The vote was a move towards giving British second home owners the automatic right to a long-stay visa, rather than being limited by the 90-day rule.
French members said they had voted the amendment through for those who had been “punished by Brexit”.
And considering only 60,000 Britons own second homes in France, Spain has a much bigger case to argue.
At the World Travel Market in London last month Secretary of State for Tourism, Rosana Morillo, said she was pleased that “the available data suggests that the United Kingdom will continue to be our main issuing country next year.”
In addition, the Secretary of State held an important meeting at the Foreign Office with the Director of Consular Affairs and Crisis, Jennifer Anderson, in which they discussed issues of interest regarding the stays of British tourists in Spain and discussed collaboration projects for future seasons.
She highlighted the fact that the United Kingdom is a leading mature market for Spain, which “will close 2023 at levels very close to pre-pandemic levels in terms of the number of international arrivals in 2019, and will greatly exceed tourist spending in relation to that year”.
In a statement the Spanish government said: “the United Kingdom is our main market in terms of the number of tourists and spending at the destination, a market that continues to grow and that has left behind the uncertainties of Brexit and the pandemic. Moreover, our prospects tell us that there is still a great deal of room for improvement”.
However, Spain appears to be very loyal to the EU, but if France can go it alone why can’t Spain?
Spain’s Minister of Tourism, Hector Gomez, has hinted that those in his government also wanted to work with the EU towards some sort of “exception”.
He has previously made clear his anger over Spain’s position when it comes to the 90-day rule.
But he has said: “Unfortunately, the rule is not something Spain has established by itself or can get rid of. It is in our interest to lobby and convince the EU that we can try to work an exception with them. But the solution must come from them.”
Nevertheless, Spain appears to have the desire for change and if the million home owners could begin to lobby the Spanish government, a start would be sending an email to the Bulletin which will gather the comments and send them to the relevant Balearic and Spanish authorities.
Email editorial@majorcadailybulletin.com
22 comments
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One million Brits would benefit from dropping Brexit. Everything else is pipedreams.
PeryMasonUK seems to need the EU more than the EU needs the UK.
Morgan WilliamsI know, isn’t it awlful what people get up to ? Lock em all up is what I say.
This 90 day rule is absurd….we have to face reality…uk needs eu and eu needs uk…..the brits are the biggest group of tourists with ownership of many houses and boats
Richard PearsonBrits in particular, are famous for living full time in Spain completely without registering as resident. Prior to Brexit, it was pretty easy to do, since it was rather difficult to enforce on an EU member citizen. There's loads of examples, but it's very old news now. In another example, avoidance of taxes became particularly evident when the Balearic government began enforcing tourist licensing. Brits in particular who owned a "holiday home" we're screaming the loudest because they were paying the mortgage by Airbnb-ing the place when they weren't there, and pocketing the cash completely under the table, tax free. Naturally, many called it a "Brexit punishment" because they could no longer make tax free cash off the Spanish tourist market. And again, it's not clear why someone with a "holiday home" needs to live here most or all of the time, without the "burden" of residency. And for those who are just renting... I need not explain that (?) So forgive me for being sceptical about the motivation for all this. It's about living here most or all of the time without the "burden" of residency. There's plenty of form for it.
Ulla JacksonFor those readers who could be interested in following this line of action, could you define what you mean by “not very costly” ? Thanks
Ulla JacksonYou do realise that we are talking about holiday homes and not principal places of residence ? If the owner lives in it full time then extending his time limit is not of any importance to him as he must already be a resident. And as you must know, the laws in the Balearic Autonomy that apply to these transactions are very different to those in other parts of the country.
Richard PearsonYou don't need to donate 100% of house to your children, which means the original owner is not removed from the deeds. It means however more tax declarations every year. The cost of donations is not either complicated nor very costly.
Peter PerfectYour children are mentioned in the title deeds (escritura) ? Are you sure ?
PerYes they are.