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Spain in the dock
10 - 16 SEPTEMBER 2010
Plane parking is leading the way
PLANE PARKING at San Javier is celebrating its very first birthday this month and what a year it has been! To celebrate they are offering a 10% discount until the end of September. • p5
Town hall set to save emergency centre DESPITE PROMISES that the first stone of the new coastal emergency centre would be laid in February 2010, the site of the proposed multi functional emergency service facility in La Zenia is still barren. • p8
by Jack Troughton
Inheritance Tax Services – Part 1
SINCE WINCHAM has been writing for the Round Town News we have received many enquiries about our company and solution to avoid Spanish Inheritance Tax so I have supplied a number of the most popular questions posed by our clients. • p30
Aunty Virus
Aunty Virus answers your weekly technical questions, this week amazon.co.uk delivery! • p50
Ferrari farce
Andy Kay’s weekly column this week talks about the the FIA’s decision not to punish Ferrari further for their blatant manipulation of the German Grand Pri. • p62
Issue 569
The Mayor announces this Saturday’s Sporting Gala
Annual sporting gala
TOMORROW, SATURDAY 11th September, the 17th Torrevieja Sporting Gala will take place at the new Sports City. The event will be presented by Francisco Reyes and will start at 20:30. . See page 5.
VALENCIA’S NOTORIOUS ‘land grab’ laws have pushed Spain into an embarrassing court case and a direct confrontation with the European Union next week. The European Commission is prosecuting “defendant” the Kingdom of Spain over the controversial LRAU legislation and its replacement, the LUV. And as a result the matter is listed for hearing before a judge in the European Court of Justice at 09.30 on Thursday 16th September. It could result in Spain facing hefty fines. The matter has come to a head after a complaint by the Costa Blanca based group Abusos Urbanisticos No, the high profile campaign group fighting to protect the rights of property owners and the environment. And while the AUN – formed as a protest against the abuses of the LRAU and LUV - began legal proceedings more than five years ago, it had convinced the Commission
to take on the case as a clear breach of EU law and the human rights of citizens. del Sol, has placed the Andalucía municipalities in the focus of the Inspectorate. Spain is called on to answer the charges because the state rather than the Valencian Community is a member of the EU and committed to its laws. However, it will be argued that Madrid failed to keep “its children” in regional government in line over law making – Valencia’s laws heavily flawed in the eyes of protesters and MEPs dealing with thousands of complaints. Under the land grab laws, property owners are forced to give up land and pay for infrastructure – or both – for large scale urbanisation passed by local authorities and Valencia. Repeatedly condemned in the European Parliament, the laws were said be a breach of human rights and turning the Spanish dream into a “nightmare.” Continued on page 4