Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot?

XXV

Dedicated to my European friends who have left Britain or continue to live there. Good luck to us all.

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The UK government's announcement today has certainly brought back vivid, yet dark memories from last year.

On the morning of June 24^th 2016 I woke up in my tent at Glastonbury Festival and the first thing I did was check the news on my phone. What none of my friends or colleagues had expected actually happened - the majority of British people had voted to leave the European Union. As we walked to fetch some water we overheard plenty of people swearing and moaning (their hangovers not being the main cause, in this instance). The news were spreading fast and wherever we went, Brexit seemed to be the only topic. Glastonbury appeared shattered that morning and I was, admittedly, too. The world as I’d known it had ceased to exist overnight, or at least some of my hopes and visions for the future had.

I’d grown up believing in the European Union and its values. The school I attended made sure to teach us plenty about it. This basic education and further lectures at university made it obvious to me how beneficial it was, despite all its problems and necessary improvements. Nevertheless, I realised back then that a lot of people weren’t happy with the institution. In fact, the populist Austrian Freedom Party and certain media in my country had launched a crusade against the EU, ridiculing its decisions and subsequently distorting less educated people’s views.

Unfortunately, I have not had the pleasure to make use of the European study exchange programme Erasmus (mostly due to my degree being Russian language studies) but I certainly benefitted from it in other ways. While studying in Vienna, I met interesting Erasmus students from all over the continent (and one of them was so fascinating that he ended up becoming my partner). The encounter with other Europeans changed me as a person because I opened up and started to experience the benefits of the European single market. This single market guarantees the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people – the "four freedoms" – within the European Union.

The internal market ensured that my British partner could work in Vienna after he had finished his degree. It also enabled us to move to London three and a half years ago. Naturally, living in London has not been a walk in the park throughout. Moving to an entirely different country probably never is. The first two years were hard enough before I found a permanent job I enjoyed. Working and living with Brits and many other European nationals has, however, been a fantastic opportunity. It’s one I wouldn’t miss for the world. I hope that living in this melting pot of cultures has also made me a more tolerant person.

Having experienced the uproar of my fellow (British) Londoners after the referendum I felt reassured, at first. Everyone kept telling me that obviously, they wouldn’t just deport us, being useful and tax-paying and all that. London is not the crux of the problem, though as people in the city are used to migrants who helped to shape London in many ways. Regions that are further away from the “Golden Belt of London” (and have therefore not enjoyed the benefits from the EU as much) have been more sceptical of the institution. What they (want to) see is that people from other parts of Europe come to the UK to take away their jobs. The knowledge that there is widespread fear of immigration has been exploited by many populist parties in recent years, and it was, of course, ruthlessly exploited by the Leave Campaign. The anger directed towards London due to its status as a magnet for the majority of business in the country, combined with the vote against “the establishment” and the common human habit of finding a scapegoat in foreigners probably led to the decision to abandon the EU back in June 2016.

The result felt like a punch to the stomach. As a European who is employed by a British company meant that my future here has been clouded in uncertainty. Many non-British friends of mine have since applied for either British citizenship or permanent residency. The application for this residency alone is 85 pages long and it takes at least half a year to obtain it. There have been many cases of people in the media who have been denied this residency even though as Europeans, they should not even have to worry about it, having been guaranteed the right to stay when they came here. Europeans who have been here for 15 years or longer are seriously anxious that they might have to relocate – and what if one partner is British, the other Austrian, like in my case? Will the British government provide me with the right to stay here after the country leaves the EU in 2019? The Prime Minister has been extremely vague about that, arguing that they can’t guarantee anything because they need this card up their sleeve to negotiate a good deal with the EU.

Up until this morning, when Theresa May delivered her speech, speculation on the government’s plans had been rife. Now that we’ve established that the Tories want to “build a truly global Britain”, and Mrs May is going to ensure a hard Brexit, having ruled out membership of the European single market, it seems that I have made the right choice. I admit that my decision to leave London has not merely been influenced by Brexit. The horrendous rental prices of London will not allow me to climb up on the real estate ladder for another ten years. However, the idea of going back would not have been sparked like that in the first place, had Brexit not happened. My partner’s industry has already taken a hit due to Brexit and so we decided it was financially safer for him to accept a job in Vienna. I won’t be eligible for a permanent residency for another 1.5 years (+ 6 months waiting time) and so I can’t be certain that I will be allowed to stay here after Britain departs from the EU. Forgive me, but psychology has established security as a basic human need.

It is a real shame that British children of the future will not experience an open, European-oriented Britain as we've known it. I have learned to love this country and particularly the unrivalled openness of the city of London. Somehow it feels wrong that my departure has to be such a sudden one, leaving behind a great job and people who have truly grown on me. What is worse is that going home doesn’t mean that uncertainty is going to leave me and my partner completely. We are already dreading finding out whether he will have to get a visa to stay in Austria. Thank you very much, Mrs May, we know you're just ensuring the Best for Britain, even if it has to become an offshore tax haven or a colony of Mr Trump's great American Empire.

Should Auld Acquaintance Therefore Be Forgot? I do not think so. I sincerely hope that Brits of today will remember and relate to future generations what it was like to be close to their “continental” neighbours and perhaps, in a future, dystopian world, they will decide to re-join the great project called “European Union”.