“The fact that I’m living here should not be used against me”

- An interview with an EU citizen living in the UK

When I started this campaign I wasn’t sure how widespread these feelings of rejection were. But during my research I’ve spoken to many EU citizens living in the UK. Some don’t feel any different after the vote, whilst others have shocked me further with their feelings about the result and how it has caused some people it hide their nationalities to avoid awkward interactions, or worse, out of fear or shame.

One such person I spoke to was Jenni, a work colleague who moved to Colchester just a week before the vote. Here’s her take on Brexit:

How did you feel when you woke up on the 24th and found out that Britain had voted to leave?
The night of the referendum I didn’t sleep, neither did my husband. We were checking the result every hour and once we heard the news we were very upset. Both my husband and I are very upset with the current state of the world. We have been reading The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig, which talks about how Europe fell into populisms and extremisms at the beginning of the 20th century, leading the two world wars and it has made us very sensitive – it’s happening again, Europe is destroying itself again.

We know there are Euro sceptics everywhere, such as the rising popularity of Le Pen in France, but we don’t blame the EU, I think it is a global issue.

I have struggled not to take it personally. I feel as though people don’t love me anymore!

I went to the supermarket soon after and I usually speak French to my son, but I spoke English. There was a man saying “We’ve regained power,” so I thought, “Do I need to hide the fact I’m French?”. Brexit was like a public statement for me saying “We’ve done this, and now we don’t want you to be here”.

We had not unpacked from our recent move the week before and we discussed going back to France. I received a letter from my employer which was a source of comfort and in the end we decided to stay but we still had reservations.

Now, six months on, the shock has gone, and I’ve decided that rather than hide my nationality I’m going to be very loud about the fact I’m French. We are going to do more advocating, being very pro-Europe.

Why do you think people voted to leave?
A lot of people in the UK don’t know very much about Europe. For example there is no reason for me to come here for benefits, because they are better in France. Here you get £70 a week, in France you can get up £1000 a month for up to 2 years after being made unemployed.

I think there is a misunderstanding about why people travel. You can hear everywhere “proud to be British”, and it is the same in France, everyone is very proud of their own country. But I feel we have lost our ability to look at other countries and explore what we can learn from them. Rather we focus on showing how our country is achieving great things.

Perhaps what has caused a problem in Britain is that there isn’t really a chance to learn another language, in France it is compulsory. By 18 I had learnt to speak three different languages which enabled me to travel and learn about other cultures without that barrier.

I recently realised a British friend, who is struggling at the moment, was a bit angry with me. She said, “You came here, you’ve done 3 degrees and you come and get a job in the UK,” But in France my social background doesn’t stop me from going to University. I don’t think it’s migration which has caused this unrest, but the social problems in the UK.  I am shocked to see young people in the UK who come from lower social background and say that University is not for them, and who cannot afford it anyway. Social inequalities in the UK are shocking to me. Of course we have them in France but it doesn’t feel that it is at this level.

What did you think of the campaign by the Remainers?
I would have liked to have heard positive reasons to stay from the Remain campaign, instead of scaring people and speaking about all the problems it would cause. And also how Europe was spoken about as it if was separate – when you are a part of Europe!

Is there anything that the UK can do to make you feel more welcome?
What you are doing is great, it’s great to read that we are wanted here. Six months on I feel more welcome, I’ve spoken to lots of friends who have reassured me and I see that’s it’s an issue that’s very much debated.

How do you feel about living in the UK now?
I feel it’s a choice – whether I stay. I don’t want to be a hostage, I don’t want my presence to be used as a bargaining tool by the government. The fact that I’m living here should not be used against me.

When I moved to Colchester I thought maybe we would buy a house here, now I think we will only stay two to three years.
Britain no longer wants to be part of the EU family, and it hurts. And seeing what has happened in the UK, it makes me want to go back to France and campaign to make sure that we don’t make the same mistake.