On this day of Brexit - En ce jour de Brexit

Je voudrais marquer ce passage en expliquant une différence importante entre l'Angleterre et la majorité des pays Européens, même si ma connaissance est très limitée. Ca part d'une question que je n'entends pas souvent posée: pourquoi tous ces migrants à Calais veulent fuire la France, qui a pourtant un système social très généreux? Est-ce uniquement à cause de la langue?

Un élément de réponse c'est le contrôle de l'identité. Bien que ça puisse paraitre incroyable pour des gens d'autres pays, il n'y a pas de carte d'identité en Angleterre, et le passeport n'est requis que pour voyager à l'étranger. Du coup, une fois qu'on est "dedans", on peut aisément disparaitre du radar pour toujours. Voilà pourquoi les frontières ouvertes exigées par l'Europe ne colle pas.

Dans l'autre sens, les Anglais, quand ils l'apprennent, trouvent tout à fait délirant que (par exemple en Suisse) il y ait un 'contrôle des habitants' qui sait où chaque personne habite. C'est un état policier, disent-ils !

Un article intéressant (in English) qui plaide contre l'introduction des cartes d'identité en Angleterre (pour vous aider à comprendre combien la mentalité est différente).

I'd like to use this occasion to explain an important difference between the UK and most European countries, even if I'm ignorant on the subject. An interesting question to start with: why do all those migrants in Calais want to flee from France? The social security system is pretty generous over there, can it really just be a question of not wanting to learn French?

Part of the answer is about identity checks. In all the European countries (as far as I know), you have to carry ID at all times (or rather, you are supposed to carry ID at all times) and the police can stop and check. Europeans find it impossible to believe that in the UK you can just walk around with nothing, that in fact ID cards don't even exist. How do you know who you are? How do you prove who you are?! But coming back to migrants: once they've got in to the UK, they're pretty much set, as long as they keep themselves out of trouble.

Just so you get the extent of the difference, in Switzerland (which is not the EU, but that's beside the point), every town has a "Contrôle des Habitants", which has to be informed of every person moving in or moving out of the town. In the UK if someone says "the government knows where everyone lives", you think "yeah, ok, maybe the secret services, if they cared that much". But in Switzerland, they really do. There are *some* upsides to this: in Switzerland you can order something, receive it, and then pay after. Because if you don't pay, they know where to come and find you to make you pay. (And there is actually a "Bad payers register", where your name will get put if you don't pay in time). So, police state? A bit, but you get used to it.

A good article on ID cards.