Ca chauffe sur le chat des expats. Alors qu'il y en a qui se plaignent mais ne font rien, d'autres me remontent le moral en me rappelant que je ne me bats pas pour rien. Un email touchant d'une femme que je ne connais pas:
"Hallo Laurent!
I am a British woman, I am very happy to see a non-Dutch candidate who is representing the ex patriate community. I do not hate the Dutch, as individuals they can be very nice, but I am very disappointed with the beaurocracy here, and treatment of EU citizens.
I myself am having terrible problems as a single mother here, there is no support system , and if you do not have a high income it is so difficult to find reasonable accomodation. If it were not for friends me and my daughter would be homeless, We have paid our taxes like Dutch people, and yet we are not entitled to the same rights. I do not have a verblijvsvergunning despite having lived here and paid into the system for nearly 5 years.
Anyway, I am sure you are very busy but I wanted to make you aware of my situation and to say that there are many other European expatriates here who feel they are treated unfairly here in Holland, and to highlight the fact that the Dutch system overrides the rules set out by the European Union.
Yours sincerely,
XXX"