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 has today asked the Government to explain what alternative arrangements have been made in respect of the housing of Gibraltar’s Moroccan workers now that the Government has abandoned its ill-conceived idea of the Floating Hostel.
It has been a year since the Government arranged for the Floating Hostel to come to Gibraltar to provide temporary accommodation for the Moroccan workers, who had to vacate Buena Vista in June of last year as per the previous Government’s and BV Homes agreement. The GSD Government had plans to build a hostel at the end of North Mole which the present Government abandoned. By now, those plans to build a hostel would have been completed or well on their way to completion. Whilst we accept that the Government was perfectly entitled to pursue its own plans, the decision not to pursue the Floating Hostel idea at this very late stage has added to the delay in finding an alternative. The bottom line is that it appears that the Government did not think through whether the Floating Hostel was an appropriate solution, despite many concerns raised last year about the appropriateness of this vessel.
Captain Timothy Cumming recently returned from a six-month operational deployment to Afghanistan.
His role in Helmand Province was as an Operations Officer within the UK Task Force at the forefront of combat operations. He led a 60 strong Task Force, which provided 24 hour capability to Coalition Forces at both the tactical and strategic level for ongoing missions throughout the region.
The GSD notes the Panorama lead article in today’s edition on the Government’s decision to revive the Eastside project.
The article speculates that an offer for investment has been made to the Government of Gibraltar by the former GSD Deputy Leader Joe Holliday on behalf of foreign investors.
WO1 (BM) Craig Philbin officially passed the Baton to incoming Regimental Bandmaster WO1 (BM) Oliver Jeans as he prepares to leave the Army following a career spanning 25 years.
WO1 Jeans was previously the Bandmaster of The Band of The Parachute Regiment serving in Colchester. He recently moved to Gibraltar with his wife Julie and their two children Louisa (7) and Harrison (5). His first impression of Gibraltar is an impressive sense of history that he finds fascinating. He said: “I’m really looking forward to learning the traditions and customs so that I can choose sympathetic music to suit and adopt the ethos of the Regiment.”