El blog de Maria

The consulate will monitor the Planning interests of British in Andalucía and Valencia

The autonomous communities of Andalusia and Valencia will have a British consular official in Malaga and Alicante, which will be devoted to inform and warn citizens of the United Kingdom on the various issues that may affect them, mainly in urban affairs, as it has been announced by the Secretary of State for Regional Cooperation, Gaspar Zarrías.

Zarrías, together with the counselor of Housing and Planning of the Government of Andalusia, Juan Espadas, met on Sunday at the British Consulate in Malaga with British Minister for Europe, Chris Bryant, and the British Ambassador in Spain, Giles Paxman.

Secretary of State Zarrias reported that some months ago he had several meetings with British representatives in order to implement procedures for collaboration and cooperation between both countries as there are a million of UK citizens living in Spain.

The agreement will be effective, he said, within a month, and will allow an officer to be present at the Consulate in Malaga and Alicante so that the British people can know and have information about urban issues, health or social welfare, among others.

"We intend to work preventively to provide information as once the problem gets into the judicial machinery, solutions are more complicated “he said, referring to the status of eight British families living in the town of Albox, Almeria, which are affected by court orders for the demolition of their homes.

At this point, the British Minister for Europe, questioned on the legal safety of Spain, said that if the homes "fall for legal reasons, it does not help," hence, he continued, the importance of this measure.

"It is better to seek a solution before it gets to court and although in the case of Albox,  they hired the services of a Spanish lawyer, they are still threatened by demolition-judgments and that seems  unfair to many Englishmen," he said.

 
Both Zarrías and Espadas stressed that legal certainty in Spain is "total and absolute." “British know that the rule of law works here, law exists and everything is done according to law," declared Secretary of State for Regional Cooperation, who reiterated that the launch of this service is precisely to provide information "before trouble producing actions are carried out”

 Conil beach by Victor Kaposi at Flickr.com