Are you a globalist or a nationalist?


If you are reading this, I would guess that you are the probably the former, maybe dreaming of living abroad at some point or at least having a bolthole somewhere other than the country in which you were born. There are plenty of us; in France alone there are approximately 7.8 million people who live here but were born elsewhere; that is 12% of the population. The UK has 8.5 million people living in the country who were born abroad (13% of the population), Spain 5.9 million (13% of the population) and Italy 5.8 million (9% of the population.) The UK also has 4.9 million citizens living abroad, more than any other country in the EU.

That is not to say that I believe being a globalist or a nationalist are mutually exclusive but, in the current climate, there is definitely an attitude of mind that leans one way or the other. I love Europe because of the diversity of each of the member countries and this individuality is something that I strongly believe should be safeguarded; a united Europe need not mean a Federal Europe. It is the idiosyncrasies, culture and traditions of each country which makes it special and interesting and surely the greater the diversity of thought and ways of living, the better.

Emmanuel Macron summed it up on his campaign trail when he said (slightly controversially of course) ‘There is no such thing as French culture. There is culture in France and it is diverse.’ And this is the fantastic thing about living in France; it is so large and so diverse that there is a place and a community for everyone to feel at home and accepted and to carve out a life that is both good for the individual but also for society as a whole.

For help with your property search in France, get in touch: nadia@foothillsoffrance.com

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