12-18 March 2010
Launching the forum, Miguel Ortiz (centre) and Maria Asunsion Prieto (second from right)
It’s good to talk by Jack Troughton MAYORS AND councillors from across the Province of Alicante are spearheading a new initiative to welcome European expats to Spain. The first European Residents Forum was staged at the Casa de Cultura in Ondara last Saturday to discuss the best ways of helping integrate people into Spanish society. Organised by the Partido Popular in Alicante, it was an opportunity for politicians to meet representatives from a number of associations and civil groups. And the PP acknowledges that expats from other European Union countries will have a powerful voice in the local elections of 2011. Miguel Ortiz, of the Alicante Senate, told a press conference the forum would be a platform for people from Europe and Norway to “speak about their concerns, problems and opinions.”
He said the inaugural meeting included representatives from 60 town halls across Alicante that had a population made up of more than 20 percent of expats. MEETINGS “There will be meetings every six months and there will be eight different locations for the forum across Alicante,” he told journalists. “The idea is to bring together the different criteria of the town halls so everyone can have a say and identify with this forum and insure everything is explained to them.” And Maria Asuncion Prieto, the Councillor for European Residents, said the next meeting would feature a mayor explaining his municipality’s experiences with European citizens from other countries, a councillor from another town responsible for helping expats and representatives of expat residents’ groups. “This is a very important forum because the 2011 elections are coming and of course European residents have full rights and can vote in them,” she explained. “They must know that the PP is taking steps to integrate these residents in Alicante and listen to what they have to say.”
Climate change threatens Spanish tourism Rising temperatures could mean fewer visitors to Spain’s beach resorts. A study called ‘Climate Change: reality and Fiction’ by professor Fernado Sapiña from Valencia University and Eduardo Fayos-Solà from Madrid, says that tourists might be put off as beaches become too hot. The report says that as the frequency of heat waves increases, tourists will choose to holiday further north, as beaches will become unbearably hot. The study also says that forest fires and a reduction in available water will be factors that could affect tourism.
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