ISSUE NO. 1663
18 - 24 May 2017
COSTA BLANCA SOUTH
YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
Strong language Parents demand right to choose By Matt Ford International expatriates are heading for a showdown with the Generalitat Valenciana. A march protesting the regional council’s decision to make the Valenciana language compulsory in schools by 2019 will take place in Alicante at 7pm tomorrow, Friday, with thousands expected to attend. The controversial plan is to be introduced in junior schools this year, with secondaries to follow over the next two academic cycles. Kristin Tennebø, a Norwegian mum whose three children were born in Spain, has become heavily involved. “We want to have the right to be able to choose the official language of Spain and secondmost widely spoken in the world for our children,” she told the Euro Weekly News. “My daughter is going to start school now and she is not going to learn any Spanish. “Further down the coast many schools have chosen the most basic option but here in Altea, they have had the most intensive pushed onto them. “We’ve had no information from the schools, councils, or
RIGHT TO CHOOSE: The protest in Valencia on May 6. regional authority and people are a bit afraid about what’s going on.” Having appeared in local Spanish press, Kristin has been threatened with physical violence as tensions rise. Kristin is encouraging all parents with children in Spanish schools to attend the protest, which has been organised by a coalition of citizens’ groups. It will leave from the IES Jorge Juan school in Alicante City and end in front of the regional council’s offices. Walkers will be provided with placards and need to turn up before 7pm. For more information visit www.idiomasye ducacion.es/.
€9.5m fine for council THE regional council must pay €9.5 million after failing to honour a contract for construction of a coastal motorway. The Valencian High Court has ordered the Generalitat to hand over the money after the proposed €466.7 million CV-95 dual carriageway was scrapped in 2012. Construction companies awarded the contract in 2007 were left in limbo and out of pocket, and a court battle has been raging for the last three years. The current CV-95 is 28kms long and replaced the old C3323 road between Orihuela and Rojales, the A-332 from Bigastro to San Miguel de Salinas and the A-351 that connected San Miguel and Torrevieja. Intended to reduce congestion, the improvements would have increased the road to four lanes.
KRISTIN TENNEBØ: Reaching out to parents.
WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM