Solidarity

MBE for charity worker

By Nikki Luxford
La Xara resident Joy Goodrick has been awarded an MBE for her charity work over the past years.

The 81-year-old was awarded the MBE after six people, including a Spanish councillor and Father John, nominated her.

Since her husband died 16 years ago, Joy has volunteered for HELP which includes work in the shop in La Xara every Monday, as well as helping with fundraisers which have seen the charity raise money to buy special care beds, wheelchairs and other useful equipment.

When asked how she was notified, Joy Goodrick said: "I received a call from the Embassy in Madrid who explained to me that I had been made an MBE. I was completely dumbfounded, but my family and friends are extremely delighted for me."

Joy Goodrick, who has been visiting Spain since 1962 moved here permanently in 1993. During her working life she cared for sick children and continued her charity work with HELP.

The official award ceremony will be held in the autumn at Buckingham Palace and she will receive her MBE from either the Queen or another member of the royal family.

Article from Costa News

Less noise from building work during the summer

Summer building moratorium

By Tom Cain

COSTA councils are being urged by businessmen in the commercial sector to halt all private building work during the summer season so as to not damage an already weakened tourism sector.

They are also being asked to speed up any outstanding public projects and not to initiate any new ones until later in the year.

In most cases councils are paying heed to the demands and modifying their local bylaws so restrictions can be brought in.

Many, including Benidorm, have told constructors to stop all work in town centre zones between July 1 and September 1. The only work permitted will be projects considered to be of general public interest.

In Calpe, constructors who flout noise level bylaws will face fines of between 90 and 3,000 euros while in Benissa fines for ignoring summer building restrictions could be as hight as 6,000 euros.

In other towns where public works projects are taking place, councils have been asked to speed them up so that are finished before the summer influx of tourists, although in some cases this will not be possible due to the size and complexity of some projects.

Article from Costa News

Let's see if it is taken into account in La Vila.

Trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina

Dear friends, We are pleased to inform you that PES activists from Bosnia and Herzegovina are inviting 20 PES activists from entire Europe to come to Bosnia and Herzegovina from 7th to 14th July and to join as on the „March of peace“. This March is held annually, and it is to honor the victims of Srebrenica. On this March the participants are walking for three days and crossing around 100 km (62,14 mi), until they get to Srebrenica. This March is the opposite route of the one the survivors had to cross in order to survive.

If you need any other information please contact us on this e-mail edin_trebinjac@hotmail.com, or you can contact us on this number 0038761441468., also you can visit web page www.marsmira.org/s_en/prva.html to get more information about the route. We will register everyone, so that this web page is only for information, as we will go as a group. Send your application form on this email edin_trebinjac@hotmail.com

The deadline for sending applications is 18th of June Looking forward to seeing you in Bosnia and Herzegovina Edin Trebinjac PES @activists Coordinator for Bosnia and Herzegovina

Files:
Invitation.doc
Programme.doc
Registration form.doc

Information from PES

Right to die

Junta approves pioneering ‘dignified death' law for terminally ill patients

By Oliver McIntyre

The Junta de Andalucía cabinet on Monday approved a ‘right to die' law that, once formally passed by the regional parliament, will be the first of its kind in Spain.

The law, aimed at providing terminally ill patients the right to a ‘dignified death', allows them to reject artificial means of life support, including halting already ongoing treatment such as by disconnecting a respirator.

It also allows the use of palliative sedation in terminal cases, which could be used to minimise the suffering of someone who elected to be removed from life support.

The rejection of artificial life support can also be made in advance via the creation of a living will, which doctors will be obligated to respect in the event that injury or illness has left a patient incapacitated to express his or her wishes.

Unless there are medical contraindications, terminal patients will have the right to receive palliative care in their own home, and in the company of family members. Those who must be hospitalised will be guaranteed their own, unshared hospital room.

The Junta's health chief, María Jesús Montero, who oversaw the drawing up of the legislation with input from health professionals, scientists and others, said the law in no way addresses euthanasia (actively provoking death) or assisted suicide (helping someone to actively take their own life), both of which are criminal offences under Spanish law.

She said Andalucía's ‘right to die' law was inspired by cases such as that of Inmaculada Echevarría, the Granada woman who fought a legal battle before finally winning permission to be disconnected from her respirator in 2007, or the malpractice accusations against doctors at Madrid's Severo Ochoa hospital over the sedation they administered to terminally ill patients.

Article from Costa News

New rules for electricity supplies

As from July 1, nationwide regulations regarding who supplies electricity to around 1.2 million people in Alicante Province will change under the government's new Tarifa de Último Recurso (TUR) scheme.

Between now and then customers who use less then 10kW of electricity each month have to decide which of the five suppliers they want to be contracted to and make the necessary arrangements, anybody who fails to do so will automatically be contracted to the company they are currently with.

The TUR scheme has been put in place in order to help reduce bills for people who habitually use less energy than others.

Anyone wishing to change to another company can do so at no cost, and failure to elect one of them will not result in supplies being cut.

Watchdogs are advising people to wait until the situation regarding costs become clearer before making any decisions about changing suppliers.

Read the whole article published in Costa News

European elections: We need more PES, not less PES

While we await the final results of the European elections, it is obvious our socialist and social democratic family had a disappointing result. We face a more conservative European Parliament, with a right that is more euro-sceptic and more nationalistic than before. The low participation rate was a huge problem, especially for us. Our voters stayed away. They simply didn’t see the relevance of these elections. They did not see the political choices at European level - perhaps not surprising since these elections were mainly fought over national political disputes.

We had a European alternative, but it was not visible enough. ...

The far-right made worrying gains in the elections. People still need us to stand up for respect and tolerance for all, and to continue to fight to protect all workers from the recession. ...

Read whole article and its comments

Composition of the next European Parliament

Electoral night - live video streaming and results!

Submitted by editor on Sun, 07/06/2009 - 17:54.

Here comes the moment! Today we will know the composition of the next European Parliament! Stay with us!
The PES broadcasts a video streaming from the European Parliament in Brussels, meanwhile we will constantly update on this page the results coming from the 27 European countries. Tonight, live on www.elections2009.pes.org !

Results live on the EP website - click on your country to know the national results!

Read more

It's your Choice!

Here is an intresting video for the elections on the European Parlament. It was done by German students from the university of Bonn. They want to call up the people with this spot to go to the polls. Enjoy the video and when you like it, show it ... read more

Strategic Thinking

With less than a hundred hours to Election Day, I would like to say how impressed I am with the Swedish Social Democrats (S) campaign. On Saturday, I went to Linköping to learn from local activists in how to reach out to different groups of voters. ...

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Final call to vote

The European elections have now started in the UK and the Netherlands and by Sunday evening will be completed in all 27 EU member countries. The elections are a vote on the policy, direction and leadership of the European Union. It is the Parliament ...

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Don't throw your vote away!

You choose - but please don't throw your vote away!

By Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, President of the Party of European Socialists You choose – but please don’t throw your vote away!Like it or not, Europe is a part of your government, and Brussels is one of the seats of your democracy. There’s the Town ... read more

Measures to deal with the crisis

During his speech, Celestino Corbacho, Minister of Work and Immigration and PSC National Secretary, recalled the social measures that Socialists are proposing to deal with the crisis such as a Social Progressive Deal which counts on the support of ETUC (European Trade Union Confederation) and leads to an European Strategy for employment and sustainable and intelligent growth. Because, according to Corbacho, “now is the time to strengthen our Socialist values and aims; the crisis should not be an excuse to give up in social field. We should work for more and better jobs and equal opportunities for all. We have the chance to get out of the crisis and recover our Europe, Social Europe!”.

Read the whole article

An Exciting campain

The socialist are working hard to explain their manifesto for the European Elections and the importance of voting and achieving a majority, as Felipe Gonzalez pointed out, because we feel and really believe we are Europeans and because it is necessary to count with a strong, united Europe influential enough to develop a leadership together with USA and China which can make our world a better place to live because we are respectful to the people and our environment.

See some photos of his speech in Alicante.

Yesterday in Benidorm Bibiana Aido, the Minister of Iguality, encouraged us to vote to the socialist list for the European Parliament because we cannot be afraid of the future, of progress, and especially because we cannot lose rights already achieved.

See some photos of her visit.