THE WEATHER
Edition 362
B
Friday 9th March 2018
See page 2 for the week’s forecast
RYANAIR’S FLIGHT THREAT
udget airline Ryanair, that operates services in and out of Alicante-Elche and San Javier airports, is threatening to ground its planes in Britain after the UK withdraws from the European Union to persuade voters to "rethink" Brexit. The Dublin-based carrier's chief executive Michael O'Leary said he wants to "create an opportunity" by making people realise they are "no longer going to have cheap holidays". He told an audience of airline leaders in Brussels: "I think it's in our interests - not for a long period of time that the aircraft are grounded.” "It's only when you get to that stage where you're going to persuade the average British voter that you were lied to in the entire Brexit debate.”
S
www.thecourier.es
"You were promised you could leave the EU and everything would stay the same. “The reality is you can leave the EU, yes that's your choice, but everything will fundamentally change." Mr O'Leary warned that there would be a "real crisis" as flights between the UK and the EU are disrupted after Brexit. He said: "When you begin to realise that you're no longer going to have cheap holidays in Portugal or Spain or Italy, you've got to drive to Scotland or get a ferry to Ireland as your only holiday options, maybe we'll begin to rethink the whole Brexit debate.” "They were misled and I think we have to create an opportunity." EasyJet chief executive, Johan Lundgren, who was on stage alongside Mr
1/2 Bedroom 1 Bathroom Upper Bungalow in El Chaparral Y RT PE E O PR F TH K O EE W
Property ID: 565 - 69,950€ O'Leary, interrupted him to say: "If you start grounding your planes, I'm flying." Carsten Spohr, the boss of German carrier Lufthansa, added: "In theory, if we could use this industry to prove to the British how wrong the decision was, that might be a good thing." The single market for aviation, created in the 1990s, means there are no commercial restrictions for airlines flying within the EU.
Mr O'Leary has repeatedly warned that airlines will be forced to cancel post-Brexit services from March 2019 if no agreement is reached in the Brexit negotiations by September, because schedules are planned about six months in advance. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said in January that he is confident flights will not be grounded because "it's in the interests of everyone" to maintain the open market for aviation.
SEE OUR AD ON PAGES 16 & 17 FOR OUR LATEST ADDITIONS
Luxury Dog Kennels With Quality Owner Accommodation For Sale
BRITISH VOTING MOVE
pain’s ruling Partido Popular national government wants British citizens in Spain to be able to continue voting in local elections after Brexit, according to a report in the El País newspaper. El País quoted an unnamed senior source within the PP as saying:"We are going to ask that they should continue to be allowed to vote. We want them to preserve their political rights." The options being considered by the PP, according to El País, are: voting rights as part of the final Brexit deal, an extension of existing rights, or a bilateral "reci-
procity agreement" on the matter between Spain and the UK, to maintain voting rights for residents who have been in the country for a certain amount of time. El País stated that the man leading the drive is the PP’s European spokesman Esteban González Pons, with the party allegedly concerned that UK voters who support the PP in regions like Valencia and Andalucia would be lost to them. Some municipalities on the Costa Blanca have more foreign residents on the padrón as opposed to Spanish nationals, though the number of UK people officially registered in Spain
Go to page 34 to read more! is down to around 300 thousand, despite the fact that UK-owned homes amount to over a million. Despite being on the padrón, people have to make sure that are on the electoral register, and there are also fears that UK citizens in Spain will not do so amidst the Brexit confusion.
A PP senator in the Andalucía region, Manual Marmolejo, told El País that people are "very worried" about the issue and "working against the clock to find a solution". Local elections are scheduled across Spain for May 2019, after Brexit takes place in March.