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STATEMENT BY THE GSLP/LIBERAL OPPOSITION
P R E S S R E L E A S E 40411 February 2002
The Opposition notes that the British Government is repeatedly saying that Gibraltar cannot continue as a duty-free, low-tax status and floated the idea of changes to our terms of membership of the European Union in relation to the Customs Union and VAT. It is very surprising that in the course of his address to the Chamber of Commerce last week Mr Caruana said that there was no threat to the economy and that Gibraltar could comply with international obligations without any problem.
In the debate in the House of Commons that took place last week, in one of his interventions, the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the following. "One thing is certain: the, as it were, duty-free, low tax status of Gibraltar will end over the next four or five years. That has nothing directly to do with the Government of Spain or the UK..." Mr Straw has also said in the past that Mr Caruana was fully aware of this.
The Opposition considers that if Mr Caruana is aware of the of the situation it is very odd that he has not said anything about it to the Opposition, the House of Assembly or the general public, or even the people in the industry. It will be recalled that at the time Mr Caruana declared that the EU Code of Conduct was voluntary and did not apply here, and that the only problem with the OECD was that Spain did not want the letter of commitment to the OECD come from Gibraltar.
It is not clear why Jack Straw thinks that the finance centre and our low tax status is going to disappear in a few years whether we like it or not and the Gibraltar Government has not explained this either.
It is also significant that there are reports of a massive injection of EU funds for Gibraltar in order to replace the revenue that would be lost as a result, and that securing these funds would be much easier as part of the Anglo-Spanish deal. In this context it is important to note that the new President of the European Parliament Pat Cox, who met Mr Caruana for ten minutes this week, also seems to be aware of the large amount of EU funds that would flow as part of the Anglo-Spanish deal in order to reposition the economy, and is reported as saying that the Parliament would support the funding should such a deal materialise.
It is therefore absolutely crucial to establish beyond any doubt whether Mr Straw knows what he is talking about or not and if not to dispel this once and for all. If there is a need to do away with our special fiscal status which allows a different duty and tax regime from the rest of the EU then this has to be indentified and debated in the House of Assembly and would involve a major reorganision of the economic direction that Gibraltar has been following since we joined the EU in 1973. This is particularly important since the way the matter has been raised in the context of an Anglo-Spanish deal on sovereignty, it has been implied that there is a compelling need to to do this.
OPPOSITION PRESS RELEASE
6th Feb 2002
(Statement made by Spokesperson for Health, Mari Montegriffo)
The Government of Gibraltar, in their latest announcement about their proposed pilot domiciliary care scheme for the elderly, are in effect admitting that there is a problem which they need to tackle. Therefore, the Opposition finds it most unfair that they continue to put the blame on the problems of shortages of beds at St Bernard's on patients who are unable to receive proper care in their homes What is clear by the Government's reaction to public criticisms is that they have allowed the problems in our Health Services to continue for far too long.
It is quite absurd for the Government to state that there are people who do not want to return to their homes, once they are cured. Are they suggesting that they are enjoying their stay as if they were in a holiday camp? In the eight years of a GSLP Government, the situation described by the Government certainly did not exist, and if it had, we would never have coerced people to leave or threaten them with court orders.
Even the Government's decision to mix male and female patients in all of the wards, has not produced any positive results. Indeed, the situation on the acute shortages of bed; was worsened by the Government when they decided to house the kitchen in the old Lewis Stagnetto Ward, and they converted the old kitchen area into a rehabilitation centre This meant the loss of much needed beds.
The Opposition hold the Government politically answerable for any shortfalls in our Health Services provided to users. More so, we have never criticised or put any blame on members of the Staff of the Gibraltar Health Authority. Quite the contrary, as on many occasions we have said that were it not for the efforts of the people working within the services they would have declined even further. Also in many of our press releases we have emphasised that the responsibility lies with the Government of the day. The policies in any Government Department are political ones and any administrative changes must be defended by the Government. When in office, the GSLP took full responsibility for any statements made, more so, if they were replies to criticisms from the then Opposition.
It is therefore completely unacceptable for the Minister for Health, Dr Bernard Linares to hide behind an anonymous Civil Servant, described as a Government Spokesman. Nor is it either acceptable for a Civil Servant, that would have to serve impartially a fixture different administration, to enter into political debates by describing the views of an elected member of the House of Assembly, as cynical.
T&GWU PRESS RELEASE
The T&GWU wish to issue the following public statement regarding the harmonisation package agreed for industrial staff between the MOD T&GWU Convenor - Bro. Victor Ochello and M.O.D Management.
The T&GWU both in the U.K and locally has been fighting for many years for the eradication of the discrimination that has always existed between non-industrials and industrial employees in the M.O.D. Our position has always been that there should be a single status for all employees in th.e M.O.D, and elsewhere. As regards Gibraltar Government industrial employees, once we get the harmonisation package agreed in the M.O.D, we will be concentrating in getting the package introduced in the Gibraltar Government for industrial employees. We have already achieved parity of pensionable rights between non-industrial and industrial employees in the Gibraltar Government.
The Harmonisation package represents an historic advancement for industrial workers, which we have been pursuing incessantly for many years. We are now nearing the end of an Objective as this long-standing grievance is about to be achieved.
HARMONISATION PACKAGE
1. 37 HOUR WEEK
The reduction of the working from 39 to 37 hours will result in the harmonisation of the industrial non-industrial core working week. All staff will he conditioned to a 37 hour week.
2. MONTHLY PAY
The move to monthly pay is an integral part of the agreement and w~1] be introduced in parallel with 37 hour week. In recognition of the fact that this change will have an impact on the manner in which members manage their financial affairs, M.O.D Management, to help our members to adjust to these new arrangements will provide guidance. Financial assistance has been agreed between the T&GWU/MOD, and will be provided to mitigate the effects of the transfer to monthly pay.
All members will receive a single non-recoverable, but taxable payment, and offered a tax and interest free loan, repayable over a period of two years.
3. BALLOT VOTE
All T&GWU members will he consulted in a democratic exercise ,by a secret ballot vote that will take place on Thursday 7th February in the Naval Base.
4. OVERTIME PAYMENT
As from 1st January 2002, industrial employees both in the MOD and Gibraltar Government will be paid double time for Saturday working. In the Gibraltar Government all overtime worked in Public Holidays will also be paid at double time. Previously this overtime was paid at time and a half.
Government of Gibraltar
Press Release No 23/2002
Date: 31 January 2002
In view of the repeated attacks by the Opposition misrepresenting and criticising the efforts of our officers in St Bernard's Hospital to manage the availability of beds in the Hospital the Gibraltar Health Authority finds it necessary to explain the true facts of the situation.
There are 166 beds altogether in St Bernard's Hospital and 140 of these are available for non-paediatric or maternity cases, Of these 140 beds, 45 are currently occupied by elderly persons who have been clinically assessed by doctors as not requiring hospital medical care. Many of these patients have been formally discharged by the doctors but have refused to leave the hospital.
This bed blockage results in a general shortage of beds available for emergencies and/or patients genuinely ill with the consequent cancellation on occasions of elective surgery on these patients.
Non-medical cases presently occupying beds in the hospital on a residential basis fall into three categories. Some elderly people live alone, have no family to look after them and cannot look after themselves. The Government naturally accepts moral responsibility for care of such people. But a clinical hospital is not the place to do this. Accordingly Government has invested large sums of money to upgrade and expand residential and respite facilities in Mount Alvernia its capacity is being nearly doubled.
Other elderly persons need some help and support in their own homes, or their families need some regular nursing support to look after them at home. The Government will deliver this through a pilot domiciliary care scheme which is about to be launched to provide regular nursing and care support at home to elderly people who need it, whether they live alone or with a family member who cannot cope.
However, the Government considers it unfair that others, who do not fall into either of the two above categories, permanently occupy hospital beds to the detriment of the rest of the community's quality of health service. St Bernard's Hospital cannot exist simply to relieve a very limited number of families of the burden of caring for their elderly folk.
A Government spokesman comments: "Whereas, on the one hand, the Opposition has attacked Government by criticising the shortage of beds in the hospital, they also cynically criticise the hospital management for trying to overcome the abuse by some people of hospital facilities, at the expense of other genuine patients in real need of medical care."
GOVERNMENT OF GIBRALTAR
Press Release No. 18/2002
24 January 2002
Holocaust Memorial Day
Gibraltar will be joining many other countries in commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day on Sunday 27 January 2002. The day marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The idea first took shape in January 2000, following a forty-four nation conference in Stockholm, Sweden. At the conclusion of the conference, the heads of delegations unanimously agreed to sign the following Declaration:
"We, High Representatives of Governments at the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust, declare that:
1. The Holocaust fundamentally challenged the foundations of civilisation. The unprecedented character of the Holocaust will always hold universal meaning. After half a century, it remains an event close enough in time that survivors can still bear witness to the horrors that engulfed the Jewish people. The terrible suffering of the many millions of other victims of the Nazis has left an indelible scar across Europe as well.
2. The magnitude of the Holocaust, planned and carried out by the Nazis, must be forever seared in our collective memory. The selfless sacrifices of those who defied the Nazis, and sometimes gave their own lives to protect or rescue the Holocaust's victims, must also be inscribed in our hearts, The depths of that horror, and the heights of their heroism can be touchstones in our understanding of the human capacity for evil and for good.
3 With humanity still scarred by genocide, ethnic cleansing, racism, anti-semitism and xenophobia, the international community shares a solemn responsibility to fight those evils. Together we must uphold the terrible truth of the Holocaust against those who deny it, We must strengthen the moral commitment of our peoples, and the political commitment of our governments, to ensure that future generations can understand the causes of the Holocaust and reflect upon its consequences.
4. We pledge to strengthen our efforts to promote education, remembrance and research about the Holocaust, both in those of our countries that have already done much and those that choose to join this effort.
5. We share a commitment to encourage the study of the Holocaust in all its dimensions. We will promote education about the Holocaust in our schools and universities, in our communities and encourage it in other institutions.
6. We share a commitment to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and to honour those who stood against it. We will encourage appropriate forms of Holocaust remembrance, including an annual Day of Holocaust Remembrance, in our countries.
7. We share a commitment to throw light on the still obscured shadows of the Holocaust. We will take all necessary steps to facilitate the opening of archives in order to ensure that alt documents bearing on the Holocaust are available to researchers.
8. It is appropriate that this, the first major international conference of the new millennium, declares its commitment to plant the seeds of a better future amidst the soil of a bitter past. We empathise with the victims' suffering and draw inspiration from their struggle. Our commitment must be to remember the victims who perished, respect the survivors still with us, and reaffirm humanity's common aspiration for mutual understanding and justice."
Holocaust Memorial Day reflects upon a tragic and disturbing past, and focuses on the mass destruction of European Jewry and the variety of victim groups persecuted by the Nazis But the day also recognises that the type of behaviour demonstrated in Nazi Germany was not a phenomenon limited to Germany or to the mid-20th Century. Atrocities in Cambodia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Ruanda and Kosovo, to name a few, amply demonstrate the propensity of human beings to murder en masse. The Holocaust Memorial Day seeks to underscore the importance of understanding and combating the processes that lead to such tragedy.
Holocaust Memorial Day is therefore as much about the future as it is about the past.
Locally, His Lordship the Bishop has organised a multi-faith memorial prayer service at the Piazza on Sunday at 1 pm. A range of educational and community activities are also being considered in time for the next Holocaust Memorial Day.
GOVERNMENT OF GIBRALTAR
Press Release No. 16-2002
24 January 2002
During the course of refurbishment and decoration works undertaken at Knights Court last year, a number of complaints were made by tenants regarding the possible risks posed by the presence of asbestos material in the balcony panels in the building which were replaced by the Buildings and Works Department. A formal complaint was also lodged with the Ombudsman who was critical of the manner in which the works had been carried out.
As a result of this, the Government appointed an outside independent health and safety expert to investigate the matter. The Government has considered his report which has identified a number of management and proc.edural deficiencies in the working of the Department in relation to the handling of asbestos. The Report also makes a series of recommendations which the Government intends to implement namely:
- the removal of debris in the area surrounding Knight's Court
- the conduct of an asbestos survey of all Government properties to establish an asbestos register
- the upgrading of collection and storage arrangements
- the formaIisation of notification procedures for asbestos work
- medical examination of the workforce involved in the refurbishment works
The Government will also be taking other steps internally to deal with the management deficiencies which have been highlighted in the Report in relation to this matter.
A copy of the Report has been given to the Knight's Court Tenants Association for their information.
GOVERNMENT OF GIBRALTAR PRESS
OFFICE
PRESS RELEASE No. 14/2002
23 January 2002
On the 16th November 2001 the Spanish Government
published a Resolution in its "Boletin Oficial del Estado"
laying down the terms and conditions under which it purported to
allocate an additional 70000 telephone numbers to Gibraltar.
The Government, the Telecoms Regulator and the Gibraltar telephone
companies have now completed their separate examinations and
assessments of the Resolution and have each, separately, concluded
that the Spanish offer is unacceptable, variously on political,
regulatory and commercial grounds.
The offer has therefore been rejected for the following principal
reasons:
1. The offer is based on the total integration of Gibraltar's
numbering plan into the Spanish numbering plan in that Gibraltar is
allocated Spanish numbers, rather than (as is the case at present)
specified parts of Gibraltar's own numbering plan being accessible
from Spain.
2. The Spanish Regulator is purporting to allocate all these '"
numbers to a Spanish telecoms licencee, namely Telefonica, who then
sub-assigns numbers to Gibraltar licencees. This completely
by-passes the Gibraltar Government's ownership of the Gibraltar
numbering plan, puts our ability to enforce and comply with our
telecom laws and the EU telecom directives in the hands of Spanish
interests. The Regulation also usurps the powers of the Gibraltar
Licensing Authority and the Regulatory powers and responsibilities
of the Gibraltar Telecommunications Regulator, effectively making
Telefonica the Regulator for Gibraltar telephone numbers.
3. In flagrant breach of EU law, the offer puts Gibraltar's
telephone numbers in the hands of the incumbent monopoly operator in
Spain, (Telefonica) an international competitor of existing and
potential Gibraltar telecom service providers.
4. The offer does not address the issue of mobile telephone roaming.
Commenting on the situation, a Government spokesman said: "This
offer is politically unacceptable to the Government. It is also
wholly unacceptable from a commercial point of view to the Gibraltar
telecom companies, and from a regulatory point of view, to the
Gibraltar Regulator. It is hard to understand why the Foreign Office
has been so quick to so warmly welcome this manifestly flawed
offer".
Gibraltar Inter-Agencies
24th January 02
The Gibraltar Inter Agencies (GIA) will be holding a
Drugs Awareness Day on Saturday the 26th January at the Piazza, Main
Street, starting at 10.00 hrs and finishing at approximately 14.00
hrs
On the day, informative literature on drugs and the dangers of drug
misuse will be distributed freely to the general public. Posters
relating to illicit drugs and simulated drugs substances will be
placed on display together with an assortment of drug's
paraphernalia.
A counsellor from Bruce's Farm Rehabilitation Centre together with
rehabilitating patients will be in attendance to offer advice on the
dangers of illicit drug addiction
The Customs Drugs Dog section will also be in attendance under the
control of their skilled handlers, demonstrating their skills in
searching for illicit drugs. Two displays will take place at
approximately 11 .00 hrs and 12.00 hrs.
The Gibraltar Inter Agencies is committed to bring to the notice of
the public matters of Community Safety and Crime Concerns through
Public Awareness Days.
The following departments form The Gibraltar Inter Agencies; -
City Fire Brigade, Defence Fire Service, Gibraltar Health
Authority, Gibraltar Port Authority, St John Ambulance, JIM
Customs, Gibraltar Services Police and the Royal Gibraltar Police.
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