Clé France

End to ‘bill shock’ as EU mobile roaming charges are slashed

New rules that slash roaming charges for using mobile phones in other European countries have come into effect.

Controversial roaming charges holidaymakers pay to use their mobile phones in another European country will come down dramatically and are set to disappear altogether from 2017 following EU intervention.

For several years the European commission has been battling with the big mobile providers to force through cuts to the cost of making cross-border calls and using data in another country – the much hated roaming charges that leave many in “bill shock”.

Following lengthy negotiations, the EU announced in October last year that it will ban these charges from June 2017. Monthly call allowances will then apply across the EU as if the user were in their home country.

In the interim, the EU has put a cap on the amount operators can charge – which has just come into force. A roaming surcharge can now be no more than:

• €0.05 extra per minute for calls.

• €0.02 extra per SMS sent.

• €0.05 extra per MB of data.

Previous reductions have already seen the cost of roaming within the EU fall by 75% since they were first brought in, the European commission says.

Today’s changes mean EU roaming charges will fall by at least a third. Call costs will go down from around 16p a minute – typically what is added to cross-border calls – to a more palatable 4.4p. Data charges – the cost of accessing the web with a smartphone – will typically come down from 17.4p per MB to 4.3p. Such charges have often caught out unwary travellers, landing some with bills running into thousands of pounds.

However, it should be noted that contrary to what is said on the big phone company websites, roaming charges are levied on top of the cost of a UK call. So if you make a five-minute call from Madrid to Manchester, five minutes of your calls allowance is used, plus you pay the top-up rate of 4.4p a minute – a total 22p to the UK operator.

If you’ve used up your monthly calls allowance it starts to get very expensive. Most of the big operators – EE, Vodafone and O2 – typically charge 40p-45p a minute for calls made outside the allowance, so those roaming can be paying almost 50p a minute to call home.

Make a pay-as-you-go call and you’ll be charged around 30p-a-minute plus a 4p roaming top up.

The cost of receiving a call from the UK while you are abroad has also come down from around 4.4p to either 1p a minute or free, depending on the operator. EE charges 1p a minute while Vodafone, Tesco and O2 have scrapped them entirely.

Mobile phone users will now have to decide if it is worth their while paying extra for holiday roaming deals or bolt-ons. For example, EE offers unlimited calls and 100MB of data a day in Europe, but that costs £4. It remains a good deal if you make lots of calls – but if you are only making the odd call and not accessing data the extra expense is not worth it.

Other big firms offer similar deals – check out the best ones offered by your provider before you head to the airport. Data deals are particularly good value if you don’t have Wi-Fi where you are staying, and still want to update Facebook or search online.

If you roam a lot you may be better off switching provider. Three has led the way with its Feel at Home tariff which won’t charge anything extra to call or text the UK or for data use in 18 countries, including many in Europe, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

Carphone Warehouse-owned iD network is also worth considering for frequent travellers looking to avoid roaming charges before 2017. Its TakeAway tariffs include free roaming in 29 countries including the whole of the EU, the US and Australia. Plans start at £12.50 a month for a sim-only 12-month contract.

Tesco Mobile announced this week that it is scrapping extra roaming charges for its customers travelling to any of 31 European countries between 23 May until midnight 3 September.

Note, most of the above prices only apply if you are visiting another EU country, which excludes a number of popular tourist destinations – for example, Turkey. Visitors there this summer will typically pay £1.20-£1.50 a minute to make calls, and a frightening £6 per MB of data downloaded. Tourists to other non-EU countries face similar charges. You have been warned.

What you will save

Let’s assume that Jane is heading to Paris for the weekend. She makes three five-minute phone calls to home in Manchester, sends five texts and uses her banking app, checks the weather forecast and gets around the city with a mapping app, adding up to a total 20MB of data.

Let’s also assume that Jane is on a Vodafone pay-monthly contract with a certain number of minutes and data, and that she hasn’t exceeded her monthly limits.

Last week in Paris she would have had to pay £2.47 for the calls, 25p for the texts and £3.48 for the data – a total of £6.20.

From this weekend she will pay 64.5p for the calls, 4.5p for the texts and 86p for the data – £1.55 in total.

So from Saturday she’ll be saving a total of £4.65. Happy holidays!

Part of the content of this blog was originally posted on the Guardian website.

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

May Day / La Fête du Muguet in France is a public holiday / a jour fériés to celebrate workers rights! in the UK we move it to the Monday but as with most jour fériés in France they stay on the day the occur. It is also an occasion to present Muguet / Lily of the Valley or dog rose flowers to loved ones, friends and neighbours. The day is also known as La Fête du Travail which never seems to happen in the Cle France Office!

So what do people do?

People in many areas give bouquets of Muguet / Lily of the Valley or dog rose flowers, I knew a friend who would cycle around the village and surrounding villages, in a rural corner of Mayenne, giving out single stem of Muguet to all her friends and take all day doing it!

The custom is particularly common in the area around Paris known as Ile-de-France. Families with children in the rural areas get up very early in the morning and go into the woods to pick Muguet. Individuals and flower stalls in urban areas sell bouquets of Muguet / Lily of the Valley on May 1st if you don't want to go and pick some yourself. There are special regulations that allow people and some companies to sell these flowers on May 1st without paying tax or complying with retail regulations, kerching!

In industrial towns some trade unions use the day to campaign for workers rights. Some people or even large organisations also use the day to campaign for human rights in general or to demonstrate against racism or highlight current social issues. 

Jour fériés:

May 1st is a public holiday. Post offices, banks, stores and other businesses are closed, Cle France remains open in the UK. Outside of tourist areas, restaurants and cafes may be closed. However, some stores in Paris, and other major towns and cities will be open. Public transport service schedules vary depending on where you live and where you want to go to. Parades and demonstrations may cause disruption to traffic in the center of large cities, particularly Paris, Reims, Rennes and Rouen. 

Now for the History Lesson:

King Charles IX of France was presented with Muguet / Lily of the Valley flowers on May 1st 1561. He liked the gift and decided to present Muguet / Lily of the Valley flowers to the ladies of his court each year on May 1st. Around 1900, men started to present a bouquet of flowers to women to express their affection. The flowers are a more general token of appreciation between close friends and family members these days and has not bee turned into a second Valentines day.

The eight-hour working day was officially introduced in France on April 23, 1919, and May 1st became a public holiday. May Day was not observed during World War II. However, May 1st became a public holiday again in 1947 and officially became known as La Fête du Travail (Labor Day) on April 29, 1948. Since then, it has been an occasion to campaign for and celebrate workers' rights.

We know it as just goof old fashioned May Day but, of course, it is also known as Labor Day in other parts of the world.

Symbols:

Muguet / Lily of the Valley and dog rose flowers are symbols of May Day in France.

The Romance: 

Ever since its introduction from Japan to Europe in the Middle Ages (bet you did not know that!) Muguet / Lily of the Valley has been regarded as a lucky charm by the Celtic folks from many countries.

There was also an old European tradition of 'bals de muguet' or Muguet dances; once a year, this was a rare occasion for young singles to meet without having to get parents’ permission. The girls would dress in white and the boys would wear a sprig of muguet as a buttonhole, how very quaint.

From around 1900, it became traditional in France for men to present a bouquet of flowers to their sweethearts to express their love and affection. Nowadays, sadly of course, the romance has drifted out of the tradition and 'Muguet ' flowers are really only given as a general token of appreciation between close friends and family members.

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

Paris is always beautiful, throughout each of the Les Quatre Saisons, no that is not just a name of a Pizza! (the four seasons.)

But people tend to say that Paris is at her best in May...

Now, wouldn’t you like to see that for yourself?

Bien sûr, you may! just join us on Twitter or Facebook today as we will be 'tweeting' some images of Paris later on.

...and to bring a little Paris culture into your day how about a song?...

Click here to view the video of...

'PARIS IS AT HER BEST IN MAY' ('J’aime Paris Au Mois De Mai')

 By Charles Aznavour & Dianne Reeves

AND don't forget you can always check out the weather on our regional information pages and below for you here in Paris...

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

British expats lose legal battle for right to vote in EU referendum.

Court challenge brought by 94-year-old second world war veteran living in Italy and lawyer resident in Belgium fails

The high court has rejected an attempt to force the government to grant millions of UK citizens living abroad a vote in this June’ s EU referendum.

The legal challenge brought by two disenfranchised expats on behalf of those living overseas for more than 15 years was dismissed by Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Mr Justice Blake.

REMEMBER - ExPats with less than 15 years away from UK can still vote.

94-year-old Harry Shindler and lawyer Jacquelyn MacLennan.

The government, the judges said, was entitled to adopt a cut-off period “at which extended residence abroad might indicate a weakening of ties with the United Kingdom”.

The ruling also noted that there would be “significant practical difficulties about adopting, especially for this referendum, a new electoral register which includes non-resident British citizens whose last residence in the UK was more than 15 years ago”.

The judges added: “Electoral registration officers currently retain records of previous electoral registers for a period of 15 years. They have no straightforward means of checking the previous residence status of British citizens who have been resident overseas for longer than 15 years.

“In our view, parliament could legitimately take the view that electors who satisfy the test of closeness of connection set by the 15 rule form an appropriate group to vote on the question whether the UK should remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union.”

The case was brought by 94-year-old Harry Shindler, a second world war veteran who lives in Italy, and the lawyer Jacquelyn MacLennan who lives in Belgium.

In court, lawyers for the two had argued that under the EU Referendum Act 2015 they were being unlawfully denied the right to vote in the referendum.

But Lloyd Jones, sitting with Blake, ruled section two did not restrict their rights and rejected their application for judicial review.

Richard Stein, the solicitor from Leigh Day who represented the claimants, said they would appeal.

“We now intend to take the legal battle to the supreme court, the highest court in the country, so that all British citizens living elsewhere in the EU can be part of the democratic process to vote in this referendum which will have a very real impact on their lives,” Stein said.

“We believe that there is precedent for fast-track legislation being put through parliament in a matter of days in response to court judgment, so there would be no need for the referendum to be delayed if the supreme court rules in our favour.

“Since this is a vote in a referendum rather than in an election there is no need to link the votes of Britons in Europe to any particular constituency in the UK. Possession of a British passport should be enough.”

Responding to the judgment, MacLennan said: “The government made a manifesto commitment to enfranchise all British citizens, no matter how long they have been abroad saying that they thought that ‘choosing 15 years, as opposed to 14 or 16 years, is inherently like sticking a dart in a dartboard’ and that ‘if British citizens maintain British citizenship that brings with it rights, obligations and a connection with this country, and that that should endure’. We just want the government to keep its promises.”

Part of the content of this blog was originally posted on the Guardian website.

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

EU Referendum – will all British expats be included?

Judgement on British expats’ right to vote in EU Referendum is delayed for further consideration.

The Conservative’s 2015 manifesto, which was the backbone of their successful campaign and lead to the formation of the first Conservative majority government since 1992, included a pledge to scrap the rule that prevents British expats from voting in UK elections once they have lived overseas for 15 years.

However, no proposals have yet been made to change the legislation, so British expats who have lived overseas for more than 15 years who wish to vote in the June EU Referendum will not be able to do so.

At least that is the current situation. If 94-year-old Harry Shindler, a Second World War veteran living in Italy, and lawyer and Belgium resident Jacquelyn MacLennan are successful with their challenge, at least two million more British expats may be able to vote on 23 June.

Both claim that under the EU Referendum Act 2015 they are being denied the right to vote on the UK’s continued membership of the EU. Lawyers representing the expats took the case to the High Court in London on 20 April to seek a judicial review of the legislation.

If Successful

If successful says Richard Stein of Leigh Day, the lawyers for the claimants, “the judicial review should require the Government to rush through amending legislation to change the franchise for the forthcoming referendum in June 2016.”

During the court hearing on 20 April, the QC representing the government told the court that if the claimants won their case, it would be impossible to implement all the necessary steps needed to include them and still keep to the planned for date of 23 June. (QC is Queen’s Counsel – a senior barrister who has shown outstanding ability in complex cases and is awarded Queen’s Counsel status.)

In answer to questions as to why an expat who has lived overseas since for more than 30 years really cares whether the UK votes to stay in or out, the claimants’ QC told the court that his clients are, “not ex-pats but Britons in Europe” and that it was “not that they had left or given up on the UK, but every day of their daily lives they are relying on the fact of their British citizenship and membership of the UK in the EU”.

At the end of the High Court hearing, Lord Justice Jones and Mr Justice Blake told the government’s QCs that due to the complexity of the case they would need time for further consideration, but that they appreciated the “importance and urgency” of the matter.

Certainly, if a decision is not made soon there will not be time to set up the systems required to gather and record potentially two million more overseas votes.

Part of the content of this blog was originally posted on the Anglo Info website.

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