Politoblog

I was in France on January 31 2020. At a bar, my friends all hugged me as the clock struck midnight and I lost my EU citizenship. Thus commenced the one-year Brexit Transition Period as the UK prepared to lose its privileged position in Europe for good. Little changed in the way I lived in the EU that year. I was allowed to remain in France without a visa, and even moved to Sweden in September by just flashing my (burgundy) passport at border control. The only real frustration was that I was regularly met with confusion as to how to deal with a British national in the EU. Even at the post office in Dijon, I had to wait ten minutes for the woman serving me to decide whether to put my letter in the EU or the international post box. At that point, Brexit was simply an inconvenience in my day-to-day life. Then, as the year drew to a close, I had to prepare for the transition period to come to an end. I applied for Swedish residency, which was a simple enough process. The only real hassle w...