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Late run BRITISH pensioners are flocking to Spain to see out their later years. A financial advice firm that helps Brits move to Europe said interest from UK retirees had doubled in 2017 as Brexit looms. But a migration expert warned any post-Brexit deal will make moving to the EU much harder for older British citizens. “The thing about retirees is they are expensive,” said John Springfield from the Centre for European Reform. “There is no way Spain would allow lots of Brits to retire there and use their health system unless young Spanish people could come and work in the UK. “If we don’t have free movement it is very unlikely we would have retirement rights.” A spokesman for Blevins Franks, which offers financial advice for people retiring into Spain, Portugal or France, said the company has seen a 20% to 25% increase in business. There had been 900 inquiries on its website in 2017, up from 450 the previous year.
Licence to ill RENTAL firms have hit back after being warned they face fines of up to €400,000 for advertising unlicensed properties. One British agent in Mallorca told the Olive Press she has lost around 40% of her rental homes following last week’s Balearic ruling. It comes as it was revealed Spain’s central government is examining if the new regulations, which aim to curb spiralling rental costs, break EU law. “They’ve never made it clear who can get a licence, how to get a licence,” said Clare Taylor, an agent who has lived in Mallorca for 17 years. “This is total scaremongering and it could flood the market with properties to sell.” She added: “Closing one property directly and indirectly affects about 15 people’s livelihoods.” This week, online rental platform giants Homeaway slashed its number of advertised Mallorca flats from 3,363 to 2,800. Businesses advertising properties on the site were given 15 days to comply, with unlicensed homeowners facing fines of €400,000. No new licences will be granted for one year under the government’s plan, with rental licencContinues on Page 5
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King Felipe VI of Spain has been looking cool while riding the waves at the Copa del Rey
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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: OLIVE PRESS TALKS TO ANTI-TOURIST ANARCHISTS Defiant antitourism activists Arran to ramp up Mallorca protests EXCLUSIVE By Joe Duggan
ANTI-TOURISM protesters have vowed to step up their campaign in Mallorca. In an exclusive interview with the Olive Press, a defiant Arran spokesperson added the anarchist group was not worried about a €1,200 fine for targeting a Palma restaurant popular with holidaymakers. “It won’t affect our summer campaign in the slightest bit,” he said. “And when the fine actually arrives - if it arrives we will appeal it in the first instance.” The hard-left activists, who are 500 strong between Catalunya and Mallorca, recently joined forces to plaster 1,000 rental cars with anti-tourism stickers. They have also held protests outside busy restaurants. It led to Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy to condemn Arran’s ‘crazy’ actions, with the group hitting back accusing him of ‘giving little importance’ to concerns over ‘unsustainable’ tourism. “We will continue to carry out all the actions we have planned this summer,” the spokesman, who refused to give his name, told the Olive Press this week. “We know tourism is something we can’t avoid, but we want people who come to enjoy our island to realise they are contributing to the contamination and destruction of Mallorca.” While refusing to give details of specific protests, Arran’s current campaign wants to ‘ban
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PROTESTS: Anti-tourism groups fly banners and spray graffiti aimed at tourists tourist flats, regulate rental prices and expropriate the main tourist businesses’. The spokesperson added: “The current situation is incompatible with (locals leading) a dignified life. A change in the economic model of the island is necessary.
“We don’t want to damage it, spraying diners with confetti as they unveiled anti-tourist banwe want to change it.” Arran, linked to the radical-left ners. group CUP, says its broad aims In Barcelona, Arran activists are to promote ‘feminism, inde- have vandalised tourist rental bikes and graffitied a tour bus, pendence and socialism’. Last month, 20 protesters but the group claims its controversial actions are justified. stormed aUntitled-1.pdf Palma restaurant, 1 16/06/2017 15:36 letting off smoke flares and “It is necessary to pressurise the
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government to find solutions,” the spokesperson continued. “We want tourists to see they have to consume responsibly so we can all enjoy this island.” Large tourist companies, the Balearic Islands government and Madrid are to blame for Mallorca’s ‘saturation’, the spokesperson claimed. During a visit to Palma last week, Rajoy raged: “What we can’t do is kick people who come here to spend money. That seems to me to be crazy.” Rafael Gallego, chair of the Spanish Association of Travel Agents (Feaav), branded the protesters 'fascists' and said he feared their actions will get worse.