The meeting duly went forward yesterday. We learnt that the Vera urban councillor and the town lawyer have made a criminal claim against the Junta de Andalucia over the demolition of the Prior's home back in January. Although this area has a very bad reputation for 'illegal homes', Mojácar in fact has not one case of an illegal dwelling.The damage to La Paratá urbanisation due to the heavy rains was addressed and Angel Medina (pictured above, left) said that the town hall was fixing the roads with the help of a 95,000 euro bond from a builder there. He also agreed to talk with Aquamed, the company which is putting in the water pipes through the 'rambla'. Two urbanisations with problems of water and electricity due to the promoter disappearing were dealt with and the town hall will intercede on behalf of the owners. Gerardo Vásquez - a lawyer representing some of the owners - was present and confirmed the points made by Sr Medina. The Parata ring-road was discussed.
The town hall is very short of money. Sr Medina (in charge of tourism for the council) confirmed that Mojácar will not be going to either the WTF in London or the Madrid FITUR and said that, while the average collection of IBI (rates) is high in Spain, in Mojácar (a tourist town), the rate stands at only 60% - losing the town some 1.5 million euros annually. Sr Medina will be seeking help from the diputación (county council) on this topic.
Some of our local issues are, of course, decided by the Junta de Andalucía and are often entirely outside town hall control, however, referenda are possible (as Almuñecar has recently proved) and CEM is checking the possability of seeking referenda on the POTALA and other local issues.
An issue was raised about the 53,600 Europeans who live in this province versus the number who are registered to vote. It seems that only around 12% are registered - a mere 6,200. You are encouraged to get on the town hall registry - the padrón - and signal your intention to vote.
Ciudadanos Europeos de Mojácar has contacted the Ministry of the Interior regarding the new rules about residency in Spain - instead of a handy residence card Europeans are now expected to carry their passports at all times together with a letter from the immigration police!
Ciudadanos Europeos de Mojácar is the only party which has regular meetings with the community and is not just in evidence once every four years (BTW - it seems that the leader of the oddest party in the last elections, Mojácar Nueva, is now being sought by the police!).
Ángel Medina, concejal del ayuntamiento mojaquero y presidente del partido, trató sobre los temas candentes de la actualidad. En primer lugar anunció que Ciudadanos Europeos se personará en la causa de la querella que está preparando el Ayuntamiento de Vera contra la Junta de Andalucía por el derribo de la casa de los Prior. Enumeró las medidas que el Ayuntamiento de Mojácar ha tomado para solucionar los problemas creados por las últimas lluvias, sobre todo en el barrio de La Paratá, uno de los más afectados. Mostró un escrito que ha enviado el partido al Ministerio del Interior solicitando que se haga más fácil y accesible la documentación de los residentes para facilitar su identificación. Se ofreció para mediar entre los vecinos de la Urbanización "El Alboroque" y las empresas Galasa y Sevillana con el fin de negociar los enganches necesarios para dotar a esta urbanización de luz y agua, que no existen por culpa del promotor de la mencionada obra. Y al final, en ruegos y preguntas, se fueron repasando todos los asuntos pendientes que sacaron los asistentes, que quedaron muy satisfechos por estas explicaciones y por el seguimiento que el partido Ciudadanos Europeos hace de los temas.
