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I was talking to a Spanish friend of mine about the same thing. They thought the Spanish government would be quick to sign some kind of agreement to keep expats

I was talking to a Spanish friend of mine about the same thing. They thought the Spanish government would be quick to sign some kind of agreement to keep expats there, as many of them are pensioners and who function as a kind of cash injection into the Spanish economy.

alphydan 10y ago
Well, that's exactly what immigrants do in the UK (contribute more than they take by certain metrics [0]), ... but it doesn't stop the hostility in the media. In Spain the perception is that Brits in the south are low qualified and old and that they have driven up the price of housing with their real estate speculation. When young, they are perceived as violent and disrespectful (probably the image created by short-term young binge-drinking tourists). It's certainly prejudice and first impressions, but that's the kind of irrational reactions you could see after a UK exit if Spain is struggling with its own economy. I had heard the opposite statement, by the way, that they took more from the healthcare than they contributed ... but my google-fu failed me. Do you have a reference? (I don't know what the answer is either way) [0] http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29910497 http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29910497
- UVB-76 10y ago
  > Well, that's exactly what immigrants do in the UK (contribute more than they take by certain metrics [0]), ... but it doesn't stop the hostility in the media. Counter-argument to that is that immigrants are simply crowding out British citizens (particularly young people, huge numbers of which are unemployed, or significantly underemployed) in the jobs market. It is effectively jobs that make the contribution, whether they are filled by British citizens or EU nationals.
arximboldi 10y ago
I'm from Spain and the argument I hear most is the opposite: they use expensive resources (health-care, which in Spain was universally free, with some limitations now after the cuts), pay no taxes, and put just a little bit of money on the bottom end of the economy (restaurants, service, overdevelopment of coast, etc.) This is in contrast with the kind of migrants that Spain exports, mostly productive tax-paying young people with university degrees. But we can't blame brits for this imbalance (and I'd always argue for more open borders not less). It's spaniards that since Franco times and still nowadays mistake easy money in tourism for development, and we hardly know what else to do nowadays.

alphydan 10y ago

Well, that's exactly what immigrants do in the UK (contribute more than they take by certain metrics [0]), ... but it doesn't stop the hostility in the media. In Spain the perception is that Brits in the south are low qualified and old and that they have driven up the price of housing with their real estate speculation. When young, they are perceived as violent and disrespectful (probably the image created by short-term young binge-drinking tourists). It's certainly prejudice and first impressions, but that's the kind of irrational reactions you could see after a UK exit if Spain is struggling with its own economy. I had heard the opposite statement, by the way, that they took more from the healthcare than they contributed ... but my google-fu failed me. Do you have a reference? (I don't know what the answer is either way) [0] http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29910497 http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29910497

UVB-76 10y ago
> Well, that's exactly what immigrants do in the UK (contribute more than they take by certain metrics [0]), ... but it doesn't stop the hostility in the media. Counter-argument to that is that immigrants are simply crowding out British citizens (particularly young people, huge numbers of which are unemployed, or significantly underemployed) in the jobs market. It is effectively jobs that make the contribution, whether they are filled by British citizens or EU nationals.

arximboldi 10y ago

I'm from Spain and the argument I hear most is the opposite: they use expensive resources (health-care, which in Spain was universally free, with some limitations now after the cuts), pay no taxes, and put just a little bit of money on the bottom end of the economy (restaurants, service, overdevelopment of coast, etc.) This is in contrast with the kind of migrants that Spain exports, mostly productive tax-paying young people with university degrees. But we can't blame brits for this imbalance (and I'd always argue for more open borders not less). It's spaniards that since Franco times and still nowadays mistake easy money in tourism for development, and we hardly know what else to do nowadays.