearly there are remain many questions to be answered, and fine details to be ironed out. But what is becoming apparent is that this will be a long process, possibly years in the making, and we will of course bring further news as and when it becomes available during the coming months.

But in the meantime life continues much as it always has done: the British have always lived, worked and retired to sunnier climes, and that will doubtless continue, even if some administrative aspects of live abroad may change.

I hope that helps reassure you somewhat.

Have you got a question?

If so I will answer it....

Simply click on the image below that takes you to the "Ask Alex" page, fill out the form and I will get back to you very soon.

For everything you need to know about French property visit www.clefrance.co.uk

Question: Hi Alex, I have two apartments in Villefranche-sur-Mer, my question is, after owning them for 22 years are they both exempt from the capital gains tax in France or just one of them?

Thanks, Paul.

Answer: As I know you'll appreciate I am not an international taxation specialist, and so the advice I can give on this point will be of a general nature rather than specific to your personal circumstances.

In France CGT is paid on the sale of second homes, not on the sale of one's principal residence. So if you live full time in one of your apartments, and have done tax returns on earnings in France, then that is regarded as your principal residence and CGT is not applicable. However, if this is not the case and they are both second homes, then CGT is payable.

If you have been permanently resident in France and you are selling your principal home then any capital gain is fully exempt from capital gains tax and social charges.

In order to qualify the property must have been occupied by you on a habitual basis, although you need not actually be occupying it at the time of sale. However, if you leave the property before it is sold, you will only be entitled to claim main residence exemption if the property is sold within 12 months after you have ceased to use the property as your main home. In addition, you are not permitted to let out the property during the intervening period, or to leave other family members in occupation.

If you are selling an investment property, which does not qualify for the main residence exemption, you will benefit from progressive taper relief dependent on how long you have owned the property.

There are separate scales applying to calculate the gain subject to tax and the gain subject to social charges:

• the gain subject to tax is reduced by 6% for each year of ownership after the 5th year up to the 21st year. A reduction of 4% applies in the 22nd year, giving 100% relief after 22 years,so on the face of it it looks like you may well benefit from this exemption.

• the gain subject to social charges is reduced by 1.65% for each year of ownership after the 5th year up to the 21st year. A reduction of 1.60% applies in the 22nd year, followed by a reduction of 9% each year from the 23rd to the 30th year. This provides for 100% relief after 30 years, so it may be that there is a social charge element for you to pay.

As always I would advice taking tax advice specific to your circumstances, and of course these rules do change in France quite regularly, so it takes a tax professional to be fully up to date with the very latest developments.

I hope that has at least been of some assistance.

Have you got a question?

If so I will answer it....

Simply click on the image below that takes you to the "Ask Alex" page, fill out the form and I will get back to you very soon.

For everything you need to know about French property visit www.clefrance.co.uk

Hi, Alex here!

At Cle France we get questions asked all the time and I don't think I can recall a question being posed that we could not answer or at the very least point our client in the right direction.

No doubt following the UK decision to leave the EU you may have a lot of questions surrounding this subject and indeed anything connected with searching for, viewing, making an offer, the buying process, owning a French property and moving to France etc.

If you have a question? I will answer it.

Simply fill out the form below and I will get back to you very soon.

NOTE: Scroll through these pages to see Previously Answered Questions.

Cle France Ltd : Company No 7056720 : Registered address - 2 Maplethorpe Court, Priory Street, Ware, Hertfordshire, SG12 0DD 

For everything you need to know about French property visit www.clefrance.co.uk

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