MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Spain supports deal for British expatriates to remain following Brexit

Minister Jorge Toledo told The Times “We are broadly in favour of retaining a reciprocal agreement on questions like healthcare and freedom of movement.”

Spain will support a Brexit deal that allows British expatriates to remain on the Costas with their benefits intact, including access to healthcare, it was reported. According to The Times, Madrid would “in principle” favour an agreement that would allow Britons living in Spain and other parts of the EU to retain existing rights.

 Jorge Toledo, the Spanish secretary for the EU, and Madrid’s leading negotiator on Brexit, told the newspaper: “We are broadly in favour of retaining a reciprocal agreement on questions like healthcare and freedom of movement.”

“As regards the rights of EU citizens in the UK and the rights of UK citizens in the EU, Spain is in favour of the amplest respect of these rights in the future but the modalities and conditions will and should be a matter of negotiation.”

Spain and other bloc members must follow the lead of Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator on Brexit with the UK, he said.

Mr Toledo chairs a working group on Brexit within Spain’s centre-right government.

This comes after junior Brexit Minister Robin Walker said the British Government “hears very clearly the concerns of British expats living all over the EU,” during a recent visit to the Rock.

“It’s one of the reasons we have been really clear on the need to reach a reciprocal deal early in negotiations,” Mr Walker said in Gibraltar week. “We think it’s absolutely right we have a moral responsibility to UK citizens. We want to ensure we secure a strong deal in this respect.”

“We as a government have heard from the representatives of expats and we want to ensure their interests are protected, just as we want to extend that pledge to EU citizens in the UK,” he said.

About one million Britons live full time or part time in Spain, making it the biggest British expatriate community in the EU, according to the Foreign Office 292,121 are registered with local councils, of which 101,997 are aged over 65.

Many more are not registered but live in Spain permanently. Concerns about access to healthcare and freedom of labour and movement are uppermost for British expats who have demanded some kind of reassurance from London and Madrid.

It has further been suggested that Madrid may support a deal that would maintain the relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic, where free movement of labour and goods is guaranteed under EU rules.