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Gibraltar supporter in new Catalan Government
Gibraltar supporter Josep Lluis Carod-Rovira is poised to become the number two in the new Catalan Government. Mr Carod-Rovira, who is the Leader of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, has been to Gibraltar for National Day twice in the past to support our right to self-determination.
NATIONALIST
It will be recalled that in December 2001, in a visit to Catalunya, Mr Caruana met with Mr Carod-Rovira and visited the Catalan Parliament with him. The Catalan nationalist has also met with Opposition Leader Joe Bossano and Liberal Leader Dr Joseph Garcia in Gibraltar.
Esquerra is both a nationalist and an independist party which wants Catalunya to become an independent state. The new Government of Catalunya is expected to be a coalition between the Catalan PSOE (PSC) and the independists of Esquerra Republicana.
NEGOTIATIONS
This followed a process of negotiations between Esquerra and the moderate nationalists of Covergencia i Unio who had previously been in Government for 23 years. Although Convergencia won the elections, they failed to obtain an overall majority in the Catalan Parliament following the retirement of veteran politician Jordi Pujol and his replacement with the younger Artur Mas.
Convergencia obtained 46 seats in the Parliament, the Socialists 42, Esquerra 23, the Partido Popular 15 and Izquierda Unida-EA 9. Esquerra more than doubled its 1999 showing of 12 seats.
The Socialist Leader and former Barcelona Mayor Pascual Maragall is now widely expected to be voted in as President of the Generalitat following the deal which has been struck between Socialists and independists.
WINDOW OPENS
The new Government opens a window for Gibraltar and shows the value of having invited Spanish nationalist politicians to come here for National Day in the past. This practice has now stopped and no more have been invited.
Over the years various Esquerra Parliamentarians, including their Party Leader, have come here to support Gibraltar's right to self-determination. This included the then Party Leader Angel Colom and their MP in the Spanish Parliament in Madrid Pilar Raola. Both have since left the party.
GOVERNMENT
Mr Carod-Rovira replaced Mr Colom at the helm of Esquerra. He first visited Gibraltar when he was the spokesman for the party's parliamentary group in the Catalan Parliament. His second visit was with his then Party Leader Angel Colom. Catalan National Day is on 11 September so both had to rush back home after the Casemates rally.
Esquerra Republicana have also voted against the regular resolution of the Spanish Cortes which calls for the return of Gibraltar to Spain. The Esquerra Leader Josep Lluis Carod-Rovira will become the "conseller en cap" which is the number 2 in the new Catalan Government.
Opposition attacks absence of Environmental charter
The Opposition has reacted to the story in yesterday's PANORAMA that the Foreign & Commonwealth Office will be doubling the amount it provides to the Overseas Territories Environment Programme (OTEP).
GSLP/Liberal pokesman on the Environment Fabian Picardo has pointed out that these funds are designed to support the Overseas Territories to develop and implement action plans under their respective Environmental Charters. He further explained that all the Overseas Territories with a resident population have signed Environmental Charters, dated September 2001, except for Gibraltar.
The Opposition statement added that this is despite the GSD having committed themselves to the implementation of an Environmental Charter in their Manifesto for the 2000 election. "They failed to deliver on that commitment. As a result of this, it would appear that Gibraltar will be the only Overseas Territory with a resident population that will be unable to take advantage of the new £3m fund," says a statement.
The Opposition says that it has acquired copies of the Environmental Charters and Commitments entered into by all the other Overseas Territories which have a resident population. All are in largely identical and unobjectionable terms and are dated September 2001. They are signed by the Chief Minister (or equivalent) of each of the Overseas Territories.
Mr Picardo added that the Charters were very similar to the commitments given by the GSLP/Liberals during the elections last month.
GSD have no scruples on health, says Opposition
It is quite an appalling situation to have recently seen the new Minister for Health, Mr Ernest Britto, appear in an interview on GBC two days ago, giving his explanations as to the backlog elimination of patients on the waiting list for cataract surgery,” says opposition health spokesperson Mari Montegriffo.
In a statement she adds: “The GSD Government have absolutely no scruples in selling to the people of Gibraltar a story which is absolutely the very opposite of the truth.
This exercise to eliminate the backlog of cataract operations was first announced by the then Minister for Health, Bernard Linares, just before the elections, and we reacted then accusing the Government of looking for quick solutions only because the elections were literally round the corner.
Mr Britto, however, cannot hide behind the truth when it is down on record in Hansard during many meetings of the House of Assembly, when we have been warning the Government of the dramatic rise in waiting lists regarding all specialities for quite a number of years. We have been able to come to this conclusion by simply looking at the statistics that they have provided us. Only in the last meeting of the House during question time, and already there were 335 people in the list for Opthalmic surgical interventions.
How, then, can Mr Britto now say that it was thanks to the Senior Citizens Association, who brought the matter to the attention of the Chief Minister, that they have been made aware that there was a long waiting list? The Government is therefore admitting that they were not aware of situation. This is the height of hypocrisy which continues to be shown by a Government that have consistently publicly denied that waiting lists had significantly increased. All specialities have increased according to the information that have supplied us. It is shameful for the Government to admit now that backlogs exist and had they reacted when we kept warning them since just over 4 years ago, our elderly patients would not have had to suffer unnecessarily.
Moreover, the Government seem incapable of solving problems without the help of experts. Anybody knows that by engaging extra consultants and providing extra manpower during weekends, waiting lists in any speciality can be cut.
If this is the manner in which the GSD Government are going to continue handling our Health Services, especially as they have now been in office for nearly eight years, it is now clear to everybody that any significant improvements in the future are questionable.”
Government issue paper on EU Treaty
The Gibraltar Government last night issued a ten page paper in relation to the on-going negotiations on the new EU Constitutional Treaty. These negotiations are still underway in Rome at an Inter-governmental level. Italy has the rotating presidency of the EU until the end of the year and would like to see the document agreed.
In a statement, No 6 Convent Place says that the paper describes the main issues of interest and concern, "or of potential interest and concern" to Gibraltar as identified by the Gibraltar Government themselves. It also includes the United Kingdom's views and position on these matters.
The issues at stake are important to Gibraltar. They include the question of the territorial scope of the Constitution, as well as the effect of the merger of the First and Third Pillars of business on Spain's ability to exclude Gibraltar from certain types of EU business. The question of competent authorities and contact points in Gibraltar is also an issue raised.
The demarcation of borders and the territorial integrity of the State are also some of the points that have been raised with the United Kingdom. The exclusion of the associated territories from the voluntary withdrawal from the EU separately from the whole Member State, and the question of the inclusion of Gibraltarians in the definition of Citizens of the Union are also addressed in the paper.
The Gibraltar Government has also asked the UK to ensure that it will be able to prevent the EU from adopting a position which is unfavourable to Gibraltar on foreign policy issues in the future.
How will latest defence cuts affect Gibraltar?
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has unveiled a major shake-up of the armed forces as a devastating report laid bare the chronic shortages which hit British troops in Iraq. The Army, Navy and RAF were all braced for large-scale cutbacks as ministers moved to reshape Britain's military to concentrate on the fight against global terrorism.
The scale and impact of these latest cutbacks on Gibraltar and on the core functions of the military base here are not yet known. The latest figures made available in Parliament reveal that there are now 410 British service personnel based locally.
SEVERE CUTS
Gibraltar has undergone severe military cutbacks over the years. Indeed, 60% of our economy was once based on military defence spending, and the MOD were traditionally the largest employer. That figure is believed to have shrunk to about 3% in a comparatively short period of time, as Gibraltar has adjusted from a defence orientated economy to a commercial one.
The largest cutbacks in Gibraltar followed the defence review of the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Government. The closure of the naval dockyard which was once the largest employer in Gibraltar, was announced in 1983. It closed down soon afterwards. The resident batallion of British troops, who had no NATO role and whose sole function was to defend Gibraltar against Spain (or any other threat), was withdrawn in 1991. This meant that for the first time the defence of Gibraltar was directly in the hands of the Gibraltar Regiment.
GIBRALTAR REGIMENT
However, the conversion of the Regiment into infantry batallions, and the loss of the blow-pipe surface to air missiles that came later meant that for the first time Gibraltar had, and continues to have, no air defence. There were also cutbacks in the RAF based locally in 1999.
It is known that the latest cutbacks will hit warships and the RAF's planned new Eurofighter in a bid to make the forces more flexible.
Overall troop numbers will not be reduced, however, and it appears that Mr Hoon has won a fight against a Treasury move to slash his department's budget.
The biggest immediate reforms are likely to come in support and logistical services - which attracted the fiercest criticism during the war in Iraq.
STRATEGIC
Mr Hoon said the objective was to set out a strategy to ensure "we have the right kind, shape, nature of armed forces to deal with the new strategic environment in which we operate". He told Radio 4's Today programme: "Certainly, there should be more going into technology. We have a rising defence budget, we have more than £3 billion in real terms extra available to spend on defence.
"I want to spend a significant proportion of that extra money on communications capability."
A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) has shown how British soldiers were so badly supplied that thousands lacked body armour, desert boots or proper uniforms even after the conflict was over. The problem led to the Desert Rats being labelled the Borrowers by their US counterparts because the Americans had to lend so much equipment.
SUPPLY CHAIN
The supply chain was so bad that one frontline unit in Kuwait sent soldiers to a base in Oxfordshire to find basic equipment designed to protect them from nuclear, chemical or biological attack.
Other critical mistakes included:
1 Tens of thousands of items of kit failing to make it to the front - including 50,000 desert jackets and trousers which did not arrive before the invasion
2 No system to track supplies being delivered to Kuwait to make sure they went where they were supposed to
3 Massive shortages of spares, leading to a fifth of the Challengers which remained in Britain and Germany being cannibalised
4 All-terrain vehicles having to be bought back from the private sector firms to which they were sold in the last few years - at a "substantial" premium on the selling price.
The report has also revealed how soldiers were forced to eat their battlefield rations because food supplies did not reach forward units, badly affecting morale. Despite the severe criticism, the NAO praised two pieces of equipment which in the past have been at the centre of controversy.
CHALLENGER TANK
The Challenger II tank failed badly in a previous exercise in the desert, but worked "magnificently" in Iraq, while the SA-80 assault rifle, heavily modified after jamming in other combat actions, also worked well.
And it lavished praise on British troops, who it will say managed to overcome the problems to achieve all their military objectives with just 57 lives lost, and turn to peace-keeping duties almost instantly.
But the report details a string of concerns about the supply of protective equipment supposed to deal with a chemical, biological or nuclear attack.
COMMUNICATIONS
Mr Hoon's shake-up is expected to hit frontline forces as more effort is focused on computer-based command and communication systems.
The Army will lose the equivalent of one regiment, about 50 Challenger II tanks, and at least one regiment of about 32 medium artillery pieces.
The Navy expects to lose three Type 42 destroyers and two new Type 23 frigates are expected to be sold to Chile. The trickiest problem is in cutting the number of new Typhoon Eurofighters for the RAF.
Iberia poised to have finger in GB Airways pie
The approval by the European Commission to allow British Airways and Iberia to operate a six-year alliance could herald a full-blown merger in the future, and if that happens, Iberia would have a finger in the GB Airways pie.
The British Airways/Iberia linkage is seen as necessary to rival the recently announced link-up between Air France and KLM.
FRANCHISE
In Gibraltar terms, GB Airways flies the colours of British Airways as part of a franchise agreement which has been particularly lucrative for GB Airways.
The airline that was born in Gibraltar and subsequently ended up being registered in the Channel Islands, has been provided by British Airways with a substantial number of air routes, mainly to touristic destinations in Spain and elsewhere, which the UK airline wanted to rid itself of, whilst they concentrated principally on business flights.
As Iberia starts to build inroads into the new deal, will GB Airways be affected at some time in the future?
It would make sense that Iberia should operate, or have a say, in the kind of routes that British Airways has been getting rid of.
It is to be presumed that GB Airways have a franchise agreement that could not be easily broken over a number of years, if that were to be the intention at some point in the future, which as present is not the case.
GROWING LINKS
Be that as it may, growing links between the UK and the Spanish carrier are bound to have local repercussions at some stage, particularly if the new arrangement just cleared by the EU leads to some kind of a merger.
For the moment, the two airlines have received anti-trust immunity for 6 years of their commercial agreement. British Airways already owns 9 per cent of Iberia and has two members on its board, so a deepening relationship appears inevitable.
The European Commission says the EU does not require to have flag-carriers for each of its member states.
PA says Andalucia will not be a whole without Gibraltar
The Secretary General of the Partido Andalucista Antonio Ortega has said that the unity of Andalucia will not be complete without Gibraltar.
He made these comments in a speech in Granada on the theme of "Andalucia lo nuestro". Mr Ortega urged all political parties in Andalucia to press the central Government in Madrid to remove the frontier and to ensure that Gibraltar complied with EU law.
He said that it was necessary to place the Gibraltar issue at the top of the regional political agenda in order to build bridges with the people of Gibraltar. It was also necessary to surmout outdated concepts like sovereignty and frontiers.
Mr Ortega will be his party's candidate for the elections to the regional Government, the Junta de
Andalucia.
Gibraltar already behind with Euro Election register
The deadline for inclusion in the United Kingdom Register of Electors for the European elections is 13 April 2004, which is seven weeks before election day. This was confirmed to PANORAMA by the Electoral Commission yesterday.
In Britain European Union citizens are entitled to be included in the register of local Government elections and for European Parliamentary elections only. This is because under EU law, the nationals of all member states can vote in the municipal elections of the member state in which they are resident. The same applies to European elections.
MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS
Therefore a British person who lives in Spain can vote for the town council where he lives and can vote for a Spanish MEP for the region that his town belongs to.
Gibraltar is different because there are no municipal elections here. The elections to the House of Assembly are regarded as national parliamentary elections.
However, a Register will have to be compiled, along with the United Kingdom register, given that UK law and practice has been extended to Gibraltar for the purposes of the European elections, as if we were a part of the South West.
SOUTH WEST REGION
The United Kingdom has already published its Register of Electors on 1 December 2003. Every Council will publish the changes made to this list every month from January 2004. This system will end on 13 April when the Register closes.
In Gibraltar, qualifying Commonwealth Citizens as well as European Union nationals who are resident need to be added on to the Register. Presumably, an attempt will also be made to allow those persons who were not in the Register and who could not vote in the General Elections of 2003 to put themselves back in. Given that the UK Register is open, ours should also be open.
CLOSING DATE
It is clear that this should be done on the same monthly basis as is being done in the United Kingdom, with the same closing date. The electors in this part of the South West region are entitled to the same rights, deadlines and benefits as their counterparts in mainland Britain.
There are several questions which need to be answered. Do we have a register which was ready and compiled by 1 December 2003? Do we have the opportunity for potential electors who are entitled to be included to be so included on a monthly basis? Will the different draft registers be available for inspection at the end of every month as in the United Kingdom until 13 April 2004? Only time will tell, but the indications are that we already running behind.
Former SAS Gibraltar Commander in accident
The former Commander of the SAS team that shot dead three IRA bombers in Gibraltar in 1988 has lost a leg in a traffic accident. Reports allege that a drunk teenage driver crushed Lieutenant General Sir Cedric Delves against a wall in the town of Maastricht in the Netherlands. Surgeons had to amputate the leg. Sir Cedric currently holds a top NATO post.
Where do you hoarde your money?
The latest edition of the international finance centre magazine "Portfolio International" highlights the fact that from next month all finance centres will have one year to fall in line with the European Union's Savings Tax Directive. This will also include Gibraltar.
TAX ON SAVINGS
The aim of the measure is to ensure that those who deposit money in accounts outside their EU Member State of residence do not evade paying tax on the interest that they earn. The measure is intended to target persons who are hoarding away hundreds of thousands of pounds, or even millions in offshore bank accounts. Its unfortunate effect may well be that that these high-flyers may escape the net by converting into companies, or using other imaginative solutions, whereas the less wealthly middle earning person will be the one caught out.
At present three EU states, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg have negotiated a special deal in respect of deposit accounts held in their countries. Whereas everyone else, including Gibraltar, will be subject to exchange of information with the Exchequers of other countries. These three countries will enjoy what are called transitional provisions. This means that instead of exchanging information with your tax authorities, presumably about who you are and how much money you have hoarded away, they will instead a apply the tax to your savings and pay it automatically to your EU state of residence. This is known as a withholding tax.
INFORMATION EXCHANGE
The Gibraltar Government tried at the time to ensure that Gibraltar was also allowed to enjoy these transitional provisions but the British Government would not agree. This means that account holders in Gibraltar banks will be subject to the same exchange of information measures that will be applied in most other EU countries. The Channel Islands were given a choice between exchanging information and paying the tax automatically without giving any information away. Not surprisingly, they intend to opt for the withholding tax option, although there are reports that the Inland Revenue in London is applying pressure for information on persons having accounts there to be exchanged with them.
A withholding tax in the Channel Islands would mean that a Gibraltarian who has a bank account in Jersey, and is earning undeclared levels of interest, will be taxed on those interest savings automatically and the money paid over. However, under the exchange of information system it means that the tax authorities here will probably find out who you are what you have been up to.
TAX AMNESTY
"Portfolio International" says that last year the United States, Italy and South Africa offered amnesties for residents who had illegally held undeclared assets outside their country. It is not known whether the Gibraltar Government has a similar plan.
The financial publication adds that the tax investigation and the tax amnesty are two weapons in the hands of EU Exchequers. However, it adds that "not content with the tactics above, the UK's Inland Revenue is planning its own investigations into money held offshore. Indeed, one senior Jersey banker revealed that money held in its banks was already about as safe from the UK taxman as cash held at the HSBC in Westminster."
Gibraltar link in Spain-Morocco cable
Reports from Italy indicate that a high voltage power cable between Spain and Morocco will pass through Gibraltar. This follows the award of a contract worth sixty million euros to the Italian firm Pirelli, which is also known for making motorvehicle tyres.
The director of the company's Cables and Energy division Valerio Battista is quoted as saying that the high voltage cables, which will pass trough the British colony of Gibraltar will allow the transfer of energy between Spain and Morroco in both directions. The risk of overloading and consequent power cuts was therefore reduced.
It is possible that the term "Straits of Gibraltar" may have been confused with the actual territory of Gibraltar as such, given that nothing has been said locally about this project.
St George Backing for Gibraltar George Cross
The Royal Society of St George - the organisation that promotes "loyalty, duty and service to England" - is backing the campaign for Gibraltar to be awarded the George Cross, says a statement.
MALTA
Speaking at a meeting of the Society at the former Battle of Britain airfield of West Malling in Kent, Andy Smith (Past President of the Chartered Institute of Journalists and an Official Observer in the Gibraltar Referendum 2002) called for the GC to be granted to the people of The Rock as it had been to the Maltese for their defiance of Nazi Germany in WWII, "in recognition of the spirit of resistance and loyalty to Britain shown by successive generations of Gibraltarians over the centuries. Gibraltar has defied England's enemies, whether from France, Spain or Germany, throughout the past three centuries and we in the Society believe that the Rock should be Gibraltar GC", Mr Smith told the meeting.
TERCENTENARY
Mr Smith, who serves on the Society's Governing Council, urged his fellow Society members to play an active part in next year's tercentenary celebrations of British Gibraltar, and reminded them that it was their duty under their Royal Charter to "advance the cause of England and the British Commonwealth" at all times. This meant celebrating England's links with people and territories throughout the world with which there is a shared British heritage and a deeply-rooted belief in freedom, justice and fair play. "Too often, politicians in London have disregarded our 'fellow British' around the globe, people who cherish the Union Jack as much as anyone in England does, and sometimes those politicians have not merely neglected them but betrayed them. We must stand together under the flag, defending our shared British values and ideals."
GUEST SPEAKER
The special guest speaker at the West Malling event, which was hosted by the local North Downs Branch of the Society, was the distinguished Australian academic, constitutional expert and world-renowned medical researcher, Professor John Walker-Smith. The Professor criticised the "retreat from Empire" (the policy of successive UK governments) Professor Walker-Smith called for a revival of the bonds of kinship which have served us so well in peacetime and in war. He noted how resilient these ancestral links continue to be, especially in the light of modern Australia's vote to retain the monarchy.
UNION JACK
Afterwards the Society's national chairman John Clemence gave a major speech setting out the Society's aims for 2004, as well as reviewing its achievements over the course of the past year. He called for a more vigorous defence of England and Englishness.
The Union Jack, the Cross of St George, the Royal Navy's White Ensign and the Royal Air Force flag, and the Gibraltar flag were all prominently displayed at the Society's event, as well as the Australian national flag (still bearing the Union Jack to mark its proud British heritage).
The Royal Society of St George has around 10,000 members in the UK and many more in the Commonwealth and around the world, making it potentially a powerful force promoting Britishness and the British way of life. Plans are under way for the formation of a new Gibraltar Branch in tercentenary year 2004.
Spain postpones Gibraltar Eurovote challenge
The Spanish Government has backed down from tabling a legal challenge to the extension of the Eurovote to Gibraltar in the European Court.
Spanish Sectretary of State for Europe Ramon de Miguel has declared that "for the time being" Madrid is not considering mounting a legal challenge against the United Kingdom in the European Court of Justice over this issue.
The United Kingdom formally extended the right to vote in European elections to Gibraltar in May of this year when the European Parliamentary Representation Act received Royal Assent. This set down the legal framework for the combination of Gibraltar with a constituency in the United Kingdom.
In July, Madrid filed a formal complaint with the European Commission against the manner in which London had enfranchised Gibraltar. The Spanish complaint centered on the fact that Commonwealth Citizens, who are not EU Nationals, will be able to vote in elections in Gibraltar (as they do in the United Kingdom). The Spanish Government also argued that the fact that Gibraltar was being enfranchised by changing British law alone, leaving the European Act on Direct Elections of 1976 intact, was illegal.
The European Commission's legal service issued a report in October, after considerable delay, which was not favourable to the Spanish thesis. In a wording that raised eyebrows locally, it also urged both sides, the UK and Spain, to find a solution to the problem.
The British Government made it clear at the outset that it was confident of its legal position and that it would robustly resist any Spanish challenge on this issue. That court case will not happen for now.
Self-Determination Group launch Gibraltar Awards
The SDGG in a statement have drawn attention to the fact that yesterday was the 55th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
"The SDGG takes this opportunity to announce that it is launching a new annual event to be known as The Gibraltar Awards.
These awards will be made annually to people who have contributed significantly to the emancipation or political development of the Gibraltarians or to the democratisation of Gibraltar", said a statement.
New jury list ready including women
In a statement yesterday the Supreme Court advised the public that a new jury list has been compiled by the Registrar. This list will contain women for the first time.
This followed the decision by the Privy Council which declared that women also had to be eligible for jury service in Gibraltar. The Privy Council at the time upheld the view of Chief Justice Schofield of Gibraltar that the existence of all-male juries was unconstitutional. This had been previously overturned by the Court of Appeal. As a result of this jury trials were suspended until a new list was prepared.
SPECIAL REASONS
Copies of the jury list will be available for inspection at the Registry of the Supreme Court, at 30B Town Range, the General Post Office and the south and north district Post Offices as from this Friday. Persons who wish to apply to be removed from the list for "special reasons", will be given an opportunity to explain why they want to be removed. There will be a Revision of the list at the Magistrate's Court on Monday 12 January at 2.30pm.
APPLY FOR REMOVAL
Those who intend to apply for removal, says the statement from the Supreme Court, are "required to give notice thereof in writing, explaining the grounds on which the application will be made, to the Registrar of the Supreme Court and to the Clerk of the Magistrate's Court not less than 48 hours before the Revision Sitting." Equally, anyone who is qualified to serve as a juror and has been left out of the jury list may apply for inclusion.
No Euro postal vote for Gibraltar
By Ian Drury, Parliamentary Correspondent
HOPES that Gibraltarians would be allowed to vote by post in next year's European elections were scuppered this week.
A report by the independent Electoral Commission recommended the colony should be linked to South West England when MEPs are elected to Brussels.
And the British Government immediately followed the announcement by declaring the region containing the Rock would NOT get permission to hold the first ever all-postal ballots for the European Parliament.
Electoral Commission experts urged ministers to hold postal voting in the North East and East Midlands in a bid to improve turnout.
In areas where all-postal ballots were tested in this year's local elections, turnout increased by 50 per cent - and proved much more popular than voting by internet, telephone and text messaging.
Recommendations put forward by the Electoral Commission will now be looked at by the Government and, if acceptable, voted on by the UK Parliament.
MPs could throw the proposals out but a spokeswoman for the commission said there was a "high level of expectation" they would be approved.
The spokeswoman said: "We decided to place Gibraltar with the South West because of a number of factors.
"There are historical maritime links as well as links with business and transport.
"But also we wanted to make sure the people of Gibraltar got effective representation and that the region it was attached to was able to represent its distinct concerns.
"The South West, we felt, was best-placed to do this.
"It already has diverse communities and interests within it and therefore it
was in the best position to take on board Gibraltar.
She explained it was "unfeasible" to allow all-postal voting in Gibraltar.
She said: "The recommendation is still to be put before Parliament which means there is too much uncertainty that the South West would be able to put in place postal voting."
It would be difficult to organise a 100 per cent postal ballot as there were just six months before the European elections on June 10, she said.
The spokeswoman added: "But also there appeared to be no appetite among the region's electoral officers to run an all-postal scheme.
"Lastly, the small size of many local authorities mean a pilot scheme would be too complex to organise at short notice."
Princess Royal in Rock visit
The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, will come to Gibraltar next year. 2004 is our tercentenary year when we celebrate 300 years of British rule.
In a statement announcing the visit, The Convent says that this will be her first official visit to the Rock. It will be recalled that Princess Anne and her brother Prince Charles accompanied Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip in 1954 during her only visit to the Rock. At the time Princess Anne was four years old, and the Royal children seem to have particularly enjoyed their visit to the Apes Den.
GOVERNOR AND GOVERNMENT
The Governor, Sir Francis Richards, said that he was "delighted that The Princess Royal is to visit Gibraltar during the year in which we shall all be celebrating the Tercentenary of the British presence here." He added that: "I know that everyone will look forward - as I am - to giving her a very warm welcome."
A statement from No 6 Convent Place said that the Chief Minister was "extremely happy that the Royal Family, for whom there is an enormous store of affection in Gibraltar, will join us in celebrating our 300 year sovereignty links with Britain in this very direct way." The Government added that they were working with The Convent to arrange an appropriate programme of events for the Princess.
ROYAL VISITS
Over the years there have been a number of visits to Gibraltar by members of the Royal family, although HM the Queen has not come here again. The Duke of Edinburgh, husband to the Queen, came here a few years ago in connection with the Duke of Edinburgh's Award project which has an active branch in Gibraltar. In 1999 Princess Alexandra came here and opened the new Primary Care Centre, and in 1995 under the GSLP administration Prince Andrew came to Gibraltar to open the Island Games.
It will be recalled that the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, and the late Princess of Wales, Diana Spencer, started their Mediterranean honeymoon cruise from Gibraltar in 1981. This caused the King and Queen of Spain to boycott their wedding.
GGR attends Granada conference
Members of GGR have recently attended a Conference on gay and human rights held in Granada and have announced that they will also be attending a series of Conferences in the UK and across Europe throughout 2004 as well. "This forms part of our on-going strengthening of cooperative ties with a range of international organisations in the field," a Spokesman said.
"The three day Conference covered aspects of human rights issues as well as the organisation of the gay community and the provision of support to sexual minority citizens. It was also part of a wider structure aimed at coordinating work across the whole civil and human rights spectrum."
"GGR is engaged in on-going training for its members to equip them with the knowledge and skills to strengthen the organisation here in Gibraltar and this event was a very useful opportunity to widen our understanding," the statement added. "Whilst our Campaign work has necessarily been concentrated over the past few years on raising the debate on gay rights and on lobbying, we are now set to expand by strengthening our work in the community whilst continuing our political work."
"To this end, we shall be producing an Annual Report in the New Year and 2004 will lay a clear management plan for the extension of that work."
POLITICAL NOTEBOOK
The Empire Strikes Back:
the Overseas Territories meet in London
The Gibraltar Government announced very late on Friday that the Chief Minister would be attending what is grandly known as the Fifth Overseas Territories Consultative Council.
They also pointedly announced that Mr Caruana would be attending only "some of the sessions".
For this is where Britain lectures to the remnants of the Empire on how they should behave and maybe Mr Caruana does not like to be told what to do.
Therefore he decided to give the speech by Jack Straw on Wednesday a miss and come back to Gibraltar early.
He will also wave goodbye to Sir Francis Richards and give a miss to those sessions which take place jointly with the Governors of the territories.
CONSTITUTIONS
And who can blame him? This is not just an indication of the state of Anglo-Gibraltar relations but a wider condemnation of British colonial policy as a whole.
First, Mr Caruana has decided not to table the new Constitutional proposals prepared by the House of Assembly Select Committee from 1999 to 2002.
These proposals have now straddled three Houses of Assembly, 1996-2000, 2000-2003 and 2003 and over. Perhaps they will be placed under the Christmas tree on 25 December wrapped in red, white and blue as a present for Jack Straw.
Second, the Foreign Office are likely to place their own very peculiar slant on the subjects on the agenda.
A statement from London says that this year the discussion will cover the following. The UK/OT relationship, for which read do what we tell you.
It will also cover constitutional reform, for which read what powers can we take away from you and give back to the officials in London?
It will also cover the role of Governors, for which read the man on the spot who will tell you what you have to do.
And rather vaguely the question of "financial issues" is thrown into the melting pot, no doubt an indication that where Gordon Brown is the paymaster the wishes of the Labour Government will prevail and where Gordon Brown is not the paymaster, like in Gibraltar or Bermuda, the same proviso will apply regardless.
NINE TERRITORIES
Faced against this backdrop Mr Caruana stayed away from "some of the sessions".
However, nine of the fourteen overseas territories were invited to the Council meeting to take part, which means that five were not even invited in the first place.
We should be thankful for small mercies! The Foreign Office explains this away by saying that not all of its territories have a resident population.
Spare a thought therefore for the good people of the Pictairn Islands, all 44 of them. There has been a resident population on the Islands since the days of the Mutiny on the Bounty and they are the descendants of the rebellious sailors on the ship along with their Tahitian "companions", so the Foreign Office helpfully informs us.
And what about the 275 on Tristan de Cunha, which is a dependency of St Helena (a colony of a colony!), and whose capital is Edinburgh of the Seas.
ANTARTIC
Of course the Foreign Office is right to exclude others. The British Antartic Territory, apart from its non-human occupants, is home only to British scientists.
The British Indian Ocean Territories are military bases whose indigenous people were conveniently deported to make way for the bases, in one of the least enlightened episodes in British colonial history.
However, Ascension Island which has 1000 people and 90,000 square kilometres was not invited either.
So who went to the imperial capital to share in such deep and thought-provoking debate with our illustrious Chief Minister and our esteemed Governor.
Bermuda went, the largest remaining colony with 62,000 persons.
The 42,000-strong Cayman Islands were there.
And then came Gibraltar, now the third largest in the colonial league table in terms of population.
The 20,900 good souls of the British Virgin Islands were represented, as were the 20,200 of the Turks and Caicos.
In this latter colony not that long ago, constitutional reform was used as a vehicle to take powers away from the territorial Government.
Maybe they were there as a reminder to the others of what to expect now that such reviews are underway in many territories.
The medium sized one that remains is Anguilla, with a handsome 11,500 people compared to the smaller ones that come at the tail end.
TAIL END
The remaining two at the tail end who went to London are large in land but low in people.
The latest figures for Montserrat suggest that there are 4500 left on 102km sq of land after the volcano erupted.
The good old Falkland Islands with 2000km sq and 2379 persons with many more soldiers and even more sheep closed the rankings.
All this being said, it is still dangerous to be deceived by small numbers because the Empire can still strike back.
Nonetheless it is legitimate to wonder with some nostalgia what has the British Empire come to when Gibraltar is the third largest remaining outpost in terms of population.
In years gone by a gathering of this kind would have summoned to London the representatives of a quarter of humanity through countries like India, Australia, Canada and most of Africa.
Now there are more people watching Barcelona play football at the Nou Camp, than in all the remaining overseas territories put together.
No wonder Mr Caruana stayed away when he could.
Will new House bring new practices as well as new faces?
The new House of Assembly opens officially next week following the return of the GSD to power at the elections of 27 November. Representative democracy means that every one of the fifteen members of the House, whether in Government or in Opposition, has been elected to represent all the people of Gibraltar over a four year period until the end of 2007.
The House sees some newcomers and some old faces from those who were present in the 2000-2003 session.
FATHER OF HOUSE
The Father of the House, which is the unofficial title given to its longest-serving member, is Opposition Leader Joe Bossano. Mr Bossano was first elected to the Second House of Assembly in 1972 with the Integration with Britain Party. He has therefore been an MP, for no less than 31 years, 8 of which have been in Government. He has also been elected with the Gibraltar Democratic Movement in 1976 and as a member of the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party from 1980 onwards. Mr Bossano holds the distinguished record of being the longest serving member of the House of Assembly ever. It will be recalled that Sir Joshua Hassan served from 1969-1988, a total of 19 years.
His colleague in Opposition Mari Montegriffo is the second-longest serving member of the House of Assembly. Ms Montegriffo was first elected to the Opposition benches in 1984, and served in two successive Governments from 1988 until 1996. She has been a member of the House for close on 20 years and would be the "Mother" of the House if such a title were to exist given her long and continuing track record as a Parliamentarian.
BRITTO LONGEST
The longest-serving member on the Government benches will be the new Health Minister Ernest Britto. Mr Britto was first elected into Opposition with the now defunct AACR in 1988. A few years later he joined Peter Montegriffo when he formed the Gibraltar Social Democrats after breaking away from Sir Joshua Hassan's old party, and he contested every election after that as GSD. Mr Britto has been a member of the House of Assembly for 15 years, and has served two terms in Opposition from 1988-1992 and 1992-1996. He has been in Government since 1996 and is now starting his third term.
The Leader of the GSD, and Chief Minister Peter Caruana was first elected to the House of Assembly in May 1991 as a result of the by-election that followed Peter Montegriffo's departure from politics. After the 1992 general election he became Leader of the Opposition, and after the next one in 1996 he was elected Chief Minister. This was a meteoric rise in a relatively short period of time, and 1996 was also the fist time that someone who did not top the poll (Mr Montegriffo came in first place) became Chief Minister. Mr Caruana has been Chief Minister for three elections in a row, coming second only to Sir Joshua Hassan, who won four election victories in successsion in 1972, 1976, 1980 and 1984. Peter Caruana has therefore been a member of the House of Assembly for 12 years.
THE BOYS OF 96
There are three members of the House of Assembly remaining from the batch that was newly elected in 1996. These are Trade and Industry Minister Joe Holliday, Education Minister Bernard Linares, and Housing Minister Jaime Netto. The three have never been in Opposition, and have spent their near eight years in the House of Assembly on the Government benches. They are the sole remnants of the 1996 newcomers, which included Keith Azopardi, Peter Montegriffo and Hubert Corby on the Government side, with Albert Isola and Joshua Gabay on the Opposition benches. All have now retired from politics, no doubt for some that retirement will be more permanent than for others.
The eighth oldest member of the House of Assembly, in terms of years served, is Liberal Party Leader Dr Joseph Garcia. Like Mr Caruana, Dr Garcia was first elected into Opposition on a by-election, this time in February 1999. They are in fact the only two members of the House to have been first elected in by-elections, in the only two that have taken place since the House of Assembly came into existence in 1969. Dr Garcia has therefore been a member of the House for nearly five years.
The 2000 general election saw two newcomers to the House of Assembly who are still there today. These are Minister Yvette del Agua and Opposition Education spokesman Steven Linares. They have both served for one four-year term.
NEW 2003 BATCH
The last batch came into the House as a result of the elections held at the end of last month. All are newcomers to the House of Assembly, two in Government and three in Opposition. Clive Beltran and Fabian Vinet are the two new faces on the Government side of the House, and Fabian Picardo, Charles Bruzon and Lucio Randall are the new ones on the Opposition benches. All five will no doubt have to learn about the procedures of the House and about the ups and downs of parliamentary life after the new session opens on 18 December.
It is important also to recall that the three new faces on the Opposition side came about as a result of three retirements from those benches. Dr Reggie Valarino, Pepe Baldachino and Juan Carlos Perez all retired from the House after it was dissolved in October and the election was called. Dr Valarino was first elected as a GDM member in 1976, but defected to the AACR soon afterwards where he remained in Government until 1988, and then in Opposition from 1988-1992. He returned for a second stint in Opposition from 2000-2003. Both Pepe Baldachino and Juan Carlos Perez were first elected in 1984, and have therefore served for nearly twenty years, eight of which were in Government.
Last year there was only one meeting of the House of Assembly at which the Opposition could ask questions. Other years there have been two, and the maximum in recent times has been three meetings in a year. Most people will agree that it can only be good and healthy for our democratic system to have more meetings, more questioning and more debate on matters of public concern. The House is, after all, the Parliament of the people of Gibraltar, and our busy and thriving political debate on a day-to-day level in the streets should be matched by equally thriving debate in the very heart of our democratic system.
The building which houses the Assembly is getting a much needed facelift on the outside. It is only to be hoped that this facelift will be extended to the inside as well and to the practices, meetings and customs of the House many of which are archaic and out of date.
Alternative Olympic games for Gib idea
An idea for territories like Gibraltar, who do not belong to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), to stage a games of their own is being mooted. Contact has been made with entities locally to examine the viability of such a plan taking off.
The brainchild behind this plan is Avinty Lanaikey, who feels very strongly that regions of existing countries should organise an Olympic Games of their own.
SPANISH VETO
It will be recalled that all attempts by Gibraltar to obtain membership of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have to date been thwarted by Spain. It is generally believed that for many years the fact that the presidency of the movement was held by Juan Antonio
Samaranch, who is a Spaniard, did not help Gibraltar's cause. Even though a number of Gibraltar's sporting associations belong to their respective international sporting bodies, which is an IOC
requriement, rules have been tweaked in order to keep Gibraltar out. Other dependent territories have in the past belonged to the IOC in their own right, and even Hong Kong which is now part of China is an admitted member.
REGIONS AND NATIONS
The prososal now being put forward as a loose idea, is for those peoples excluded from competing in the Olympic Games to organise an Alternative Olympic Games of their own. The organiser is targetting the national teams of regions and "nations" that are not in the IOC. In the list, apart from Gibraltar, is the Basque Country,
Catalunya, Wales, Bretagne, Corsica, Tatarstan, Chechnya, Kurdistan, East
Turkestan, Tibet, Khalistan, Nagaland, Akha, Shan, South
Moluccas, West Papua, Hawaii, Alaska, Native American Indians, Western Sahara and others.
Mr Lanaikey has argued that this would mean a greater fulfilment of Peirre de Coubertin's idea to allow sporting participation from all nations and autonomous regions rather than only representatives of independent states as happens now.
He suggests that Gibraltar may be a suitable venue for the first Games to take place and the indications are that the Government may be approached on this subject. His attempt to contact the Gibraltar Olympic Committee was unsuccessful.
Aznar accused of obstructing a Spanish Gibraltar
The Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar has been accused of using the new EU Constitutional Treaty for his own centralist ends by Camilo Nogueira, an MEP from the Galician nationalist party BNG. The Galician MEP has also argued that Madrid's centralist stance on the borders of Europe would make the return of Gibraltar to Spain more difficult.
At the insistence of Spain, the new EU constitutional treaty is expected to include a clause which guarantees the existing borders within the European Union. At the time that the draft was under negotiation in the Convention for the future of Europe, Spain came under criticism from Basque and other nationalist politicians for insisting that this be included in the final draft document. They obviously fear that it puts paid to their aspirations to develop into a semi-independent state within the EU.
Mr Nogueira has accused Mr Aznar of "fraudlently" using the new European Treaty as a vehicle to obstruct the developing national selt-government of Galicia, the Basque Country and Catalunya. He made these comments in a plenary session of the European Parliament which is evaluating the work of the continuing Inter-governmental conference on the Treaty. Mr Nogueira was speaking on behalf of the Greens which form a parliamentary group in Brussels with some regional nationalist parties.
Ironically, the Galician nationalist also put forward the argument that by taking such a position on the immovability of the borders of Europe, the Spanish Government was preventing both a possible future reunification of Ireland, and a possible return of Gibraltar to Spain.
Mr Nogueira was also critical of Madrid for wanting to retain its veto on a number of issues in the future, and accused Aznar of being the most difficult and disagreeable political leader in Europe.
Yianni murder brings police to Gibraltar
Advances in DNA technology have given police fresh leads in their bid to solve a two-decade-old murder case.
Yiannoulla Yianni, 17, was sexually assaulted and strangled in August 1982. Her body was found at her Hampstead home.
Police are tracing people they spoke to at the time, and Yiannoulla’s schoolfriends and work colleagues. They have taken more than 100 DNA samples, travelling to Cyprus, Gibraltar and Canada.
More than 1,000 people gave statements at the time and police now want all of them to come forward again.
They are offering a £10,000 reward for information which helps them convict Miss Yianni's killer, whom detectives believe she knew.
Postmen are delivering 5,000 leaflets to homes in and around Hampstead as part of the appeal.
Detective Chief Inspector Richard Freeman said: "New advances in DNA techniques mean now we really can solve this case, but need the public to come forward and offer their help.
"This family have had to live with this tragic loss for over 21 years."
Miss Yianni was seen talking to a man in his 20s, who was possibly Greek or Cypriot, on the doorstep of her home and police are still trying to find him.
Presentation of Medals and Commissioner’s Commendation
His Excellency The Governor Sir Francis RICHARDS presented on Friday a number of Officers with the 1st Clasp to the Colonial Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal and the Colonial Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.
The Colonial Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal is presented to Officers who have completed 18 years of service and the 1st Clasp to those who have completed 25 years of service.
The recipients of the awards presented are:
1st Clasp to the Colonial Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
Police Constable 119 Michael SANCHEZ. Constable Sanchez joined the force on 6 December 1976 as a Cadet; he was awarded the Colonial Police Long Service Medal in 1997.
Colonial Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal
Chief Inspector Joseph GOMEZ. Chief Inspector Gomez joined the Force on 14th May 1984.
Police Sergeant 24 Ian McGRAIL. Sergeant McGrail joined the Force on the 19th October 1984.
Police Constable 72 Brian GAVITO. Constable Gavito joined the Force on the 29th October 1984.
Police Constable 101 Adam Bautista. Constable Bautista joined the Force on the 18th June 1985.
Police Constable 120 Manolo CRUZ. Constable Cruz joined the Force on the 4th March 1985.
BRAVERY
In addition to these awards, The Governor will present a Commissioner’s Commendation to Police Constable 155 Lee POZO for his selfless act of bravery when dealing with a dangerous assailant.
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