Meeting: 30th January

The meeting of Ciudadanos Europeos de Mojácar was held at the Hotel Continental yesterday.
The meeting was opened by Carlos Blanco and Lenox Napier was the first speaker. Lenox reminded those present to get onto the padrón and the voting register. The message, he said, really goes to those Mojácar residents not present today, as there are a large number of people living here who are not registered. The government will be making registration compulsory later this year.
Lenox explained the lack of ‘ideologies from the thirteen local parties in the last elections’, pointing out that there were, for example, three different PP parties, with the PP, the PAL (whose leader, the mayor of El Ejido, remains in gaol after three months) and the GIAL. He remembered the Mojacar Nuevo party, whose leader managed to divide the foreign vote without achieving anything of much use, and has since disappeared. He also broached the subject of a new political lobby which wants all the foreigners to vote for the same group (possibly a group which their Spanish champion used to represent) and whose principal ‘idea’ is to promote tourism. Lenox argued that ‘residential tourism’ (as it’s called for some reason) needs to be the key investment here as Benidorm is an example of a well-served tourist destination and Mojácar clearly is not. ‘We settlers’, he argued, ‘put money into the community all year round, and spend a lot on a house, a car and so on – incomparably more than a tourist’. Lenox discussed the function of a mayor – to represent and speak for his/her community, which, he said, the mayoress of Mojácar has failed to do, noting her behaviour during the Mojácar fire last summer (a bit like George Bush and Katrina).
Angel Medina, the councillor for tourism and culture, after a brief introduction in English, switched to Spanish. He was translated by Virginia Heyman.
Angel said that Ciudadanos Europeos de Mojácar was the only local party that had meetings with the public during the four-year legislation and that the other parties only tuned in to the community just before elections. He said that this year’s budget was 8 million, down from last year’s 12 million which was, in turn, down from the year before’s 20 million euros. Of this, between wages and basic running costs, and assuming a 100% collection on local taxes (!) there would be around one million euros only this year for road repairs, culture, tourism and so on. Angel said that this year, he had spent 6,500 euros at the Fitur tourist fair in Madrid to promote Mojácar, against the 80,000 euros spent by the previous tourist councillor at Fitur two years before. Angel’s talk was about the small local things that the party, with only one councillor, was able to do. Helping the British library, supporting several local British clubs, including the British Legion, the Dames in Spain, the Club de Toros de Mojácar and the Anglican Church etc. Cleaning and repaving streets, organising concerts and exhibitions, installing three electric information panels in Spanish and English (at the pueblo, the fuente and the Parque Comercial), and so on.
Angel has been working on a regular bus route from Almería airport to Mojácar, and a new multi-use public energy-efficient building with a conference room, an artists’ residence, an archaeological studio, offices for cultural uses etc to be built at the medical centre on the beach. A new medical centre will be built near the petrol station. A bus station would also be built there.
To illustrate the weakness of one councillor in a government, he told the Spanish joke of a councillor from Cuenca caught and fined in Madrid for speeding. The man from Cuenca tells the policeman ‘I’m a councillor from Cuenca’ and the policeman replies ‘here in Madrid, a councillor from Cuenca ain’t worth a shit’. The man sadly answers ‘he ain’t worth a shit in Cuenca either’.
But with two or three councillors…
The panel took questions on various topics.
Albert Schröter (a councillor in the town hall) and Bill Campbell (spokesperson for La Paratá urbanisation) were in the audience of around eighty people.
Our thanks to Alan Sykes for providing the microphones and sound equipment and to Gaspár from the Hotel Continental.

Meeting in January

Don't lose hope! We shall be announcing a meeting of Ciudadanos Europeos de Mojácar shortly and we shall of course send out details to all those on our mailing list. Our meetings are a chance to get to know more about the workings of the Mojácar town hall, about specific and timely concerns and projects... and the chance to ask questions.
Mojácar needs to be fully integrated as a town, and must have the support and respect of the different 'colectivos' living here to succeed.
In the coming months you will see the first stirrings of bonhomerie coming from our political friends. What can they possibly be after?

For local politics and commentary, read The Entertainer Online.

The Meeting has now been booked for The Hotel Continental, Mojácar Playa on Saturday 30th January at 11.00am. All welcome!

The European Elections

As you may know, Ciudadanos Europeos de Mojácar has decided not to present a candidature for the European Elections (despite an enthusiastic suggestion to the contrary the other evening in the Masko). Since several members have asked us to suggest an alternative in these important elections, and as the only two parties mooted by the Spanish television and newspapers, the PP and the PSOE, the PSOE and the PP have both shown that they will NOT stand up against urban corruption (see the Auken Report, where the two main Spanish parties were adamantly against resolving the problems of ‘illegal homes’, ‘illegal urbanisations’, “endemic’ town hall corruption’ and the ‘land grab’ – the leader of the Spanish PP in Europe actually begging the Conservatives not to support the Auken Report as ‘it diminished Spain’), we have decided to support another group.
By one of those coincidences in life, the Liberals in Europe have started a party in Spain, the CDL or Centro Democrático Liberal, which has as its head-of-list a Northern European with an Irish passport and a Spanish residence card (well, actually, a passport and A4 residence certificate), called Sean O’Curneen. Sean has an Irish father and a Spanish mother and was bought up in Madrid. His wife is English and his children, he says, are European. He now works as Secretary General of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe in the EU Committee of the Regions in Brussels.
Sean is familiar with the problems of Northern Europeans resident in Spain, and has pledged to help us from Brussels. See his webpage here (click at the top right for 'International Version').
On Sunday June 7th, those of you who can vote may wish to consider Sean O’Curneen Cañas and the CDL.
Ming has spoken.

The British Consulate To Visit Mojácar

The British Consulate in Malaga and the UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are holding an open event for British residents in Mojácar on Tuesday 26th May, presenting advice services on some of the issues that matter most to residents, beginning at 10.00am.
The Department for Work and Pensions will provide essential information on UK pensions, benefits and healthcare entitlements in Spain and the services that their team can offer.
Angel Medina, Deputy Mayor of Mojácar will make an introduction.
The British Vice-Consul will open the session and explain the role of the Consulate, and the services it offers.

Mojácar - 26 May - Centro de Usos Mútiples (Artesan Centre) - La Fuente

There will be presentations covering a wide range of issues including Consular services and pension, benefit and healthcare rights of UK citizens living in Spain.
There will also be an opportunity for members of the audience to put general questions to the panel and to sign-up for the one-on-one sessions that will take place immediately afterwards.
The presentation in Mojácar will also feature a presentation by Donna Wilson, from the Royal British Legion.

You can book a place by completing a registration form below. Please note that bookings are limited to two tickets per person. If you are having problems using the online booking form, please call 91 524 9729 to reserve your place.

To book your places: here

www.ukinspain.fco.gov.uk

March Update

Our March meeting at the Hotel Continental dealt with the problems in the town hall, particularly to do with funding, petty corruption and new and ever tighter rules. An example of this last point: the ‘Blue Flags’ which are meant to guarantee beach cleanliness and services, used to need – a few years back – around thirty different bits of paper. This year, it’s over one hundred. This year, seaweed tossed onto the sand by the sea can’t be moved as the ecologists consider it ‘natural’ (i.e. – you have to tiptoe out at 3.00am when all the Greens are safely curled up on their futons to pick it up).
The town is without funding, thanks to the drop in building licences, and the new POTALA (Junta de Andalucía plans) offer almost no new buildable land for Mojácar – ever.
Mojácar is in fact threatened on several sides – the new implementation of ‘costas’ means that any beach building pre 1988 (defined as any town building within 50 metres of the sea, urbanisation building within 100 metres – now increased to 200 metres - and any ‘rural’ building under 500 metres from the sea) can now be freely bought or sold, but not repaired or extended, but there is, in effect, a 60 year lease on all of these buildings as they will be finally expropriated by the government in 2070. There are (apparently) no post 1988 beach buildings and… no… that popular discoteque isn’t illegal – it has the full and enthusiastic support of both ‘costas’ and ‘medio ambiente’.
The second threat is, of course, the POTALA, which is the plan for the future, which includes a high-speed-train track going through the artificial city of Llano Central, together with a rail station just outside Vera.

March Meeting

There will be a meeting for members and guests of Ciudadanos Europeos de Mojácar at the Hotel Continental on Mojácar playa at 11.00am on Saturday 21st March to discuss the current state of Mojácar’s town hall and the local politics of the municipality.
We shall also be looking at the Junta de Andalucía’s ambitious plans for the Levante Almeriense with its ‘POTALA’ project.
Questions and suggestions will, as always, be welcome.

The European Elections - June 2009

TIME IS RUNNING OUT TO REGISTER FOR YOUR EUROPEAN VOTE

ONLY 10% OF EU RESIDENTS IN SPAIN ARE NOW REGISTERED TO VOTE IN EUROPEAN ELECTIONS

Figures were released this past week by the Electoral Census office detailing the number of European residents in Spain who are registered to vote in the upcoming European elections in June.
In Spain there are 1,905,340 non Spanish European residents of voting age, otherwise qualified to do so, of whom only 200,100 have declared their intention to vote in the elections, a shockingly low percentage of just 10.5%.

The European elections offer European residents in Spain, the majority population still being British, followed by German and other northern Europeans, the opportunity to have a voice in the European Parliament. Residents from all EU countries should directly benefit from the right enshrined in the EU charter to freedom of movement, the freedom to live, work and study in any EU country.

Even more so than in ones’ home country, British and other EU residents in Spain need the guarantees offered by the European Community regarding citizens rights, property rights, access to health and education, environmental protection, freedom to work and study.
This has been demonstrated on several occasions by the intervention of the European Parliament and Commission in the defence of the many thousands of petitions received from British, Spanish, German, Dutch and other EU residents relating to the disastrous ‘land grab’ laws and the numerous scandals relating to property rights and destruction of the environment. This has given impetus to the European Courts of Justice and Human Rights to commence legal actions designed to ensure compliance with EU law and full respect for the fundamental rights of EU citizens living in this country.
The opportunity to vote for representation in the European Parliament therefore is vital and carries the responsibility for all EU residents in Spain to exercise that right.

THERE IS LIMITED TIME ONLY TO REGISTER FOR YOUR VOTE

If you are registered on the padrón of your municipality you need to go to the Town Hall and ask to fill in the intent to vote, ie. ‘declaracion de intento de voto’ form.

Even if you are not registered on the padrón you should go to the Town Hall to do so and also demand the right to fill in the intent to vote form.

You are able to be registered on the padrón even without the ‘certificate de extranjeria’ or ‘residencia’ card. As regards identity, a valid EU passport should, under EU law, be sufficient.

If the Town Hall questions this right demand they phone the census office for instruction where this will be confirmed.

PLEASE EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE AND HAVE YOUR SAY IN WHO BEST REPRESENTS YOUR INTERESTS IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT