European Commission Executive Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation José Manuel Albares and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, together with the Chief Minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo, met in Brussels earlier today.
The Opposition are incapable of welcoming anything that the Government has done without resorting to cheap political point scoring which interests nobody and helps no one. The latest statement on the refurbishment of a number of Government rental housing estates is a case in point.
It is a good and a positive development that the Government has decided to invest in its own housing stock which will improve the lives of residents in Glacis, Laguna and Moorish Castle Estates. This followed a period of intensive consultation with the residents in each of the estates as well as listening to the views of the Development and Planning Commission. The project will involve beautification, new windows, protective rendering and lift installation. It represents a huge investment in people. There will also be improvement works in Varyl Begg Estate and Alameda Estate.
The Gibraltar Government yesterday congratulated Head EU Draftsman, Paul Peralta at the EU and International Department on his re-election to the Council of the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel (CALC)
CALC held its general meeting at the end of the conference, during which Paul stood for re-election to one of the two European seats on the Council. A Government statement noted that ‘his continued participation at all levels of CALC, and in particular his place on the Council, means that through Paul, Gibraltar enjoys positive exposure to some of the most senior legislative counsel in the Commonwealth’.
An international meeting on “Human Evolution: past, present and future” was held in London on Thursday and Friday of last week. The conference was organised by the Royal Marsden Hospital and was held in the Grange St Paul’s Hotel. Among invited speakers were Sir David Attenborough and Professor Donald Johanson, famous for his discovery of the fossil that came to be known worldwide as Lucy. Also attending the conference was a team from the Gibraltar Museum, led by Professor Clive Finlayson who was also among the invited speakers. His presentation focused on contrasting the evolutionary trajectory of our own ancestors with that of the Neanderthals. A part of this presentation was taken up with the story as told by the important sites at Gibraltar.
Former PDP candidate and litigator in Gibraltar, Elliott Phillips will be joining the GSD and its Executive Committee. The announcement was made at a press conference at the GSD Headquarters this morning. Leader of the party, Daniel Feetham insisted that his contributions at the last election left the party feeling confident in his intelligence, reasonableness and balanced views, ‘ qualities that augur well for a significant future in the service of the community, as one of Gibraltar’s future political leaders.’