Spain and the European Union
Spain and the European Union

Spain and the European Union

This is an account of dealing with Spain's version of European Union bureaucracy. It's not difficult, just different. Better than the UK

Spain and the European Union
Spain and the European Union

Spain and the European Union

We were talking to an expat here in southern Spain yesterday afternoon. He has lived here for more than twenty years and says that he cannot understand why Spain is in the European Union.

His diatribe started with nepotism.

“Go to the town hall,” he said, “or the police station and see how many different surnames there are. Out of hundreds, even thousands of employees, there will be about a dozen surnames. If you don’t belong, you won’t get in”.

“Tell me another thing,” he continued. “Why is the police in charge of immigration? It is not a police issue who is allowed to stay in the country, or at least, it shouldn’t be. It should be an issue for the civil service, as it is in Britain!”

“Another thing,” he continued, getting into his stride, “there is no freedom of speech here! Try criticizing the royal family and you will soon find yourself in very hot water! Spain is not a democracy and doesn’t deserve to be in the EU. That is why I voted out, despite the fact that I have lived here so long. We should not be supporting countries like this!”

I report the above as it was spoken to me. I do not have enough experience from the eight weeks I have been here to know whether he is right or wrong, but I do know that I was refused a residency permit today because my money is in the UK, not in Spain.

Why should that matter if Spain believes in the EU?

My money is in Citibank Europe; that is it’s official title.

Can it be that an American bank believes in Europe more than Spain?

It seems so.

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All the best,

Owen

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Owen Jones, Amazon Best-Selling Author from Barry, Wales, has lived in several countries and travelled in many more. While studying Russian in the USSR in the '70's, he hobnobbed with spies on a regular basis; in Suriname, he got caught up in the 1982 coup; and while a company director, he joined the crew of four as the galley slave to sail from Barry to Gibraltar a home-made concrete yacht, which was almost rammed by a Russian oil tanker and an American aircraft carrier.
“I am a Celt, and we are romantic”, he said when asked about his writing style, “and I firmly believe in reincarnation, Karma and Fate, so, sayings like 'Do unto another...', and 'What goes round comes around' are central to my life and reflected in my work. I write about what I see, or think I see, or dream... and, in the end it is all the same really”. He speaks seven languages and is learning Thai, since he lives in Thailand with his Thai wife of fifteen years.
His first novel, Daddy's Hobby is from the seven-part series 'Behind The Smile: The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya', but his largest collection is 'The Megan Series', twenty-three novelettes on the psychic development of a teenage girl, the subtitle of which, 'A Spirit Guide, A Ghost Tiger and One Scary Mother!' sums them up nicely. He has written fifty novels and novelettes, including: Dead Centre; Andropov's Cuckoo; Fate Twister; The Disallowed (a philosophical comedy); Tiger Lily of Bangkok; and A Night in Annwn (Annwn being the ancient Welsh word for Heaven). Many have been translated into foreign languages and narrated into audio books.
Owen Jones writes stories set in Wales, Spain and Thailand, where he now lives. He is a life-long Spiritualist, and this belief is interwoven, in a very realistic way, into many of his books and storylines. If you like a touch of the 'supernatural', try his books
He sums his life up thus: “Born in the Land of Song, Living in the Land of Smiles”.

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