Gibraltar News Online

Dispute with PSOE Govt

Spanish police trade unions, the SUP (Sindicato Unificado de Policia) and UFP (Union Federal Policia), have declared a work-to-rule as from August 1st following a break-down in negotiations with the Spanish central government.

The industrial action is likely to have adverse consequences for frontier flow, causing greater delays in traffic and pedestrian crossings than has been the norm in recent times.

In a statement issued yesterday, the police unions said they had decided to step up their protest as a result of what they described as alleged “inaction, lack of interest and dishonesty of the Socialist Government,” whom they accuse of having reneged on a signed agreement with the national police unions.

It will not only be frontier flow that is targeted by the disgruntled policemen.

The presentation of ‘denuncias’ at La Linea’s police headquarters and the processing of documents such as ID’s, passports etc, will also be slowed down, with negative effects for the general public across the border.

In a statement the police unions say “the socialist government lacks all credibility with the security forces in Spain at a time when international terrorism has captured world-wide attention.”

They say that now governments in Europe are adequately reinforcing and strengthening their security forces, “the PSOE Government creates despondency and lack of motivation in our ranks.”

From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

Both sides to meet on Monday * TGWU/Prospect to attend “without prejudice”

Gibraltar’s trade unions TGWU/Prospect are known to be “unhappy” with the contents of a reply by new Defence Secretary Dr John Reid on the way forward for the MoD contractorisation plans.

Informed sources said the TGWU had received a reply from Dr Reid containing the skeleton arguments of the Ministry of Defence proposals, but stated that these “do not go far enough” to satisfy the Unions’ position in the dispute.

It has also been confirmed that the local trade union delegation consisting of TGWU District Officer Luis Montiel, Prospect General Secretary Michael Tampin and TGWU-MoD convenor Victor Ochello will be attending the talks with senior MoD officials at Transport House in London on Monday August 1st.

The MoD team led by Command Secretary Susan Scholefield (Permanent Joint Headquarters [PJHQ]) will include Gibraltar Command Secretary Phil Mallion.

A statement from both parties is expected after the talks.

Informed sources said that as far as the Unions are concerned, the meeting is not a consultation process or even a negotiation but an opportunity for the MoD to lay down their proposals on the table without prejudice to the Union’s position in the substantive court case on contractorisation which is going ahead in September.

From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

Related Links:

29 July 2005 - TGWU/Prospect to meet MoD officials in UK next week

28 July 2005 - House approves bill to enshrine court ruling into statutes

21 July 2005 - Caruana spells out conditions for settlement at Naval Base

20 July 2005 - Negotiated settlement to Naval Base jobs crisis gains ground

14 July 2005 - MoD refrain from appeal in Unions case

30 June 2005 - Contractorisation gets big ‘NO’

29 June 2005 - Chief Justice gives Union go ahead to challenge cuts

19 April 2005 Unions declare a united front on MoD Contractorisation

Gibraltar News Online Contractorisation Poll

Chief Minister Peter Caruana unveiled the portraits of Gibraltar’s five Chief Ministers to date at The Mount on Thursday evening.

Presented to the people of Gibraltar by the Alwani Trust, the portraits have all been painted by local artist Ambrose Avellano.

The works have all been painted mainly from photographs at the time when the various chief ministers were in post. Sir Robert Peliza; Sir Joshua Hassan; Adolfo Canepa; Joe Bossano and Peter Caruana who was the only contemporary. The artist also consulted with their wives, and had a few personal sittings when possible.

Unveiling the portraits, the Chief Minister stated that there was no doubt that part of the heritage of Gibraltar and its people was its political, democratic and self-government heritage.

“This is not better reflected by the fact that we have quite a long line of Chief Ministers. It shows the amount of time for which we have been successfully running our own affairs as a community,” he said.

Turning to the former Chief Ministers he added, “it is fitting that we are here to receive together this tribute that the Alwani Trust has made to the people of Gibraltar.”

The portraits will be displayed for the public over the next few months, although it is still not known where. After that they will be housed at No.6 where it is expected the portraits of all former Chief Ministers will be hang permanently on the ground floor of No.6 Convent Place.

But the Chief Minister said he was not sure if it was appropriate for his own portrait to hang whilst he was still in office, and would probably have to wait for his successor to give the go ahead. He thanked the Alwani Trust for the work it carries out throughout the year and for this latest contribution.

From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

There was a small fire close to the Cable Car Station on the Upper Rock Nature Reserve yesterday.

The City Fire Brigade responded to the call and brought the fire, which was on the eastern cliffs overlooking Catalan Bay, swiftly under control.

The Royal Gibraltar Police also attended and sealed off the area.

The incident comes just weeks after a major fire on the lower slopes of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, immediately behind the Mount Alvernia residence.

From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

Images courtesy of Jack Cox @ Travelpicspro.com

Members of B Company The Royal Gibraltar Regiment will be conducting a Ceremonial guard mount at 12 o’clock outside The Convent today.

A CBF (Commander British Forces) spokesman said:

“The guard will be commanded by Lt Ernest Danino with Colour Sergeant Santos standing in as acting company Sergeant major.

The band and corps of drums of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment will be provide music for the mount which will be held in the presence of Governor Sir Francis Richards.”

From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

Images courtesy of Jack Cox @ Travelpicspro.com

Naval base contractorisation dispute

Local union leaders will travel to the UK this weekend ahead of a meeting with senior Ministry of Defence officials next Monday on the Naval Base privatisation plan.

A spokesman for the MoD’s Permanent Joint Headquarters [PJHQ] in Northwood said Susan Scholefield, PJHQ Command Secretary, would likely lead the ministry’s team at the talks.

Ms Scholefield is one of the top four officials in Northwood and provides policy, legal, presentational, financial and civilian human resources advice to the most senior officer at PJHQ, the Chief of Joint Operations Air Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy.

Local and UK representatives of both the Transport and General Workers’ Union and Prospect are expected to attend the meeting.

It will take place two weeks after UK Defence Secretary Dr John Reid discussed the Gibraltar privatisation plan with senior UK representatives of the TGWU and Prospect during recent talks on a wide range of human resource issues.

At the time Dr Reid described the talks as “very useful” and said he would respond in detail to the points raised by the unions “very shortly” with a view to reaching an agreed way forward.

Meanwhile in yesterday’s House of Assembly report on the MoD contractorisation, the reference to the case which led to a Supreme Court ruling, should have read “TGWU AND Prospect” as the parties bringing forward the case.

From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

Related Links:

28 July 2005 - House approves bill to enshrine court ruling into statutes

21 July 2005 - Caruana spells out conditions for settlement at Naval Base

20 July 2005 - Negotiated settlement to Naval Base jobs crisis gains ground

14 July 2005 - MoD refrain from appeal in Unions case

30 June 2005 - Contractorisation gets big ‘NO’

29 June 2005 - Chief Justice gives Union go ahead to challenge cuts

19 April 2005 Unions declare a united front on MoD Contractorisation

Gibraltar News Online Contractorisation Poll

Miss Gibraltar 2005 Melanie Chipolina was presented with part of her prize money yesterday by Culture Minister Fabian Vinet.

Prize money presentations were also made to 1st Princess Shayanne Almeida, and 2nd Princess Kirian Lopez.

This year’s show produced by Stage One was the first occasion it had come under the auspices of the Ministry for Culture.

Meanwhile Mr Vinet in presenting the remainder of the prize money for last year’s Miss Gibraltar 2004, Helen Gustafson, congratulated her for having been such a popular ambassador for the Rock.

The Minister then offered his congratulations to the First and Second Princesses, before wishing Miss Gibraltar 2005 Melanie Chipolina the very best of luck in the Miss World Pageant, to be held in China later this year.

From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

Related Article & Link:

04 July 2005 - Melanie takes the Crown and our Cup!

Miss Gibraltar Official Website

Miss World Pageant

Funicular project

The company behind the controversial funicular project will soon hear formally from the Gibraltar Government as to the reasons why the scheme was refused outline planning permission at a meeting of the Development and Planning Commission earlier this year.

It has taken nearly three months to draft and approve the document detailing the criteria under which the DPC reached its decision last May 4.

Joe Holliday, Minister for Trade, Industry and Communications, said in a recent interview that it would be a “substantial reply” setting out clearly why the project was refused. He did not go into detail on the reasons except to say that they covered a range of issues including environmental, heritage and safety factors.

He added that the formal advice would most probably be sent to the developer, 21st Century Rock, by the end of this month.

The DPC’s decision to refuse outline planning permission last May came a day after anti-funicular campaigners handed Chief Minister Peter Caruana a petition signed by 7,350 people who opposed the scheme.

Once it receives the DPC’s reply, 21st Century Rock has several options open on how to proceed.

It can address the issues raised and re-submit the application. It can appeal the DPC’s decision. Or it can simply call it a day and withdraw the project.

In an interview with Chronicle last May 8, Leslie Ratcliffe, the driving force behind 21st Century Rock, left little doubt that he wished to push ahead with the scheme if possible.

“I believe the DPC made a very sensible decision in wanting further reassurances about the heritage and environment,” he said at the time.

“I believe the decision they made was the correct decision for the people of Gibraltar, taking all the factors into account.”

But he added:

“I’m waiting on the DPC to meet…to give me a structured reply as to how I might re-apply or appeal.”

From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

Related Articles:

11 May 2005 - Anti-Funicular Groups welcome DPC decision

05 May 2005 - Funicular Proposal fails at first stage

27 March 2005 - Gibraltar News Online Poll gives a resounding ‘No’ to proposed Funicular Project

Funicular Project Photomontage

Gibraltar Finance Centre debate

The GSLP/Liberals Opposition has expressed surprise that the Gibraltar Government should say that they are happy to enter into appropriate exchange of information arrangements with UK outside of the legal framework of the EU Directive for the Taxation of Savings Income.

In a statement issued yesterday, an Opposition spokesman said it was “incomprehensible” that the Gibraltar Government should have been “so angry and upset” at not being granted equal treatment by Britain in relation to other competitors, “when it now claims that this [exchange of information arrangements] will have no effect and that it is quite happy to do it.”

A GSLP/Lib spokesman said:

“There is of course no legal framework because there is no legal obligation to enter into such an agreement.

In the past Mr Caruana has indicated that it was not Government policy to enter into a voluntary agreement with the United Kingdom on exchange of information since this is not a requirement under European law.

In view of the fact that the Government announced in this year’s budget that Gibraltar residents are no longer required to pay tax on the income from savings and investments held outside Gibraltar, for example in the UK, there is even less reason for the Government of Gibraltar to want to receive this information from the UK in respect of its residents whose income is not taxable.

This in effect means that the granting of this exchange of information as a bilateral agreement based on reciprocity would be meaningless since the information would only be one way since it would only be useful to the UK Government to tax UK residents who have their money invested in Gibraltar.

Furthermore, when UK was negotiating with other Member States it agreed to the introduction of a system under which individuals in some Member States would be able to elect between paying a withholding tax or having their information provided to their home tax authorities.

Although the Gibraltar Government considered that giving competitors this advantage was denying Gibraltar institutions a level playing field, and although it said it pleaded with UK to be given equal treatment, the UK apparently turned a deaf ear to the pleas of the Gibraltar Government although it acceded to the same requests from the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

The Gibraltar Government complained bitterly about the attitude of the UK Government. It is incomprehensible that the Gibraltar Government should have been so angry and upset at the UK attitude when it now claims that this will have no effect
and that it is quite happy to do it.”

From The Gibraltar Chronicle - The Independent Daily First Published 1801

Related Articles & Links:

28 July 2005 - Government statement attempst to correct Taxation of Savings reports from Channel Islands

27 July 2005 - Guernsey decides not to shelve Tax deal with UK… yet!

European Savings Directive

22 July 2005 - Guernsey considers Euro Tax opt out

21 July 2005 - Gibraltar accused of taking advantage of loophole

04 July 2005 - Channel Island fury over Gibraltar tax ‘perk’

02 July 2005 - UK and Gibraltar Government seek deal on witholding tax

The chief executive of the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority, Paul Canessa, has rightly drawn attention in his annual report to the continued refusal by Spain to recognise Gibraltar’s 350 code.

Highlighting two specific concerns of liberalisation in Gibraltar, he pointed, first and foremost, at “the continued refusal by Spain to recognise Gibraltar’s IDD code (350) coupled with the European Commission’s continued failure to address this problem as requested by the two complaints filed with it by Gibtel and GNC (now Gibtelecom) in 1996.”

This means that the availability of numbers, the essential raw material, remains seriously circumscribed in Gibraltar.

It so happens that in 2003 and in 2004, the EC Commission took decisions that it was closing down the roaming complaint and the numbering complaint without taking action against Spain. There has been an appeal, but the cases are still pending.

The question of telecommunications was one of the issues discussed at the tripartite talks held in Portugal earlier this month.

A joint statement said that the forum had reviewed the work of the technical working group on telecommunications which had met several times since the Malaga meeting. The aim, it added, is to find a way acceptable to all sides, to increase the number of Gibraltar telephone numbers accessible from the Spanish network and to facilitate mobile roaming.

The working group was making good progress in identifying possible solutions, but it did not specify what this was.

From Panorama, Gibraltar’s Online Daily Newspaper