Victory

THE decision by the Spanish government to reintroduce our residence cards is good news because it clearly shows that the government is listening and wants to make our life easier in Spain.  Our present green residence cerficate, dubbed the “useless piece of paper” is the one issue which unites the non-Spanish European Union citizens in Spain:we are all against it, from Germans to Irish from British to French. So by this time next year, if all goes according to plan, we will have our residence cards again, which are also valid ID. It has been a long hard fight. Kate Mentink of the Balearic government and Europeos por España should get plenty of credit but others have helped underline the unpopularity of the certificate from Angie Guerrero, the Calvia councillor to this newspaper.  The announcement is a victory for expat power and one we can all saviour because it is good news on two fronts;  our voice has been heard loud and clear and someone was listening and was willing to take action. The Spanish government didn´t need to reintroduce our cards but they obviously realised that the foreign community was not impressed. The fact that parliament in Madrid has to approve the reintroduction of them shows that the government are willing to spend considerable time on our behalf. So lets rejoice in this early Christmas present. The battle has been long and hard but in the end victory was ours.