Olive Press Costa Blanca North and Valencia - Issue 107

By Sarah Gordon Strap in for Europe’s

NEW MAN AT TOP

A GIANT swing to the right has seen Ximo Puig swept from power in regional elections.

Carlos Mazon is the new president of Valencia, after his PP party more than doubled its seats in Les Corts.

In a stunning victory he got 40 seats - up 21 on the 2019 elections - and with the aid of far-right party Vox (13 seats) he has an easy majority.

It comes as Ciudadanos and Podemos were wiped out in the weekend’s regional and local elections. Neither got a single seat, failing to poll the minimum of 5% under election rules.

They lost 18 and eight seats respectively, while Puig’s PSOE socialists got 31 seats and Compromis got 15. In his resignation speech, Puig insisted he was leaving Valencia ‘stronger’ than when he came to power in 2015.

Mazon promised a ‘stable’ government for everybody, ‘whether they voted for us or not’.

See page 12

UNINSURED

Rental scammer exposed by Olive Press also sold bogus insurance policies

AN expat who the Olive Press exposed as a holiday rental fraudster also took money for fake insurance policies.

Juliette de Courcy Withey allegedly scammed dozens of expats while working as an agent for one of Spain’s leading insurance companies.

We can reveal how the Malaga-based resident allegedly pocketed thousands of euros she was meant to hand over for insurance policies at Caser Seguros.

De Courcy, from Guaro, scammed clients by selling them invalid house and car insurance policies, having befriended them locally. The expat - who is currently being prosecuted over a bogus

EXCLUSIVE

By Alberto Lejarraga

rental scheme - has allegedly been up to her antics for the last two decades.

“It’s about time she paid for her scams,” Susan Platt, from Liverpool, told the Olive Press this week.

Cash

The 69-year-old revealed she only discovered a villa she rented in Marbella was not insured a year after giving De Courcy €600 in cash.

“She actually cancelled the Liberty policy the very same day she took the money,” she

Was this the spot?

Olive Press exclusive reveals the lake camp where police believe suspect Christian Brueckner brought Madeleine McCann

See Ground Zero on page 2

slammed. “I had no idea it wasn’t valid until a Liberty agent told me she was not working for them and said the policy had been cancelled.”

Another victim from Holland, suffered a similar fate.

The Mother-of-two and her husband based in Guaro, were given ‘official Caser handwritten receipts’ after paying ‘thousands in cash’ for fully comprehensive car insurance over a number of years.

They only discovered their fate when they were involved in a car accident in which the other driver was hospitalised. To their horror they later got a call from the court saying they had to pay €3,000 to the affected party as their vehicle was ‘not insured’. “We could not believe it,” she said. “It was only then we realised we had been driving uninsured for years. And even with two kids in the car!”. She added: “It was a horrible time but when I went to talk

to Juliette and demanded she give me €3,000 she said she would sort it all out, but never did.”

Eventually, they took De Courcy to court and, this month, after 10 long years they finally learnt they will be getting their money back.

Under the settlement, De Courcy and husband, David

Withey, were found guilty of ‘misappropriation’ and handed prison sentences, according to Olive Press legal sources.

“While Withey tried to take the blame, the court did not buy it and sentenced both to two years in prison, suspended over the next Meanwhile, two other expats Gill and Glyn Williams, from Kent, recently discovered from Caser that their car had been uninsured for the entire period they had paid De Courcy.

“We were very lucky we had no accidents,” said Gill this week.

Tricked

She also believes there are many other victims including a German friend, who had to move home, plus a Swedish couple. “And there was another British friend of ours who went to claim after an accident only to be told by Caser she was not insured.” De Courcy declined to comment and simply replied ‘goodbye’ and hung up, when called.

While Caser failed to comment, Liberty confirmed Withey had indeed tricked customers.

A spokesman explained she had got away with it as she was collaborating with one of Liberty’s former agents, who was later sacked for ‘embezzling money’.

“It must have been through this collaboration that she had access to our office,” he said.

Opinion Page 6

Xwhile (above) our rental probe in April

Sniffed out

A 15-strong gang has been charged with setting up large-scale marijuana farms inside empty properties in Benidorm, Polop, and Finestrat.

Card con

A SAGUNT woman, 25, has been arrested for scamming an elderly female by making €905 of charges on her bank card to book a hotel and flights to Greece which she’d enjoy with her boyfriend.

Lucky escape

A woman, 40, survived being hit by a train as she was crossing a line in Sangunt on Sunday. Rescuers pulled her out from under a carriage and took her to Valencia’s Clinical Hospital.

Frozen out

A WORKER, 46, at an Alzira ice-cream making factory got herself stuck in one of the machines but managed to free herself before fire crews arrived. Her injuries were treated at the local hospital.

EXCLUSIVE

IT was his secret camp that he called his ‘little paradise’. Hidden in a copse overlooking Arade lake, this was the Portuguese hideout that Christian Brueckner would come to ‘cleanse himself’ alongside lots of beer and marijuana.

As well as a rudimentary table, hewn out of a log, the Madeleine McCann suspect even sculpted a stone bench down by the water’s edge. But what most intrigued German detectives, who spent 72-hours scouring the area last week, was a perfect stone circle, now dismantled, that was made beside it.

“This was his exact special spot he liked to come to ‘cleanse himself’,” a former friend told the Olive Press on a visit to the reservoir, last year.

“He came here often, but I don’t know exactly what he did as he was always secretive.”

Granada

The Olive Press established he spent long periods by a trio of lakes on the Algarve, as well as Granada’s Alpujarras region, where he sold drugs and stolen items.

The convicted rapist and paedophile particularly liked Arade lake.

“He would drive down to the edge of the lake. He liked to be near the water,” revealed the German mother-of-two, who is a key witness in the case.

“He always camped in the same spot and said he came to ‘cleanse himself’ and he certainly washed himself and his

GROUND ZERO!

clothes in the lake.

“He drank a lot of beer as when I came down with him to pick up stones for a wall at my house there were loads of empty cans.

“I think he liked the silence and the fact there was usually noone else around. It now makes me horrified to think what he really might have done down there.”

Talking at her home near Silves, the expat, who has lived on the Algarve for three decades, added: “The most important thing detectives needed to know was exactly when and where he went by the lake. They made me pick it out on maps and aerial shots, which luckily I could do.” Located just 30 miles from where Madeleine, then 3, was snatched from her bed in Praia da Luz, Arade lake sits close to where Brueckner was staying at the time in the village of Foral.

A former flatmate, Michael Tatschl, told the Olive Press in 2020 that Brueckner ‘loved’ spending time by the lakes with his friend Christian Post, an IT technician, who now lives in Cambodia. “He loved the isolation at the lakes… and he was definitely a pervert and more than capable of snatching a child, for sexual kicks or money,” said Tatschl, from his home in Austria. “He was always bragging about making money. He even talked about selling kids maybe to Morocco, and I think he probably sold Maddie to someone –maybe a sex ring.”

When finally tracked down to Kampot, in Cambodia, last year, Post said he also believed Brueckner snatched a sleeping Madeleine while on a burglary spree. “Now I know about his paedophile past. I’m 100% cer-

tain it was him. I think he found (Madeleine) by chance and took her,” said Post. This is a theory that German detectives have been working on since they unearthed a stash of 8000 photos and videos, including child abuse, at

a Brueckner property, in 2016

The files came with various other items, it can be revealed, some of which ‘directly implicate’ Brueckner in the abduction. Yet remarkably, while he was twice extradited from Portugal for sex crimes against children, Portuguese detectives never considered he could be involved.

He is currently serving a seven-year sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old in Praia da Luz, in 2005.

It was German cops who dis-

covered his phone was used near Madeleine’s apartment on the same night she went missing.

Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told the Olive Press he is ‘certain’ Brueckner abducted Madeleine and killed her. Detectives have found at least one ‘relevant clue’ from the Arade search and taken dozens of samples back to Germany to be analysed over the coming weeks.

Olive Press editor Jon Clarke was the only journalist to visit the ‘secret camp’ of Madeleine McCann suspect last year, as three-day lake search finds ‘relevant clues’

RITUAL CLEANSING: What did Brueckner do at Arade lake stone circle ?

Photos by Jon Clarke

Maddie cops cover up, p6

JADE Jagger is in the doghouse after being fined for resisting arrest, but could end up in the jailhouse if a police union lawyer has his way.

The 51-year-old daughter of Mick Jagger and his first (and legally speaking only) wife Bianca appeared at a fast-track hearing in an Ibiza court alongside her 31-year-old lover Anthony Hinkson.

Police were called to La Oliva restaurant in Ibiza’s Old Town when Hinkson was being abusive to staff and customers.

He refused to identify himself to officers and Jagger was reported to have intervened to ‘defend her partner’, and in doing so ‘assaulted’ and insulted a female officer.

After two nights in the cells the pair appeared

Taking the Mick

in front of a judge who ordered Jagger to pay €800 compensation and fined her a total of €1,400 for resisting arrest and ‘causing personal injury’. Hinkson was jailed for four-months - automatically suspended as it is a first offence - for assault.

But now lawyer Eduardo Luna, hired by Spanish police union SUP to fight the case, wants the judgement annulled.

He has called for a retrial with fashion designer Jagger charged with the more serious offence of wounding.

NO

GENT

Bridezilla strikes

KING Felipe VI and Queen

Letizia were in Wales for their daughter Leonor’s graduation ceremony from Atlantic College in the Vale of Glamorgan. Seventeen-year-old Leonor, who is the Princess of Asturias and the heir to the Spanish throne, began the two-year course at the sixth form college back in 2021. Her parents reportedly paid the £67,000 tuition fees themselves. Also in attendance at the ceremony was the royal couple’s youngest daughter Sofia, aged 16 and known in Spanish as the infanta Leonor will now be starting military training in the autumn, following in the footsteps of her father.

On-off-on again aristocratic wedding saga claims dress designer casualty

SHE is an aristocrat, half sister to Enrique Iglesias and a TV personality boasting her own Netflix reality series called Lady Tamara And the long-running saga of her on, off and on again wedding is turning into a soap opera all on its own.

Tamara Falco - the sixth Marchioness of Griñón and, through her socialite mother Isabel Preysler, sister to Iglesias - has dumped her wedding dress designer and jetted to New York to be fitted by Wes Gordon. The creative director of Car-

Princess of Wales BEST EVER

By Dilip Kuner

olina Herrera has stepped in at short notice to replace Basque designers Sophie et Voila, with the July 8 wedding date looming.

The story of Falco’s nuptials has kept the social pages of the Spanish press busy from the moment she made the engagement announcement on Instagram last autumn. She declared that she was going to marry businessman Iñigo Onieva (pictured), but within days a video emerged

THE man considered as the world’s greatest-ever marathon runner - Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge - has run off with the 2023 Princess of Asturias Award for sport. It is one of eight €50,000 prizes handed out for outstanding work in fields like the arts, communication, scientific research and literature which will be presented at a ceremony in Oviedo every September.

Kipchoge, 38, who won Olympic gold in the marathon in 2016 and 2020 and was the world 5,000 metres champion in 2003 ‘is considered a legend in world athletics and the best marathon runner of all time’, said the Princess of Asturias foundation.

of him canoodling with a New York model at a music festival in the US.

Despite his initial claims the image was from 2019, before he knew 41-year-old Falco, TV sleuths had identified the festival as being held just a few weeks previously. The TV gossip shows went into meltdown and the saga was barely off the screens, with Falco apparently bringing her relationship with Onieva to an end when she removed the engagement post from Instagram But after Onieva apologised, the couple reunited on a Christmas trip to the Arctic, and now a lavish three-day celebration is planned.

SPANISH singing superstar Rosalia has slammed a fellow artist’s attempts to attract attention after he shared a faked topless photo of her on Instagram Far from apologising for his actions, Reyes instead celebrated becoming a ‘trending topic’ on social media. Reyes, 26 and from Sevilla, also took the opportunity to plug his next record. “Wait for my upcoming single, it’s called Rosalia ,” he wrote via social media.

Catalan warbler, Rosalia, 30, who shot to international fame thanks to singles such as Saoko and Chicken Teriyaki soon responded to the actions of Reyes.

“Looking for clout by disrespecting and sexualising someone is a kind of violence and is disgusting but doing it to get… plays [of a record] is pitiful,” she said via Twitter Reyes has since deleted all his posts about Rosalia.

Inspirational run

A 65-year-old man with Parkinson’s has been hailed as ‘an inspiration’ by broadcaster Jeremy Paxman for a 970-mile run from London to Barcelona.

Neil Russell, a former advertising executive from Gloucestershire, began his epic run last week and plans to complete it at the end of June.

He aims to finish in time for the opening of the World Parkinson’s Congress in the Catalan city.

Paxman - younger brother of former UK Ambassador to Spain Giles Paxman - was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2021. He said: “People like Neil are an inspiration and he shows that having Parkinson’s need not be a barrier in life.”

A STEEL totem unit containing three lifejackets has been installed on Calpe’s Penyal d’Ifac coast.

The fixed stainless steel structure on Paseo Princesa de Asturias operates off a solar panel and battery guaranteeing 24 hour service.

It’s been erected on a part of the coast where two cousins aged 19 and 24 died just over a year ago when they were swept away by strong currents.

When the glass is broken, an emergency sound and light alert system is activated and it has two alert buttons linked to the emergency 112 number.

BUS BOOST

and possibly include additional stops. One of the new routes will be a circular service connecting all of Denia’s neighbourhoods and linking up with stops

on the existing lines. The other new service will link the city with Denia Hospital and La Xara, and will also link to the proposed circular line. Around €500,000 will be allocated for the contract to manage the service.

HIT THE GROUND RUNNING

Plenty of changes in the elections around Valencia and Alicante

LOWER taxes, better cleaning and more police…these are the promises of Valencia’s new mayor Maria Jose Catala. Her PP party ousted Compromis mayor Joan Ribo, as her party won five more seats in Sunday’s vote. She will govern alone but will have to seek a ‘consensus’

RESTORE: Works underway

By Alex Trelinski

with far-right Vox as she does not have an overall majority.

Elsewhere in Valencia province, the socialists are expected to remain in charge of Gandia after adding a seat, while the PSOE-Compromis coalition in Oliva was beaten

GRAIN OF HOPE

CONSTRUCTION has begun on a breakwater at the mouth of Molinell river between Oliva and Denia. The 470-metre wall aims to protect and restore sand to Les Deveses beach, which has suffered serious coastal erosion.

Machines are depositing rocks to help retain sand that is carried

by the Projecte Oliva group with 10 seats. Meanwhile, the PP’s Toni Perez swept back in at Benidorm, while neighbouring Finestrat saw Juan Fran-

away during severe weather.

The regeneration work is why the Denia beach lost its coveted 'Blue Flag' award last month. There have been no official objections to the €14.7 million project, which will see the last 185 metres of the breakwater partially submerged.

cisco Perez romp home - taking 11 of the 13 seats. The PP also won in La Nucia, while it is also set to take over in Villajoyosa. The PSOE did better in l’Alfas del Pi increasing its majority, but

in Altea the socialists will need to form a coalition with Compromis to stay in charge. Benissa and Teulada Moraira stay under PP control but Denia’s PSOE mayor, Vicent Grimalt, needs support of Compromis to keep his job. Javea mayor Jose Chulvi won the election by just 34 votes, but lost his overall majority meaning his PSOE party will now have to work with the two Ciudadanos councillors. In Calpe, Ana Sala’s Somos Calpe party did well, gaining six seats, but her former PP running mate Cesar Sanchez took eight seats, leaving the town hall with days of negotiations ahead.

FIREFIGHTERS rescued two men rendered unconscious by deadly carbon monoxide fumes in Oliva.

An emergency call was made from a car wash company after the men got into trouble inside an underground wastewater tank. Fire crews from Gandia and Oliva descended into the tank and gave the men oxygen before hoisting them out to get treatment from paramedics.

In Maestre, a couple and their two children, 15 and 17, were poisoned on Saturday by carbon dioxide seeping out of a refrigerator. All four family members had mild poisoning symptoms and were treated at Bunyol Health Centre before being released.

Fuming Sad find

A DENIA fishing boat has pulled a fifth body out of the town’s waters. The corpse, in an advanced state of decomposition, was picked up in nets. It has been sent for an autopsy but it is believed to be the body of a migrant making a perilous sea crossing from North Africa to Spain. A fishing boat found the lifeless bodies of two men in March, while in April another boat found two others.

Fighting bullies

BENIDORM'S Terra Natura zoo has joined forces with anti-bullying group AcoSOS. It's estimated that three out of 10 children suffer bullying at school…and often don’t tell anybody.

AcoSOS aims to ‘prevent bullying, raise awareness about the serious consequences it carries and help the integration of boys and girls who have been bullying victims’. It provides training as well as workshops and discussion groups for parents.

Terra Natura will host an awareness campaign.

Stuck at home

AN alarming 200,000 British tourists are set to stay away from the Costa Blanca this summer.

And it’s not for want of coming.

There has been a 10% drop in the number of flights and seats from the UK to Alicante airport, it has been revealed.

The Costa Blanca Tourist Board has admitted that there are 67,000 fewer seats on planes flying from London Gatwick alone this summer than in 2019.

Boss Jose Mancebo insisted this was despite no reduced interest from the UK market -

BENIDORM’S Avenida Beniarda is scheduled to reopen today (Thursday) just in time for the summer rush, which can see it used by 30,000 vehicles a day.

It has been closed since September to allow for the construction of a new underpass.

The aim was to end traffic jams caused by trams on the Line 9 route crossing the road as they will eventually circulate above the new feature. The underpass - part of the €5 million project - is already open for emergency vehicles with the closure taking less than the previously announced 10 months.

Work above the underpass will continue over the next year or so.

TAKING SUN: But not everyone who wants to can

By Alex Trelinski

which still dominates foreign visitor numbers.

“The summer was planned a year ago which means there was a certain amount of conservatism in the number of flights scheduled,” he explained.

Free passage

Seat offerings are a 9% fall on 2019 numbers, accounting for around 200,000 passengers.

“The demand is still there but the UK market share used to be so high, that it will take a while to recover all of it,” added Mancebo.

The drop at Gatwick comes curiously as Manchester put on an extra 47,000 seats this summer.

Mancebo said that a lot of work has been done to extend the season through the winter and the first few months of the year were ‘very good’.

Benidorm-based hotel association Hosbec said there was a fall in the British market in early spring, but has recovered well in May.

UK bookings are now accounting for 50% of the resort's hotel occupancy. Around two million Brits are still expected to fly in for bucket and spade holidays this summer.

200,000 Brits ‘can’t get flights’ to Alicante as fewer seats made available

OPEN: Main road in Benidorm

Voted top expat paper in Spain

A campaigning, community newspaper, the Olive Press represents the huge expatriate community in Spain with an estimated readership, including the websites, of more than two million people a month.

OPINION

Key losses force Sanchez's hand

REGIONAL and municipal elections are always fascinating in Spain because it's not just the Sunday night that's interesting but also the deals needing to be struck between unlikely bedfellows over the following days.

By the way, if you don't think such elections are important, then tell that to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of the PSOE.

As the results came in, he made up his mind on Sunday night to bring forward December's general election to July 23 as a way of getting smaller left-wing parties to get their act together or face a Partido Popular (PP) victory.

The PP won the important benchmark of the Valencian regional government, which they ceded to Ximo Puig's left of centre 'botanic' coalition in 2015.

President-elect Carlos Mazon is a well-known figure in Alicante province especially for running the provincial council, but he has to decide how to govern as he doesn't have an overall majority - meaning some kind of accommodation with the far-right Vox. That's a similar scenario in Valencia City Council, where to the surprise of some pundits, the left-wing coalition was brushed aside in favour of the PP becoming the top party.

That result more than the regional one may have got Pedro Sanchez reaching for a strong brandy on Sunday.

The PP in the Murcia region easily kept power under Fernando Lopez Miras and they strengthened their advantage in many municipalities.

But Spain is very different from the UK, because whatever the political colour of a party, if the locals like their council, they vote it back in, rather than use the election for some kind of protest vote on the national situation..

That meant the PSOE gaining extra seats in some areas or just holding on to a council they were expected to lose. This meant it was far from the total PP landslide that some might have predicted.

As for July 23? Heaven knows!

PUBLISHER / EDITOR

Jon Clarke, jon@theolivepress.es

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MADDIE COPS

ALAWYER who twice oversaw searches at a reservoir looking for Madeleine McCann in 2008, has slammed the Portuguese police and state over the ‘shameful’ way the case was handled.

Marcos Aragao Correia organised two searches around the Barragem de Arade alongside the Spanish detective agency, Metodo 3, who were hired by the McCann family.

As well as insisting their findings - including bones in a bag weighed down by a stone and a child’s sock - were ‘ignored’ by police, he claims the ‘corrupt’ government of the time orchestrated a cover up.

In a damning interview with the Olive Press, he drew parallels with another missing girl, Joana Cipriano, who vanished at the age of 8, just 10 miles from Praia da Luz, where Madeleine went missing in May, 2007.

Talking from his home in Madeira, he slammed the way the mother of the girl, Leonor Cipriano, who he represented as a lawyer, had been tortured by police into signing ‘a false confession’ that she had killed her daughter.

And he described it as particularly ‘shameful’ that the same group of detectives, led by Gonzalo Amaral, was later tasked with investigating the case of missing Maddie, who vanished while on holiday in Praia da Luz.

“It is totally shameful that the Portuguese government, led

EXCLUSIVE

By Jon Clarke, in Silves

by the corrupt socialist Jose Socrates, allowed Amaral, already accused of torturing Leonor, to again be responsible for an investigation into the disappearance of another child, Madeleine.”

The father-of-four continued: “And soon it was found that the same ‘script’ of the police was always to accuse the parents of the children without any evidence.”

He added: “The Portuguese State is in fact a dictatorship disguised as democracy.”

In the shocking case of Joana, she had vanished in 2004 without trace, as she ran an errand to her local grocery shop, in Figueira, for her mother at dusk.

Incredibly, both her mother and uncle were accused of killing her after police claimed she had walked in on them in bed.

Detective Amaral - who was eventually removed from the Madeleine case - built up the accusation and claimed Joana was killed and her body was ‘fed to pigs’.

But it proved to be a total fantasy and Amaral received an 18-month sentence for perjury and covering up his officers’ dirty work, while two of them also received a prison sentence for the attack.

“After months of trial, we were able to prove that Leonor was brutally tortured by the Portuguese Judiciary Police (PJ) forcing her to sign a false confession saying that she had killed her own daughter,” Correia explained. The father-of-four added he was supported by both the Portuguese Bar Association and Amnesty International in the long miscarriage of justice, which only saw the mother exonerated after over a decade in prison.

Lawyer

This came, despite shocking photos showing Leonor with appalling injuries after two days of interrogations in an Algarve police cell.

He added Amaral had overseen the entire 48 hours of beatings and Leonor later picked him out in an ID parade.

And incredibly, Correia added: “The same Portuguese State that admitted the torture but refused to arrest any of the convicted officers, then accused me of defamation for having said what the Courts had already ruled… that is, that Amaral was involved in the torture of Leonor and covered it up.”

He eventually won the case, forcing Ama ral to apologise and pay his costs. Now based in his native Madeira, he has left the legal profession to support his children and set up a museum for his father, a famous writer and poet.

He insists that ‘protection’ of his children is his main concern, after years of battles with the Portuguese judiciary and police.

“We cannot count on the State, especially the Portuguese State, to help us if something bad happens to our children.

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AWARDS

REMARKABLE SIMILARITIES: Joana (left) vanished just 10 miles from Praia da Luz, some three years before Maddie vanished. Her mum, Leonor, sparked a desperate hunt and appeal, but not one clue was ever found

“After 16 years of institutional ne glect, only a miracle could now find Mad eleine McCann’s remains.” His remarkable insight came after police searched the large reservoir and surrounding area of the Arade lake. It comes after a good new tip off about the main suspect, Christian Brueckner, came in to the chief prosecutor leading the search in Braunschweig, in

First made aware of the plans for ‘an action’ on May 7, the Olive Press chose to stay quiet, after requests from German police.

SHOCKING TORTURE:

Rather than consider the probability of a kidnap by a predatory paedophile, Portuguese police instead beat a confession out of mother, Leonor, as well as her brother and uncle over a horrific 48hour period

who pinpointed Portugal lake where cops just searched for Madeleine McCann’s remains, links the case to another missing girl, 8, whose parents’ were ‘also framed’

COVER UP

Coordinated between a female prosecutor in Portimao and her counterpart in Braunschweig, Hans Christian Wolters, around 10 German BKA detectives worked with over 20 Portuguese police and ‘up to five’ detectives from Operation Grange, in London.

During the course of the 72-hour search at least three sacks of materials were sent back to the BKA’s headquarters in Wiesbaden.

Sources claimed photos of main suspect Brueckner had appeared of him beside the lake, while police were allegedly

specifically looking for fibres of the pink pyjamas Madeleine was wearing on the night she vanished. While sources in Germany told the Olive Press the new tip was ‘entire-

ly credible’ and came from a totally different source, it ties in closely with ‘underworld sources’ who had told Correia about the lake in 2007.

The lawyer had first heard the claims that Madeleine had been killed and dumped in the lake within 48 hours of her kidnap, on Sunday, May 6, just three days after she vanished.

He had first visited the lake with Spanish investigators from Metodo 3, based in Barcelona, in December that year and had finally identified the site where he thought she

was dumped on December 10.

While he immediately told police investigating the case he claimed they ‘did nothing’.

He also claimed (and sued the Portuguese Post Office) that a recorded letter with information on the kidnap which he sent to the McCanns’ home in Rothley, in the UK, had been seized by Portuguese police.

This week, he once again recalled his anguish, revealing: “The clues I received shortly after Madeleine disappeared pointed to her having been kidnapped, raped and murdered and her body thrown into a lake in the Algarve.

“I didn’t know at the time which lake it was, but I soon communicated all this data to the Portuguese Judiciary Police, who completely ignored it, and then to Metodo 3, which did its best to search for Madeleine and discover what had happened to her.

3

SHINING A LIGHT: All the hard work and investment by lawyer Marcos Correia into Maddie’s disappearance (which unearthed a bag of bones and a child’s sock, left, in Arade lake), was ‘totally ignored’ by Portu- guese detectives

“The work that Metodo 3 was carrying out in the field gathered several clues from different sources that also reinforced that Madeleine had been kidnapped and murdered and she would never have left Portugal.

“After exhaustive research, I therefore hired a private company of divers from the Algarve to carry out searches in the Arade lake, however, as we did not have the support of the Portuguese police (although I had requested this), our means were quite limited and the budget I

had offered quickly ran out, so a few days later we were forced to abandon the search.

“However, very suspicious material was found, such as bags with small bones tied with heavy stones, which was handed over to Method 3.” The searches, that had cost €1,200 per day, took place in February and March, 2008 and included mostly British divers, who lived in the area. Among items found was a child’s sock (left) and a 17-foot long piece of ‘knotted cord’ that Correia believed could have been used to tie up the toddler.

Metodo 3 later said they believed Madeleine had been switched from one vehicle to another at a parking spot nearby on the main road between Arade and nearby Silves.

A truck driver had later come forward to say he had spotted a woman passing what looked like a small child to someone at the time.

Concluding, the length of time it has taken to return to the lake, Correia insisted the Madeleine case had taken ‘far too long’ to solve and was a ‘abandoned at the highest level by the Portuguese State, and her parents, clearly innocent, were persecuted’.

“Thank you very much for your interest in the work I have done over the years,” he added. “Many people directly donated money to Madeleine’s parents. I donated my work, time and also money. After the searches again at Arade dam, I hope you can disclose everything in the name of public interest and bit by bit more of the truth will come out.”

After 16 years of institutional neglect, only a miracle could now find Madeleine McCann’s remains

NERVE-CENTRE: The Olive Press visited the Arade lake site, last week, where Marcos Correia searched for Maddie twice in 2008

Pictures by Jon Clarke

MYSTERIOUS MASS

15km2 of Mar Menor lagoon waters affected by puzzling white cloud

A ‘WHITISH mass’ of water measuring 15 square kilometres has appeared in Spain’s Mar Menor lagoon.

Satellite images analysed by the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO-CSIC) have revealed the worrying phenomena in Europe’s biggest ‘ínland sea’.

The mass extends between Los Alcazares, Los Urrutias and Perdiguera Island with the IEO-CSIC saying that the area is registering chlorophyll concentration values ‘up to four times in Murcia higher than in other parts of the lagoon’.

IEO-CSIC researcher, Juan Manuel Ruiz, said: “The presence of phytoplanktonic proliferations is common, but not with colouring.”

Phytoplanktons are a key part of freshwater and sea ecosystems creating organic compounds from carbon dioxide dissolved in the water.

Solar first

IBERDROLA has been given government permission to build its first solar energy power plant in the Valencian Community.

Previous project submissions had been rejected in the area due to their negative impact on the environment.

The FV Alhorines facility in Villena will cost €24 million to set up on 70 hectares of empty land next to existing power substations. The plant will produce energy from 92,000 photovoltaic modules and generate around 84,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year.

Iberdrola says that that's the equivalent of supplying 25,000 homes and saving 11,500 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

STORAGE NEEDED

NEW targets for renewable energy being set by Spain are likely to be missed, unless supporting infrastructure is rapidly built.

By Alex Trelinski

Satellite photos have shown the mass in the Mar Menor has been present for around two months.

The IEO-CSIC report says that the concentrations of phytoplanktons are lower than previous measurements especially in past instances when some of the water appeared to be murky or ‘green soup’ in colour.

This is thought to have led to several mass die-offs of sea creatures and vegetation in the area over the past few years. The growth of these types of planktons is thought to be associated with fertilisers and

slurry run-off from farmers bordering the lagoon. As the planktons proliferate in the nitrate-rich water, oxygen is removed and other life is suffocated.

At the moment the scientists are still trying to work out the cause of the white colouration, and are uncertain on the impact it will have on the environment.

This is the message from consultancy Afry after the government pledged to raise its targets for installed solar and wind capacity to 75 GW and 60 GW by 2030.

The current targets are 39 GW for solar and 50 GW for wind, with currently 20 GW and 30 GW, respectively installed.

There have been persistent calls for the Spanish government to do more to hit climate-related energy targets and for massive investment, with the raised figures welcomed by many in the renewable energy industry.

But Javier Revuelta of Afry claims the latest targets are ‘completely unrealistic’ unless energy storage solutions are found quickly.

If not, the price of renewable energy may plunge as installed capacity shoots up, leading to surpluses with no way of storing the extra energy during times of high output.

This in turn could affect the stability of the marketparticularly long term purchase agreements (PPAs) - making future investment less likely.

IN 2015 government leaders from around the world met in Paris and committed to enacting measures that would limit global warming to a maximum increase of 1.5C.

Surprise surprise, they have failed.

Last week researchers stated that this critical threshold will be passed BEFORE 2027.

Breaking this limit proves that global warming is accelerating and not slowing down.

The 1.5C figure has become a symbol of global climate change negotiations.

We all know the consequences…longer heatwaves, more intense storms, wildfires, flooding and

PARIS ACCORD IN TATTERS

drought.

Yet still, effective action to prevent and reduce disaster is lacking. Carbon emissions from human activities continue to rise.

When will governments wake up and have the balls to make the right decisions?

ME FIRST MOVEMENT

We are all familiar with the Me Too Movement. Allow me to introduce you to the Me First Movement.

It’s a worldwide pandemic that affects the vast majority of those capable of making a real difference in the fight to reverse damage caused to our environment.

Politicians and governments everywhere suffer from this debilitating disease that leads to putting self interest first.

PRIME EXAMPLE IS AUSTRALIA

Last year the newly installed government was elected on the back of a climate action platform.

Last week it approved a new coal mine.

Scientists have repeatedly warned that any new fossil fuel projects ARE NOT COMPATIBLE with global climate goals.

The new coal mine, north of Brisbane, will produce over 2.5 million tonnes of coal over the next five years. That amounts to over 7 million tonnes of greenhouse gases.

Shame on Australia.

Shame on the world for watching.

Green Matters

By Martin Tye

MORE COAL: New mine like this one in Australia approved

LA CULTURA

LA CULTURA

DRONE RESULT

A TEAM using a drone has found 7,000-year-old Neolithic paintings in two shallow caves in an inaccessible mountain region.

Three archaeologists from Alicante University climbed as far as they could towards the caves in Castellet-Barranc de Salt and Port de Penaguila before setting the drone on its way.

It recorded videos of walls in 18 shallow shelters set in the mountain face and discovered paintings in two of them.

The El Salt discoveries include female figures and archers, as well as deers and goats - some wounded by arrows. The pictures at the second site are yet to be interpreted.

The Penaguila area has produced a series of findings, including some outstanding discoveries back in the 1980’s.

NOBEL TASK

Writer’s Prado stay will collide art with the written word

NOBEL Laureate and twotime Booker prize winner JM Coetzee is moving to Madrid to write about the Prado museum’s collections. The 83-year-old will spend three weeks in the capital as part of a new Prado programme.

New dinosaur species discovered

FOSSILS found in Castellon may have revealed the existence of a previously undiscovered species of dinosaur.

Scientists said they had unearthed a partial skeleton of a species at Cinctorres that helps provide a deeper understanding of a highly successful group of carnivores that hunted on land and in the water.

The discovery suggests the Iberian peninsula may have been a diverse area for medium to large-bodied spinosaurids and sheds light on their origin and evolution.

Living about 126 to 127 million years ago, the bipedal dinosaur, named Protathlitis cinctorrensis , was about 10 to 11 meters long and weighed about two tons.

ROYAL RARITIES

By Simon Hunter

The acclaimed writer will make the Prado his centre of activity and ‘contempla-

PAINTINGS, tapestries, sculptures, decorative art pieces, armour and weapons, and royal furniture collected by Spanish monarchs will be put on show at a new museum. It opens at Madrid’s Royal Palace on June 28 and will feature collections dating back as far as the Middle

The inaugural exhibition will feature 650 of the more than 150,000 pieces managed on behalf of the government by Patrimonio Nacional, including works by Velazquez, Goya, Caravaggio, Titian and Tintoretto.

In a joint venture with the Loewe Foundation, it is inviting internationally renowned writers to engage literarily with the museum’s collections. tion’. This summer. He will write a story related to his time at the Prado, the first of a story collection that the Museum will dedicate to exploring the potential for creative expression at

Legal Eagle

With Victoria Wright

MORE RIGHTS

New rental laws cap rent rises and ban agency fees charged to tenants

NEW rental laws came into force this week, giving even more rights to tenants with the aim of adapting to our current economic climate.

The recent changes include a cap on annual rent increases.

This means that rather than the amount fluctuating in accordance with the ‘CPI’, (the reference inflation index currently used in most rental contracts) a 2% rental cap will continue.

This will rise to no more than 3% in 2024 even if the CPI goes through the roof.

The landlord will be the one responsible for the costs of writing rental contracts and any rental agents’ fees.

Also, the contract can no longer contain any clauses ‘agreed between the parties’ if these are contrary to any current Housing Act Laws.

The percentage of land set aside for new subsidised housing will increase from 30-

40% on development land and from 1020% for unconsolidated urban land.

There is to be an increase in the surface area of ‘rental tension zones’ - areas defined as neighbourhoods where the rental costs exceed 30% of the household income or where rents have risen by 3% more than the CPI in the last 5 years.

There are changes to the eviction process including mandatory access to out-of-court settlement procedures for vulnerable people.

Tax incentives for small homeowners remain in place, but there will be a surcharge on annual council tax (IBI) for unused properties which have been empty for over two years, without just cause.

This surcharge can be up to 150% if an owner has more than four empty properties.

With regular law updates in Spain - it is good to know your rights - our friendly team at Alba Consultas can advise you on the rules applicable to your individual needs and guide you through the process of renting or buying in Spain.

FOR ANY HELP AND ADVICE ON LEGAL ISSUES, YOU CAN CONTACT ME AT: ALBA CONSULTAS - LEGAL ADVISERS

(+34) 96 561 5061 / +34 692 386 293

C.C. EUROPEO, LOCAL 168, CTRA TEULADA - MORAIRA. 03724

INFO@ALBACONSULTAS.COM

WWW.ALBACONSULTAS.COM

the crossroads of fiction and the visual arts.

JM Coetzee, born in South Africa in 1940, has published nineteen works.

He is regarded as one of the most acclaimed and decorated English language authors.

Much of his work questions apartheid, under which he grew up, and challenges all forms of racism.

He now lives in Australia, where he is a Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide.

He’s also had visiting appointments over a long academic career, at US universities such as Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Stanford.

The newly discovered dinosaur has been identified from a partial skeleton – the right upper jawbone, one tooth, and five vertebrae.

OP QUICK CROSSWORD

Across

1 Obstacle (4)

4 If you’re on the Stump here, you’ve got a good view (6)

8 Buffoons (6)

9 Small purple plum (6)

10 Obliterate his model, reconstructed (8)

11 Central part (4)

12 Runs into (5)

13 Foe (5)

17 Vomit (4)

19 Free from evil spirits (8)

20 Dusky? (6)

21 Line on a weather map (6)

22 Of inferior quality (6)

23 Ultimate (4)

Down

2 Aw! Hustles Owen about in Australia (3,5,5)

3 Idle talk (6)

4 Enlightened one, literally (6)

5 Only half knocked out? (4-9)

6 Scent (5)

7 Swindle (6)

14 Lose (6)

15 Well-bred people (6)

16 Kind of climber (6)

18 Rate of expenditure of energy (5)

All solutions are on page 14

EYE-CATCHING: South African JM Coetzee

ALBA CONSULTAS – SOUND ADVICE AT REASONABLE PRICES

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By Sarah Gordon

TASTY TIMES

Fine dining shares centre stage with the art of Sorolla

FLAVOUR is at the forefront with unique dining experiences and an exciting new kitchen market concept being unveiled this month.

World’s best drop in

And it is not just fabulous cuisine on show - from art installations featuring Joaquin Sorolla to exhilarating outdoor adventures, here are some top things to do in Valencia this June.

A global gastronomy event touches down later this month, with this sun-kissed city welcoming the 50 Best Signature Sessions series from June 18 to 21.

This miniseries is part of The World’s 50 Best Restau rants 2023 programme taking place throughout the city this June, providing a fabulous opportunity to sam ple the city’s finest cuisine.

Five international chefs will be visiting top restaurants in Valencia for a battle of flame and flavour.

A new gastronomical project comes to Cabanyal with an exciting new food market. Situated beside the entrance archway to vibrant Cabanyal, Mercader arrives courtesy of the group behind the current food truck favourite - Mercabanyal.

Go to market

ular predecessor in promoting the friendly feel of Valencia food markets.

TRY ZIPLINING

Ever wanted to try Europe’s longest zip line? Your journey just got much shorter, with Cuenca’s new double zip line doubling the current record. At 445 metres long and top speeds reaching 80km/h, this is the first stage of Cuenca’s bold plan to create the largest adventure park in Europe.

DON’T MISS: Date for the diary

Have you found the best burger in the city? Head to Vicio, a culinary concept created by Masterchef winner Aleix Puig and Oriol de Pablo.

Together with Valencia’s top talent, including Ricard Camarena and Begoña Rodrigo of La Salita, these world-class chefs will compete and collaborate to find the perfect harmony between local produce, modern techniques and international inspiration. Whether you’re looking for sumptuous seafood, all things pork or perhaps a taste of Viennese Steirereck’s famous beeswax-cooked char at Riff, tickets are selling out fast even with tasting menu prices starting at €175 per person.

The Davis Cup returns to Valencia on September 12, with tickets still available to see the tennis stars in action.

Primed to be the new perfect pick after a day on the beach, Mercader opened on May 26 in the old factory building, Toneleria Soler, a 20th-century space at the end of Avenida Blasco Ibañez. With several distinct spaces connected by a sunsplashed garden, Mercader follows its ever-pop-

The whole city is draped in the colours of Joaquin Sorolla’s famous light as inhabitants mourn and celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Valencian artist’s death. We saw his statue during Fallas, the Origins exhi bition at Bellas Artes, now it’s time for the im mersive experience with the La Marina’s sparkling new So rolla exhibition: The New Di mension. Open

Planning Ahead With a Funeral Plan in Spain

Pre-paid Funeral Plans

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Situated beside the old El Aguila factory, it should come as no surprise that the local beer will join the new team, alongside many Valencian chefs who are adapting their culinary concepts to fit the exciting new space. Expect to see a tantalising mix of unique cuisines, from grilled meats to hand-crafted local delicacies.

IMMERSE YOURSELF IN ART

from June 16, step into a world of seascapes and sunshine, thanks to 360-degree projections and a 1,000m2 screen displaying our favourite Joaquin Sorolla paintings. This will be the first interactive exhibition on the painter’s life and an impressive display of the latest

advances in audiovisual technologies and virtual reality. For fans of Sorolla, this event comes as part of a fascinating year of art for the city, with seven spectacular exhibitions popping up to celebrate the centenary of his death. Visiting hours are between 10am and 8pm.

This exhilarating line whisks you over the city’s dramatic gorge, with the river glinting some 120 metres below. A double line makes it easy to enjoy this adrenaline-pumping flight with a friend, while a long list of fabulous attractions in Cuenca’s historic Old Town offers the perfect excuse to call it a weekend trip. Open from 11 am to 5 pm until July, then 10:30am to 5pm from July through September, the 10-minute adventure will set you back €25 per person.

The Serranos Towers were once used to safeguard artworks from Madrid’s Prado Museum during the civil war.

DRINK & TRAVEL

Dear Jennifer:

FEEL SECURE

THE high-speed rain war on the Alicante to Madrid line goes up another notch on Friday as Iryo launches its service with low-fares to tempt customers.

Iryo - run by Italy's main train operator, Trenitalia, in association with Spain's Air Nostrum and Globalvia - joins Renfe's Avlo and French-owned Ouigo in battling for travellers.

The Madrid-Alicante Iryo service will stop at Albacete and tickets have been sold since the start of the year with a company spokesman claiming that sales had gone 'very well'.

Two services in each direction will be run daily and there are four basic ticket categories starting from €18 one way.

Iryo debut TOMATO TIME

EL PERELLO stages its tenth tomato fair between Friday and Saturday located on Via Sucronese and adjoining streets.

The area grows some of the most distinctive tasty tomatoes in Spain and the event always attracts plenty of visitors.

The traditional market will feature over 70 stands and 60 exhibitors celebrating the Valencia region's gastronomic and agri-food sector.

Tomatoes will dominate but there will be plenty of other high quality local products to sample and buy, along with competitions to decide which is the best tomato-based dish.

Busy summer

Prices soar but holiday rentals selling fast

SPAIN’s tourist rental homes have already reached an average occupancy of 82% for this summer with prices averaging €172 per night - up 13% on last year.

The figures come from a survey conducted by holiday rental portal Holidu which interviewed 2,471 holiday home owners on its books. Some 52% of owners expected more bookings than last year and 48% planned to increase charges.

The greatest number of reservations have come in Catalunya and the Valencian Community at 88%, closely followed by the Madrid region and the Balearic Islands on 87%.

Tourist flats are one of the main accommodation options

By Alex Trelinski

for holidaymakers followed by luxury villas with a swimming pool and small apartments in city centres.

The Canary Islands, Extremadura and Galicia appear to offer the lowest rental prices of between €104 and €105 a night - well below the national average of €172.

Other bargains include coastal

Liverpool link

AIRLINE Jet2 will launch a service from Liverpool to Alicante-Elche airport for the 2024 summer season.

The carrier is opening a new base at John Lennon Airport next year and will operate up to four weekly services from March 30 on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. It will provide competition for Ryanair and easyJet who already provide flights to and from Liverpool. Next year's opening of Liverpool means that Jet2 will have services from 11 UK airports to Alicante-Elche airport.

free power!

MiSolar answer: How to pay €0 bills with solar panels

MANY people are asking us if it is really possible to get an electricity bill of €0?

And the answer is YES, but we believe it is very important to explain the

WHAT’S A SOLAR FEED-IN TARIFF?

A new law on self-consumption of solar energy was published on Apri 5, 2019 in Spain’s national bulletin.

THE NEW RULE WAS THIS:

Excess kWh you send into the national grid should accumulate as credit and be discounted from your electricity bill at the end of the month. You should be ‘paid’ for the electricity you produce but don’t consume.

This is called a ‘feed-in tariff’ and the two most important figures in a contract are:

1. The price you pay for energy from the grid (in 2022 this reached a high of €0.40 per kWh)

2. The price you are ‘paid’ for energy given to the grid (between €0.05 – €0.18 per kWh) NOTE – with a feed-in tariff you still pay a standing charge that covers contract costs, service costs and taxes.

Every month the count starts all over again and if you sell more than you use, that extra is kept by the electricity company MiSolar is used to installing solar panel systems that cut a client’s electricity bill down to only the fixed charge of €15-40 per month by offering the best feed-in tariffs on the market. However, the complaint against feed-in tariffs is this: you can never get your bills to €0. But there is a new deal with which we can bring the bill down to almost €0.

different steps that are necessary to get there. And it doesn’t mean a bigger financial investment. Read on and we’ll explain.

THE DEAL IS CALLED A ‘VIRTUAL BATTERY’

But what’s a virtual battery in Spain? How do they work?

Here are three of the most important features:

1. A better rate – suppliers credit the kWh you export to the grid with the best possible price.

2. No standing charges – your excess energy can cut the standing charges down to €0

3. Excess energy is saved in a ‘wallet’ as credit – if you reduce your electricity bill to €0 in a month by using that credit, then any extra credit is saved in your account and will be used in the following months.

VIRTUAL BATTERIES ARE GAME-CHANGING

● They mean you can design a system that stores up credit in your wallet which you will use to pay future bills.

● It means thousands of homeowners who don’t live full-time in Spain can get a cost-effective solar panel system.

● If you live here full-time, then the rightsize system can get your bills down to €0 or close to €0.

● We’ve been watching the virtual battery closely and are now offering it to solar panel clients in Spain.

Have you protected your family in the correct way?

THE first question should be – have you taken out Life Insurance? You may have a Mortgage Protection policy, which means on your death the mortgage will be paid.

But of course, this has nothing to do with providing your family with some financial security when they really need it, whereas life insurance provides a payment to your family, to cover funeral costs, inheritance taxes, etc. Mortgage Protection is a good policy to have, as it will pay off any mortgage you have on your house, keeping your family secure in their home.

For example, Mortgage Payment protection, up to €100,000 of cover for a 50-year-old, can be as little as €305 per year.

areas of the Murcia region at €110, while inland mountainous destinations like Asturias and Castilla y Leon, come in at around €114 to €115.

Popular tourist areas like Andalucia and the Valencian Community are reporting average prices of €141 and €134 respectively.

The most expensive summer season prices are €253 per night in the Balearic Islands, followed by Madrid on €180 and the Basque Country with €178.

Domestic

Most of the Holidu holiday home reservations - 66%have been made by domestic travellers, maintaining an upward trend which started during the Covid-19 pandemic Foreign bookings are led by Germany with 12%, France with 8% and the United Kingdom at 4%.

But for fuller coverage you should look into a life policy. You can tailor a policy to your own requirements and create a bespoke life insurance – whether to cover the initial costs incurred on your death or provide your family with a lump sum to provide for their future.

For example, life cover of €50,000 for a 50-year-old, can be as little as €155 a year.

You do need to be resident in Spain for these policies and there will be a simple health/medical questionnaire that you will need to complete online.

These policies are available with monthly direct debit payments, and our policies will be in English.

I understand that when you go to the bank, they will try to sell you life insurance, both for yourself and your mortgage. Be careful as they tend to be more expensive and you are unable to tailor these policies for your own particular needs.

Alongside the life policies, we can provide various Accident Policies to give you protection throughout your life and provide support should you sadly experience a life changing accident.

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR A QUOTATION, PLEASE CALL ONE OF MY OFFICES, EMAIL INFO@ JENNIFERCUNNINGHAM.NET OR VISIT THE WEBSITE WWW.JENNIFERCUNNINGHAM.NET

But we only work with trusted partners that pay a fair rate.You might be wondering if it’s worth installing solar panels on your property in Spain.

If you’ve looked at feed-in tariffs you might have felt cheated that you’re credited less than half the price you’re charged for energy. But paying close to €0 each year for electricity is now a reality thanks to the virtual battery. If you want us to help you with the switch to the virtual battery, we can do it for you.

We hope this article helps you to understand better the amazing world of solar panels. So, what next? If you’re interested in going solar after reading this article, we have a special offer for OLIVE PRESS readers like you. Simply use the coupon code ‘OLIVE 10’ when you contact us for a solar consultation and you’ll receive a free survey of your property’s solar potential, plus a direct discount of €250 off your solar installation. This offer is available for a limited time, so don’t wait to make the switch to solar and start enjoying the benefits of clean energy for your home or business.

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CABIN CREW PAY DEAL

SPANISH airline Air Europa has agreed an 11.9% pay rise over the next three years for cabin crew. The company has reached a pre-agreement with the Sitcpla, Aacefsi and CCOO trade unions.

Its approval would mean a 5% wage increase this year, backdated to January 1, followed by ris-

es of 4% and 2.5% in 2024 and 2025. Although a deal has been reached, the Air Europa conflict with its pilots is still active. Eight one day strikes have been called, following the four-days stoppage that took place at the start of May.

Balancing the scales

New law will ban all-women boards in the name of equality

By Simon Hunter

A PROPOSED new equality law could see all-woman company boards banned.

The Spanish Cabinet has approved the second stage of a draft law that seeks to boost the presence of women in politics, business and professional associations.

Once it has been approved by the Congress of Deputies, there will have to be a minimum 40% presence of women in government, on the boards of major companies, the governing boards

WHY HAVE DISCRETIONARY FUND MANAGERS (DFM’s) AND MODEL PORTFOLIOS (MPS’s) PRODUCED NEGATIVE RETURNS IN 2022?

IF you have placed your pensions, savings and investments with a financial adviser there is a strong possibility you are invested in a model portfolio service (MPS) whereby you delegate the execution of an agreed investment strategy to an investment house.

The 60/40 model portfolio, which consists of 60% equities and 40% bonds, has been a popular and successful investment strategy for well for over 50 years. A combination of growth and income providing a safe way for investors to grow their investments without taking excessive risk.

However, in recent years, experts have questioned whether these models can continue to deliver risk adjusted positive returns moving forward. The criticism centres around a lack of diversification to mitigate risk.

There have only been a handful of occasions in 100 years, generally considered as ‘Blackswan Events,’ (abandonment of the gold standard and World War II) where bond prices haven’t gone up in value when equity prices have fallen. Interestingly, the current macro-economic environment is frighteningly similar to stagflation in the 1970’s; where the strategy also proved ineffective!

The 60/40 model worked well in the past because shares and bonds were negatively

correlated delivering a diversification effect. The equity element performing well in good times with safer assets like bonds appreciating in value and providing a yield during bad times.

Keeping interest rates artificially anchored at zero has destroyed that inverse relationship. In recent years equities and bonds have become more positively correlated resulting in both asset classes moving in the same direction more often which has made these portfolios more susceptible to market downturns.

In conclusion, while the 60/40 model portfolio may have been a reliable investment strategy in the past, its relevance in today’s market is being questioned.

As a result, you may need to explore alternative investment strategies to achieve your investment objectives. An actively managed portfolio which invests in a broader range of asset classes may offer potential benefits and may be worth considering for investors seeking better returns and more effective risk management in a debt ridden, slow growth, inflationary environment.

If your investments have produced a negative return in 2022 please take the opportunity to book a second opinion consultation.

If you feel you would benefit from a second opinion please email enquiries@fwm.gi or call us on tel: +44 207 998 0570

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MAX60%

of professional associations and electoral lists.

The draft law also states, however, that neither gender can have a presence that is below 40% nor above 60%. This means that in practice boards of directors made up exclusively of women will not be permitted.

The Equal Representation Law was first announced by Socialist Party Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in March, ahead of International Women’s Day.

FAIR’S FAIR: More equitable slice of the pie

Ministers have now announced further details that had been approved, which will affect panels in the judiciary, such as the Constitutional Court, the Audit Court and the CGPJ legal watchdog. These bodies will also have to ensure that women account for at least 40% of members.

Another of the modifications announced include a more flexible timetable to introduce the changes in the workforce.

Bumper year

WITH COVID-19 restrictions now a distant memory, the tourism sector in Spain is enjoying a bumper 2023. According to figures from the National Statistics Institute (INE), hotel stays were up 21% on the year before to 80.9 million during the first four months of the year. This exceeded the level seen in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic hit.

The INE figures show that there were 28 million hotel stays in Spain in April, which is an 11.5% rise on the year before.

For January to April of this year, there were a total of 80.9 million hotel stays.

The major increase was thanks to foreign visits, which were up 16% in April compared to the year before for a total of 17.3 million.

The INE also reported that the preferred destinations for foreign visitors were the Canary and Balearic Islands as well as Catalunya, while the domestic market preferred Andalucia, Catalunya and the Valencia region.

OP Puzzle solutions

Quick Crossword

Across: 1 Snag, 4 Boston, 8 Clowns, 9 Damson, 10 Demolish, 11 Core, 12 Meets, 13 Enemy, 17 Spew, 19 Exorcise, 20 Twilit, 21 Isobar, 22 Trashy, 23 Last.

Down: 2 New South Wales, 3 Gossip, 4 Buddha, 5 Semi-conscious, 6 Odour, 7 Fleece, 14 Mislay, 15 Gentry, 16 Social, 18 Power.

Companies listed on Spain’s Ibex 35 stock exchange, for example, will have to have a minimum of 40% female board members by June 2024.

“With this law we are taking a major step toward effective equality without establishing disproportionate demands on large companies,” said Economy Minister Nadia Calviño. She added that the legislation, which will now be sent to Congress for debate and approval, will put Spain ‘on the cutting edge in terms of equality and in terms of the breaking of the glass ceiling’.

Jetting in

BUDGET air carrier easyJet will open a seasonal base at Alicante-Elche airport in 2024.

It will be the airline's fourth base in Spain, with the company saying it will create 100 new pilot and cabin crew jobs.

The airport will be home to three A320 aircraft, each with a capacity to carry 186 passengers. Alicante-Elche joins two other seasonal bases at Malaga and Palma de Mallorca along with the allyear facility in Barcelona.

Equities and bonds have become more positively correlated

Sweet Jesus

IN a medical first for Spain, a baby has been born to a woman who received a uterus transplant.

The child, Jesus, was born to Tamara Franco in Barcelona, after the organ was donated to her by her sister in 2020 via a complicated operation that lasted more than 20 hours.

“It was a very tough but at the same time very beautiful process, and despite all of the risks it was worth it,” Franco explained. Franco, who is from Mur-

Health services resume

A PATERNA health centre has reopened after it was forced to

Miracle as baby is born to mother who received transplanted uterus

By Simon Hunter

cia, suffered from a condition called Rokitansky syndrome, which is when a woman is born with ovaries, but lacks a uterus and fallopian tubes.

It is a condition that approximately one in every 5,000 women suffer. Medical staff at the Clinic

Hospital in Barcelona chose Franco as their first case for the pioneering surgery.

After the procedure was completed, the challenge was for her to become pregnant.

After several attempts to implant embryos and one miscarriage, she finally fell pregnant last September.

But the pregnancy was not without its complications, and Franco suffered preeclampsia – high blood pressure that could have been caused by the medication she has to take to stop her body from rejecting the organ.

At the seven-month point of

Younger smokers

THE Valencian Health Ministry says that 17.6% of people aged 15 years and over classify themselves as regular smokers in the Community.

The average age when smoking starts among boys and girls is 14.1 years with females more likely to take up cigarettes. The main group featured people aged between 25 and 44 years, while previous studies had the principal age group for smokers between 45 and 64 years.

shut for 12 days following a series of violent attacks on medical staff.

Workers took 'sick leave' following a string of incidents at the La Coma Health Centre, resulting in its closure on May 10. The last straw for staff was a patient lunging at a doctor with a knife.

Services resumed at La Coma on May 22 with two police officers standing a few metres away from the entrance.

Two private security guards are now scanning arrivals and looking at the contents of bags and backpacks.

A person from the centre's administration team is also present at the front door to ask people about the reason for their visit and whether they had an appointment.

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Smoke excuse

A MAN who pocketed €70 to man a voting table in Llaranes (Asturias) wandered off ‘for a cigarette’ and never returned, leaving more civic minded colleagues to count the votes.

Smoking hot

VILLARROYA (La Rioja) has broken its own record by three seconds as the whole village - all seven of them - voted in just 29 seconds in the May 28 elections.

Smokescreen

PSOE candidates in Mojacar (Almeria) called corruption when a PP councillor ‘overspent ‘ €200 on Ferrero Rocher chocolates at his dad’s petrol station using council funds, only to have seven of its members arrested for buying votes.

O P LIVE RESS

In hot water

Viral tweet sparks fierce debate about how much Spaniards shower

A VIRAL tweet has sparked lively debate about how often Spaniards shower compared to other Europeans. The answer? Less than the Italians but more than the French. But before Brits get too smug they come in even lower.

The discussion began when a Twitter user named Xavi Ruiz shared a graphic based on data from The Global Index and Wikipedia with percentages of

By Simon Hunter

inhabitants who shower every day.

For Spain, the figure is 75 to 84%, while in Italy the figure was 95% and above. France and the UK, meanwhile, came in at 65% or below, while neighbouring Portugal was at 85 to 94%.

The tweet had racked up more

IF anyone deserves to reach a century it is Doctor Charles Betty.

The big-hearted British expat hits the landmark birthday tomorrow (Thurs).

Having set up the Costa del Sol’s Age Care Association in 2018, Betty went on to become the oldest person to earn a doctorate in the UK.

Betty, who lives in Benalmadena, landed his PhD from Birmingham University for 48,000word thesis on expats in Spain. He did this alongside his consulate-backed

than 12 million visits within days, with 2,227 retweets and more than 14,600 ‘likes’. The tweet prompted a shower of responses, with some users questioning the validity of the

HAPPY 100

Support in Spain website, which earned him an MBE last year from Prince William. He received messages of support, from former consul Charmaine Arbouin and his ex-lecturer, Dr Kelly Hall, who said he had ‘done so much to support the British community in Spain’. He took early retirement as a UK schools inspector to move to Malaga to care for his ailing wife in 1986.

data and others arguing that a daily dose of water and soap is unnecessary, according to scientific studies. Others pointed to the need in hotter countries for more regular ablutions. “If it’s hotter, you are going to sweat more,” wrote one user. And of course there were plenty of jokes from Spaniards about the high figure for their own country. “Then you catch the bus and you understand” wrote one user. Another user pointed to their experience at music festivals in the UK. “At the showers in Glastonbury it was just foreigners in the queue,” he wrote. “And the only Europeans were Spaniards!”

A WOMAN had a miraculous escape after a pallet carrying a ton of cement fell from a crane and crushed her car below. The accident happened after a cable snapped, sending the 1,000 kilos of material plummeting toward her Smart car in Granada. Incredibly, the 23-year-old driver was able to exit the car without assistance. She was taken to hospital for minor injuries.

Smash and grabbed

A DRUNK driver who raced off when confronted by a cop was not too hard to find - he crashed his car smack bang into a police station.

The 23-year-old was allegedly driving with an arm in a sling while four times over the legal limit.

An off duty cop identified himself at which point the young driver drove off - but he did not get far. He once more lost control of his car, smashed into the nearby police station in Cerro Amate (Sevilla) and was promptly grabbed by officers.