An amendment to the 90 day rule for non-EU second home owners in France offered a chink of optimistic light for a return to pre-Brexit access to Schengen area. Unfortunately, in what will be seen as a major blow by some, a French court rejected the amendment to its immigration law, ruling it to be unconstitutional.
Brits with second homes in Spain were casting their eyes over the Pyrenees hoping that a favourable judgement would trigger a domino effect across the Mediterranean.
Despite the ruling, the Spanish government has said it will continue to lobby the EU in Brussels for a rule change. The approach of the Spanish is different to that of the French who were seeking to act unilaterally. The argument is that non-EU second home owners on the Spanish Costa’s have a positive cultural and economic impact on their communities and to ban them for six months a year is counter-productive and punishes a group of people who were unlikely to have voted for Brexit.
Read our original article on the developments in France.