Kate's Corner
Firstly, many thanks to those of you who managed to attend our AGM. Such events are often strictly official affairs, restricted as they are to electing committees, giving reports on items such as finance, membership and events already past, whilst laying out plans for the forthcoming year. However, there are always exceptions, especially when we are talking about EporE. This AGM was light-hearted, forward- looking and hugely constructive, just the ticket for 2011.
Our finances are not in the red, which doesn’t mean that donations are not always welcome, our committee is well stocked with experience, and enough new blood to ensure its continuing enthusiasm, and our plans for the year ahead are advancing apace.
We are able to announce the imminent start-up of groups in the Soller area, in Andraitx and on the island of Menorca, a significant expansion in our short life to date and one we should feel justifiably proud of. On this subject, since our AGM, I have received firm proposals to have initial meetings to the East of Mallorca, as well as Pollensa. Excellent news for EporE and further proof that we must be doing something right! For our Committee members, new and old, time to prepare for a greatly increased work load!
Expansion apart, our first events of the year should be the “European Citizenship” event scheduled for the 3rd March to be followed, towards the end of March by a further debate on Tourism. Let us see if all the recent political pre-elections inspired press on this vital subject holds any water in the harsh reality of the business itself.
All this in addition to our on-going efforts to persuade our European residents to register to vote, whilst continuing discussions on pending agreements with Endesa and Clinica Planas and no, we have not stopped our campaign to get back our Residencia Cards.
Consolidation, expansion, and a firm commitment to improve communications, especially in German and Spanish, seem more than enough at present, and don’t forget that if you have anything to contribute we are all ears.
On 22nd May we have the opportunity to cast our vote in the local council elections. Considering the unholy mess many of the Councils are in, this election is massively important. Be assured we will play our part. We will be monitoring information and reports received, and obviously keeping you all up to speed.
Lots to do and lots to look forward to.
Bring it on,
Kate
Rather appropriately, considering we are presently finalizing plans for our forthcoming ‘Tourism Two’ debate, the local press has recently been awash with articles on tourism. Treating the widely reported government induced spin of ‘a great season’, ‘tourist spending up’, occupation leaps’ and the ‘green shoots of recovery are here’ as the rubbish they are we are left with a distinctly hollow feeling. If it wasn’t so tragic it would be laughable. If you can find a local bar, shop or restaurant open (after all we are now in November!) ask the owner how 2010 panned out. I have, on dozens of occasions. The answers were fairly predictable. “Awful”, “disastrous”, “terminal”with the odd, “could be worse” or “we survived” thrown in for good measure. In truth the replies to “how’s it gone” were mostly unprintable and with good reason.
Since the six party coalition came to power in 2007 we have watched in helpless amazement what could aptly be described as a cynical game of musical chairs with no less than four Ministers of Tourism flying in and out of arguably the most important office in the Baleares, whilst the industry it is supposed to support floundered in confusion. Far from creating an atmosphere of confidence the ins and outs, mostly outs, suffered by the Ministry that should be helping us all to achieve our respective and collective incomes has only succeeded in creating confusion, chaos and despair. On a lighter note, but not for us, the great unwashed, it has succeeded in giving our competitors throughout Spain and indeed Worldwide a thumping good belly laugh.
Here’s a simple question for our ‘great leaders’. If you were opening a business specializing in state of the art electrical supplies, targeting sales to an international market would you employ a local potato farmer to lead your team? No, then why do they continue to appoint Ministers for Tourism who have no background in the trade, no knowledge of the same, speak but one language ( but can order a beer in another) and think the World ends at the horizon of the Bay of Palma. Harsh comments but what do you think?
What some of the real leaders of the industry we all live off in one way or another think came to light during the first National Congress on Tourism recently launched in Palma. The Vice President of the Sol Melia group, Sebastián Escarrer said it like it is when he criticized the utter disco-ordination of the various administrations, the unnecessary complications of the autonomous states, the absence of leadership (must have had the Baleares in mind for that one) the 17 laws of tourist ordenación, the 17 classifications of hotels, closing of beach bars (chiringuitos), limitations on hours of opening of commercial premises and the increase in I.V.A. With the understandable exception of the Secretary General for Tourism, Joan Mesquida ( demoted by President Zapatero as a minister, as was his ministry ) and his Balearic colleague, Joana Barceló, who think everything is fine, the rest of the professionals attending were equally caustic.
At the risk of promoting as much boredom as a Francesc Antich speech, which has be know to put bricks to sleep, I will close the point with the light hearted comment of Sr Pablo Piñero who noted that apart from the major problems already mentioned he, as owner of the Hotels Bahia Príncipe and Soltour, wished to make the assembly aware that one of the reasons for the drop in tourists from Spain was Catalan road signs in Mallorca meant tourists cannot find their way around!
On the subject of Sra Joana Barceló, said Balearic Consellera for Tourism went to the press on Monday 1st November to justify the exclusion of the publicity images of Rafel Nadal designated for use at the London Tourist Fair scheduled for the 8th to the 11th November. Ignoring the fact that Rafa has just been voted the second most well known sportsman in the World or the fact that he beat George Clooney on the ‘desirability poll’ or that he has a year to run on his contract Sra Barceló said she has reached an agreement on the governments breach of contract. That’s all right then.
Elections are looming both at local and regional level. Hopefully the leaders of the respective parties vying for victory will make sure that when it comes to naming their respective Ministers or Councilors for Tourism they will ensure that their candidates are qualified, have the necessary background, can communicate in the necessary languages and are held in high regard by the industry they are employed to promote and support, Anything else is unacceptable particularly when we have enough professionals to satisfy the needs of our Islands. Appointments to satisfy some misty political debt simply won’t do will they?
The Vote…. ‘.We are not all equal’
On Sunday October 3rd, Andrew Ede, who writes ‘The Blog’ in our good old Daily Bulletin, turned his attention to a letter in Viewpoint by Louis Jones under the heading ‘We are not all equal’. Both the letter and the Blog were on a subject very near to the collective and individual hearts of both myself and the ever growing membership of EporE. Unsurprisingly the subject was the right to vote or the lack of it, Surprisingly Andrew began with a statement that paying tax does not confer the right to participate in a political process (the right to vote).
He then went on to mention disenfranchisement, a subject well known to an estimated 50,000,000 Europeans who have taken advantage of the supposed advantages of the movement of labour within Europe and are now resident in a country other than that of their birth, where they dwell without the right to participate in the very political process their taxes support.
Sr Ede concluded that only nationals should vote in national elections, that he has no problem with that and feels ‘almost’ certain that the rule is written in stone and will be unlikely to change (nearly his words). If history teaches us anything it teaches that laws so glaringly out of touch with the reality of the twenty first century that deny certain sections of society their most basic right, the right to vote in every aspect of the political process of the country in which he or she is resident and pays taxes, will eventually change. The disenfranchised will ultimately prevail as ‘sure as eggs is eggs,’ to quote my dear old Grandmother. Hopefully we will not have to resort to the methods of the so called ‘weaker sex’ who were cynically denied the right to vote in the not so distant past. Chaining ourselves to an appropriate and very visible set of railings, setting fire to a politicians house or throwing ourselves under King Juan Carlos’s horse to gain the recognition we deserve and the publicity we crave for our cause may be glamorous and might actually work but EporE would prefer that we get noticed by registering on the census in numbers that will force the doubters to blink in a glare that cannot be ignored, much as certain sections of the Spanish political scene would like it to be.
Louis Jones, who is partly responsible for me penning this article, has been on Mallorca working and paying taxes for twelve years and has never had a satisfactory answer as to why non Spanish Europeans cannot have a say in electing Central Government. Further, Louis asks if the said Central Government doesn’t credit non Spaniards with the intelligence to understand the issues at stake? Louis, we at EporE have not had a satisfactory answer either and we likewise puzzle at the intelligence issue. Rest assured we will continue with our campaign which, with your help and the help of your friends, family and associates will succeed.
The first step is to register on the census, the second step is to see that your friends, family and neighbours do the same and the third step is to vote. Nuff said?
Footnote: The latest figures related to the census as published in the Diario de Mallorca of 6th October are a huge boost to EporE. When we were inaugurated in 2009 just 12,000 non Spanish Europeans had registered to vote. That figure has risen to 19,906 and is continuing to increase, an excellent indicator that our determination and hard work is beginning to achieve results. Give yourselves a hearty pack on the back Europeos por España.
Following on from the ‘good news, bad news’ regarding electricity and the disgusting 35% increase in charges foisted on us during Spain’s seemingly endless financial and social crisis it is interesting to note that, despite the temporary respite achieved by no increase in July, whispers in the corridors of power have it that October looks likely to see a further 4% hike in charges!. Whilst on the vexed subject of utilities and the ongoing upward spiral of costs to us, the beleaguered consumer, hidden away in the back pages of one of the Spanish dailies was a little note that the price of natural gas had been increased by a paltry 8%. Hardly worth commenting on when compared to electricity! Worthy of comment though is the fact that our very own Balearic President, Francesc Antic, was recently pictured, arm in arm with someone or other from Gesa / Endesa who is promoting the increase in usage of said natural gas. The move has Sr Antic’s unstinted and total support’ yet there is nary a mention of the cost despite the fact that the new generators now on line in Mallorca are powered up by the self same natural gas. Methinks this doesn’t bode well for the consumer.
What about solar energy then. Well, despite the much vaunted declarations of President Zapatero, who only last year stated unequivocally that “renewable energies should become the new engines of growth in Spain”, solar farms (photovoltaic) are to see aid slashed by 45% whilst subsidies on solar panels will shrink by 25%. Sad really as Spain has plowed thousands of millions into renewables and possesses the largest photovoltaic’s in the World besides increasing output from this source to 20% of total consumption from the 5% of 2000. Sounds like a case of three steps forward and two steps back unless we are talking about paying our electricity bills in which case every step is sure to be a step up!
The rights of the passenger
If, like me you have travelled to and from the Islands by ferry you will doubtless have recanted countless tales of, cancellation, booking cock ups, rubbish or no food, poor or non existent service and much, much, more to anyone who will listen. The ´anyone who will listen’ excluded the ferry companies who until now had no obligation in law related to passengers. Dogs, cats and animals in general plus goods had ‘rights’ but not poor old Josè Public. As a member of the much abused Josè Public clan I am therefore delighted to pass on the news that the European Parliament has reached an agreement regarding the rights of passengers which states that compensation should be paid for delays of more than one and a half hours, plus, there is to be an indemnity in the case of accidents. ‘Pity these rules were not in place two years ago when a four hour fast ferry trip to Denia took me fifteen . Still, better late than never eh!
If you are working have a bumper August. If you have decided to join the millions on holiday, enjoy whatever it is you have decided to do, or wherever you have decided to go and take factor thirty something with you because the forecast is its going to be a hot one.
There has been no movement in Kate´s Corner for a more than a few weeks ( sorry ) for the simple reason that said Kate and the entire executive of EporE plus an endless list of Nautical Associations and related professionals have been working flat out to ensure that Friday the 25th of June’s Nautical Congress, ‘Oportunidades para la Industria y Turismo Nauticos’ happened as it should. Members and non members alike will now be aware of the efforts of all involved and the outstanding success of the conference. As I said in opening the event, quoting Oscar Siches, “so far as I remember there has never been such a focused group of people contributing to such a cause in Spain” and believe me that was and is true. This is an ongoing lobby that has achieved what it set out to do thus far but must continue unabated and in the same vein with the same passion to succeed.
On a different note our EporE ‘Roadshow’ begins in Soller town on Thursday 1st July at 19.00hrs in the Gran Hotel. Thanks in advance to Andreu Gelabert for providing such a superb venue and Anne Nicholas and Michel Taymans for their work and invaluable support. On the subject of support those members who can find the time are welcome to come along and enjoy a cocktail or two!
As soon as we have collected the last of the thousands of signatures for our campaign to get back our residencia cards we will be presenting same to the Delegacion de Gobierno (National Government Authority) with a covering letter. Thanks to all who have contributed and be assured that this campaign will not loose its momentum but will be pushed as hard as we can. Its worth noting that pressure can create results as witness the article on our site reference Electricity. The cancelation in the short term of further price rises and in particular the July 1st 2.5% rise shows that lobbying can succeed!
We are presently well advanced in planning our next conference on matters touristic, which will concentrate on the airport and airlines aspect, and is scheduled for the second half of September. Members will be advised well in advance.´
Oops nearly forgot! On voting rights of the European citizens of Spain we have had a reply from President Sr Zapatero which we will publish with translations. Basically he shows little interest in furthering the cause of European non-Spanish residents in their plea to be allowed to vote in Regional, Island Council and National elections. Said letter is with our team to evaluate his comment. Ours will follow as will our campaign!
Previous Articles
Its been an interesting few weeks for EporE with a major conference success in Palma and mountains of support at the Calvia `Dia de Europa´
Thanks to the efforts of our committee and volunteers, over 180 members and guests attended our Europa Actual conference at the Es Baluard Museum on the Maritimo in Palma. A superb effort by all and proof to the authorities and speakers that we are interested and we care! Euro MP Rosa Estaras was delighted by the enthusiasm of those attending and surprised at the knowledge of those who questioned her at the post conference glass of bubbly on the museum terrace as was special guest, Jose Ramon Bauza, newly elected Partido Popular President. However, the most surprised lady of the evening was ex Euro MP and co-ordinator for 
the unification of Germany project, Anne Karin Glase, whose jaw dropped when she saw a full room at a local European debate. Apparently at home in Brandenburg a European conference is a hit if 15 people turn up! It was interesting to hear her grim tale of East Germany under Communist rule, the suppression, the restrictions and the hopelessness of life without freedom, without expression and without the right to vote. Even more interesting was her declaration that she never dreamed in those dark days that one day she would be standing in front of a room full of Europeans of different nationalities talking of her past and dreaming of the future. Makes you think doesn't it. Thanks are also due to Catalina Alemany, director of the Centro Baleares Europa who sponsored all costs for the event, including the cava and picks.
Dia de Europa, the now famous Calvia Europe Day Bash was a resounding success, especially in these times of recession, with over 25,000 visitors during the day ( which equals the best year ). Certainly the stallholders did well with one selling her entire stock by mid-day, albeit to a wealthy individual who took a fancy to both her and her wares! The artists were superb as usual and yet again worked for absolutely nothing other than the chance to see and be seen, something that continues to amaze Majorcan visitors to the event. For EporE, apart from collecting a few new members, the day produced reams of signatures for our 'we demand the return of our residency carnet' campaign which was the major point of the exercise. Thanks to Steve Baggaley who manned the stand all day, Abi Vine who arrived with the early birds, ex President Richard Porter, and David Hammond who popped in and out like a deranged cuckoo. On the subject of the forms for said campaign, could those of you out there who have them now filled in to bursting point please arrange to let Steve Baggaley have them. You can always catch him at Go Logo in El Toro. Alternatively, ring Abi on 608680969 and she will let you know how to arrange collection or delivery.
That's it for now but be assured the horizon is bristling with goodies during the next few weeks, all of which you will all be advised of in good time.
As the world's economic crisis deepened last year, and reality finally reached the shores of our paradise island, many many small and medium sized businesses of Calvia, and the rest of Mallorca came to talk to me, at the Town Hall, but much more in the street or in their place of business. Some were sad, some were confused, some were angry, others simply desperate. "What can we do"? they said.
Obviously, we cannot change the world order, nor can we put world-wide banking right with the flick of a wrist. Here in Mallorca, we nearly all live from Tourism, an enormous industry that supplies Spain with some 11% of its income, but which supplies the Balearic Islands with around 80% of its earnings - in the municipality of Calvia, this is 100%! Nearly all non-Spanish owned businesses here earn their income directly or indirectly from Tourism. "What can we do?".......
What everyone can do is get informed, and get involved! The vast majority of those who come to talk to me have no other source of advice other than their lawyer or gestor. They are not members, at least not active members, of any trade association or group, nor do they personally get involved with their Neighbourhood Associations, even less do they contact their elected Councillors or Town Hall staff.
If this describes your situation, take a first step of getting informed and getting involved AND JOIN EPORE! This Association aims to give you, the citizen of Mallorca, a voice - which, with numbers, can and will be heard. As a lobby on your behalf with municipal, regional and national authorities and politicians, we actively lobby for the matters that our members choose as the subjects of most importance to them!
Tourism in all its many aspects
- The residency card fracaso
- The scandalous price increase and chaos in our electricity supply
- The right to vote for our Regional Government and Island Councils, as well as our Town Halls.
- The disastrous language policy mortgaging our children's future
- Etc etc, etc!