With the EU Referendum approaching we thought we would collect a few news stories and insights on the potential outcome and effects on you buying a property in an EU member country, specifically France. We will publish regular updates here in our "News in General" Blog pages on the Cle France website to keep you up to speed.

A Recent Survey by FC Exchange

With the EU referendum now set for 23rd June 2016, many politicians have now revealed how they will be campaigning and voting. We recently heard from the current mayor of London, Boris Johnson, earlier this week and also from the next conservative candidate, Zac Goldsmith, who will both be campaigning for the ‘leave’ camp.

The key government response to this is to put forward the voice of big business, with an open letter from FTSE100 Chief Executives and Chairmen circulated this week, stating the case for staying within the EU.

A recent Institute of Directors (IoD) survey found that only 31% of its members plan to vote ‘leave’, while 60% plan to vote ‘remain’.

Much has been made of the draft deal that David Cameron has secured to change the terms of UK membership to the EU. Mr Cameron will continue to claim these are significant concessions and leave the UK in charge of its destiny, while the ‘leave’ opponents claim it is a “watered down deal” that doesn’t go far enough.

In February 2016, FC Exchange conducted a survey to capture what its business clients thought about the upcoming referendum and whether they thought the UK leaving the EU would impact their business. With interesting and mixed thoughts and results, the survey allows for insightful analysis into how businesses feel in this time of uncertainty.

One of the first questions FC Exchange asked its business clients was whether they thought David Cameron would obtain a meaningful deal from Europe. Results showed skepticism, with only 37% thinking that he would and 60% not expecting anything meaningful.

Would the reforms be classed as meaningful? Likely not, based on a general consensus and softening from the original claims made by Cameron. The ‘leave’ camp certainly do not think enough has been done and this is likely to form a significant part of their campaign.

Do you think that the UK will vote to leave the EU?

55% said "No"

42% said "Yes"

3% had "no Opinion"

The somewhat surprising result of the next question was that - despite the majority not expecting a meaningful deal discovered in the last question - a clear majority of 55% expect the UK to ‘remain’ in the EU. Only 42% said they thought the UK would leave, suggesting that the result of the renegotiation of the UK’s membership was not as important as David Cameron was making out.

The big question the survey then went on to ask was about the expected impact that leaving the EU would have on their individual businesses. Given that a majority of business leaders have come down in favour of the ‘stay’ campaign, citing concerns over the impact on business and certainty of leaving, FC Exchange expected to see a definite effect on the amount of trade done in Europe. Surprisingly, 60% of businesses surveyed thought that UK leaving the EU would have no impact on the amount of trade that their business does with Europe.

Beyond this, the split between companies that expected to see an increase in trade and companies that expected to see a decrease in trade was finely balanced, being 15% against 13%. Only 11% of FC Exchange business clients surveyed were not trading with Europe at the time of the survey, so whatever the impact (which is clearly very uncertain), it will affect most of FC Exchange’s clients and a large proportion of UK companies that trade some of the £515bn with Europe annually.

Where FC Exchange did find a bigger impact of client concern was in regards to their profitability, if the UK were to leave the EU. Results showed that 30% expected a negative impact on their profitability of up to 25%. Only 10% of clients saw the potential of an increase in profitability if the UK were to leave, suggesting the participants feel similar to those surveyed by the Institute of Directors; that there are definite concerns within businesses around leaving the EU.

Lastly, participants were asked what they thought would happen to sterling if the UK were to leave the EU, with a fairly even split between a depreciation of 5% or more, no change, and an appreciation of 5% or more. What it does demonstrate is that no one is confident about where sterling will go.

What do you think the impact would be on sterling if the UK was to leave the EU?

30% said up to 5% loss

12% said "no change"

33% said up to 5% gain

25% said "Don't Know"

The closest approximation we have is the Scottish referendum 18 months ago, which saw sterling drop 6.6% against the dollar within the three months before the referendum, before gaining 2.9% as we saw Scotland remain part of the UK. We could see similar volatility in the next few months, as the campaigns get into full flow and as the polls swing between in and out.

If your business is involved with cross-border activities, then it is advisable to get in touch with a reputable currency broker to discuss your currency requirements surrounding these uncertain times. FC Exchange has transacted over £5billion and helped businesses of all sizes to mitigate currency risk and protect their profits.

Contact us today

Ben Amrany from FC Exchange follow this link or phone and ask for myself and quote "Cle France" on 020 7989 0000.

You may contact me directly using this form (click here) with your requirement and I will explain the options that are available to you in getting the best exchange rate.  

Cle France Thoughts

At the moment nothing has changed of course and if the people of the UK vote to stay in then very little will change for at least a generation or two, even if Britain did leave Europe it wouldn’t stop Brits buying and living on mainland Europe. Sharon and David at Cle France lived and worked in France during the 1980's and 1990's when you had to 'jump through many hoops' before it was the 'free movement' we enjoy at the moment, they also lived in France from 1999 up to 2012 full time and at the start of that period you could not just 'arrive' you had to prove income and that you could 'support yourself financially' so going back to that type of scenario won't happen overnight, all it will really mean is a bit more paperwork!

Brits have always bought property as holiday homes and lived full time in France, Spain and other European countries before the formation of the EU and even if there is a Brexit for the UK this will still be the case.

One thing is clear and that is during these times, similar to the Scottish Yes / No campaign there is an air of uncertainty and this will no doubt be fuelled by any further comments from the Brexit brigade, this effect could seriously cause the cost of your property purchase to increase significantly, so for this reason many clients have purchased their euros in advance.

This method is called a 'Forward contract' and by doing this with FC Exchange it means you can fix your exchange rate for up to two years in advance, so you’ll know exactly how much you’ll get when you make your international money transfer. This makes budgeting a great deal easier and a lot of stress is removed.

Do you want more information ?

So if you need to buy or sell sterling and would like to be kept up to date with all the latest data releases and exchange rate movements then feel free to contact myself Ben Amrany. If you are buying or selling a house in France we will make sure your monies are in the right place at the right time, we work hand in hand with you and Cle France.

For more information on the currency service I can provide please feel free to contact myself...

Ben Amrany from FC Exchange follow this link or phone and ask for myself and quote "Cle France" on 020 7989 0000.

You may contact me directly using this form (click here) with your requirement and I will explain the options that are available to you in getting the best exchange rate.  

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

For everything you need to know about French property visit www.clefrance.co.uk

This week, Myriam El Khomri, France’s labour ministry, has been the focus of many headlines in France.

This week, she presented a bill that would reform current French labour laws, which is seen by many as the final push for large scale reforms during President François Hollande’s five-year term. The law would allow employees to work more than the current 35 hour work week without facing penalties.

It would also take away some of the power held by employees when they are dismissed improperly from their positions. While the 35 hour work week would still remain law, this would make it much easier for employees to work more.

El Khomri has said that the bill is to “adapt to the needs of business” and is, presumably, being pushed forward to fight against France’s high unemployment rate.

However, many politicians have spoke out vociferously against this bill, criticising François Hollande for giving more power to businesses instead of to French workers. Although Hollande is a figure of the Socialist Party, this bill has appealed to many right-wing parties and alienated Hollande’s Socialist base. Many others spoke out against these proposed laws when El Khomri:

“avait affirmé que le gouvernement assumerait 'ses responsabilités' au cas où il n’arriverait pas à mobiliser sa majorité à l’Assemblée nationale sur le texte, un avertissement interprété comme une menace de recourir à la procédure du 49.3 – qui permet au gouvernement de faire adopter un texte sans vote.”

(“affirmed that the government would take up its responsibilities in the case that they weren’t able to mobilize their party’s majority in the National Assembly in regard to the bill, a warning interpreted by some as a threat to apply “procedure 49.3,” which permits the government to adopt a bill without voting on it.”)

The bill will be formally introduced to cabinet members on March 9 2016, before heading into the National Assembly for voting.

What do you think?:

Could such a pro-business reform help France’s economy?

And, if so, should it be made into law without being voted on by the National Assembly?

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

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.

Les nouveaux mots pour 2016 devoilés

Every year, new words are added to dictionaries around the world. Normally, these words are added due to new technological advances or cultural phenomena that describe what life is like in this new year.

In France, it’s not only verbs, adjectives, nouns, and adverbs that are added, but also proper names.

This is an honour that shows that a person has achieved a certain amount of fame and recognition. For 2016, the people to be included in French dictionaries are: the philosopher Bernard Henri-Lévy, the patissier Pierre Hermé, the French actor Pierre Richard, and the British actor Michael Caine.

According to this article, there are two requirements for inclusion in the popular French dictionaries, Le Petit Rousse and Le Petit Robert:

“Chaque nouvelle entrée a dû respecter, comme pour les éditions précédentes, l’un des deux critères suivants: être populaire et souvent repris dans les médias mais aussi être en rapport avec l’actualité sans risquer de disparaître rapidement.”

Here are some more words to be included for 2016 (some are self-explanatory):

selfie

vegan

boloss(e) (slang – an insult meaning that someone is silly or stupid)

baltringue (slang – a coward)

sape (slang – clothes)

And some expressions:

partir en cacahuète (“going peanuts,” means that something is going wrong/badly)

tendu comme un string (“tight as a string,” means someone is very stressed)

This article beautifully explains the importance of and the reason for the inclusion of some of these new words and expressions:

“Ces dictionnaires se veulent aussi le reflet de leur société, parfois même de l’actualité (c’est sans doute pourquoi Le Robert admet désormais le terme de "zadiste")"

"Ils suivent aussi une tendance, comme, par exemple la féminisation des noms. Au sein de ces rédactions du Larousse et du Robert qui se penchent chaque année, comme dans un conseil d’administration, sur l’utilité ou non d’intégrer un nouveau mot, on nous a affirmé que c’est suivre l’usage que de féminiser car il faut tenir compte du fait que de plus en plus de femmes accèdent aux postes traditionnellement tenus par des hommes"

"Tous deux utilisent ce qu’ils appellent une "banque de mots" tirés des journaux ou des livres, et leurs choix sont guidés par les relevés d’occurrences engrangés par leur observatoire de la langue française contemporaine”.

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

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.

Europe is famous for how easy it is to travel en train. However, les trains are often more expensive than you would think!

Thankfully there are alternatives like le covoiturage (carpooling), and l’autocar (intercity bus).

Until recently it was difficult to take un bus over a long distance in France. However, private transportation companies have created des nouveaux réseaux (new networks) for les autocars with companies like Isilines and Flixbus, and it is now easy and affordable to travel from city to city en bus !

La loi Macron, which aims to open up France’s economy, is what allowed this change. Before la loi (the law), in order for a bus to legally travel through France, it had to be a part of an international route or be a part of la SNCF (la société nationale de chemins de fer français, The French National Railroad Company).

Ceci dit (that said) international bus travel has always been an option from France, even if le train or l’avion are more popular moyens de transport (transportation methods). Eurolines is une entreprise (a company) that focuses on international bus travel in Europe and has routes from and to nearly any city in Europe!

The downside is you have to be on un bus for a very, very, very long time. It’s an experience, but I would not recommend it unless you are willing to be cramped in a small seat for over a day.

The confusing part about all these moyens de transports is how many of them are des faux amis (false friends), and the similarities can easily lead to mistakes.

Un bus or un autobus is a normal city bus or bus that goes throughout le département, while un autocar or un car is an intercity bus that goes between far away cities or even in between countries.

On top of that, blab-la-car is a website that helps you find people willing to share leur voiture (their car)!

Un bus, un autobus 

A local (city or county) bus

Un car, un autocar 

An intercity bus

Blab-la-car 

Website for carpooling (le covoiturage) 

The easy way to remember the differences is that un bus is a normal bus you take to get around a city, un car is like a greyhound or route-master bus, and blab-la-car is about all the talking (blah blah) you have to do when carpooling.

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

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.

If you’ve spent any time in France, you know very well that much of the music you hear will be in English – and it’s non censuré (uncensored), mind you. It’s also no secret that the French are proud of their language, and this is one of the reasons the government began imposing a law on radio stations starting back in 1994 requiring at least 40% of their songs played be in French. To comply with the laws but only play hits, some stations are playing the same 10 titles over and over, which can cover up to 75% of the required quota.

In September, some radio stations began a 24-hour boycott against the law. Fleur Pellerin, the current Ministre de la Culture et de la Communication (Minister of Culture and Communications), disagrees with the message the stations are trying to convey. They say it infringes on their broadcasting freedoms, but Fleur says playing more tracks won’t infringe on anyone’s “fundamental liberties.” The stations replied by saying the law isn’t applicable to streaming sites such as Pandora and Spotify, and du coup (as a result), these services now hold an unfair advantage.

The truth of the matter is, according to the radio stations, the production of French-language albums has dropped 66% between 2003 and 2014 as many of these artists prefer to branch out into a more international market. Stromae featured Kanye on a track and garnered exposure in the USA. Ariana Grande’s “One Last Time” received the French treatment when Kendji Girac released a French version called “Attends-moi” (Wait for Me). David Guetta has worked with countless artists. The list goes on and on!

Despite the drop in French-language albums, there are still some gems being produced. NRJ (pronounced like énergie, or energy) is a popular private radio station that first aired in 1981, and these days, you’ll find all the biggest and most current tubes (hits). The station also runs a yearly award show to recognise and honour the best in the music industry. Each category except Clip de l’année (Video of the Year) and DJ de l’année is separated into two branches: francophone and international. Each of the 13 categories has 5 options, and the winner is decided through an online vote and a selected NRJ jury.

The French know our music, but how well do you know their music? Below I’ve listed the francophone categories from the 2015 award show, the nominees, and the winners. Click any link to visit artist pages or hear the songs. Do you agree with the winners?

Les Palmarès (prize list) 

Winners are marked with an asterisk.

Artiste féminine française de l’année 

Christine and the Queens 

Cœur de pirate 

Indila 

*Shy’m

Artiste masculine française de l’année 

Black M 

Kendji Girac 

*M. Pokora 

Soprano

Révélation française de l’année 

Marina Kaye 

*Louane 

Nekfeu 

Lilian Renaud

Groupe / duo / troupe français de l’année 

Cats On Trees 

*Fréro Delavega 

La légende du Roi Arthur 

L.E.J.

Chanson française de l’année 

click the title to hear the song 

Christine – Christine and the Queens 

Avenir – Louane 

*Conmigo – Kendji Girac 

Homeless – Marina Kaye 

Est-ce que tu m’aimes ? – Maître Gims

DJ de l’année 

Avicii 

DJ Snake 

*David Guetta 

Calvin Harris 

ok, this is an international list, but I included it because of the French winner !

So, there you have it. The best of 2015 according to the NRJ jury and the online voters. What are your initial impressions to the music? J’avoue (I admit) it’s a little funny that the French song of the year is sprinkled with Spanish, and one of the other nominated songs is completely in English. Kinda makes that 40% even more difficult to reach.

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

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.