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.
MOD Chief Fire Officer Alec Button retired yesterday, after 36 years service. Mr. Button joined the Admiralty Fire Service in 1977 working in Dock Yard with specialist fire training for ships. The Defence Fire Service was created in the early 90’s and relocated to the airfield. The Admiralty Fire Service were then given conversion training from ships to aircraft.
Minister for Health Dr. John Cortes paid a visit to the Breast Cancer Support Group's stand at St Bernard's Hospital today. The stand is part of the Group's campaign to raise awareness of lymphoedema, a condition that can occur following surgery for breast cancer.
During their time in Brussels, the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister met with a number of European Parliament delegates to discuss a vast range of Gibraltar’s issues. During a meeting with Gibraltar Liberal Democrat MEP, Sir Graham Watson and two European Commissioners, Mr. Picardo raised the issues of queues at the Frontier, on-line gaming, taxation and home affairs.
Commissioner Michel Barnier, who is responsible for the Internal Market and Services accompanied the Government delegation to the meeting. A detailed dossier on the delays at the frontier was presented to Commissioner Anna Cecilia Malmstrom, who is responsible for Home Affairs. The document included photographs, statistics, press cuttings and details of the frontier queue website.
According to Government reports, the results of the analyses undertaken on the dust problem at Catalan Bay confirm that the issue originates from the use of dredged sand following the beach replenishment work undertaken by the previous administration.
Samples of sand have been taken at different depths in various locations throughout the winter period and these indicate a very significant reduction in the amounts of fine particles, which is the portion that becomes airborne and caused the dust clouds experienced last year.