The
OLIVE PRESS
COSTA BLANCA SUR / MURCIA FREE
Your expat
voice in Spain
Vol. 1 Issue 13 www.theolivepress.es April 30th - May 13th, 2020
This is not Armageddon!
Photos by Mike Riley
E IV US CL IC EX P
Bitter sweet
SLOW RETURN: A masked woman walks into the Barcelona Metro with flowers this week
Photos by Jon Clarke
Expat restaurateurs welcome four-step plan to recovery, but fear huge losses despite being able to open again in May
Mother of cancer victim Ashya King tells Olive Press why she has left the Jehovah’s Witnesses and wants to move back to Spain with her family
See a mother’s moving interview on pages 6-7
EXPAT businesses across the Costa Blanca have welcomed the news they could reopen in May following seven weeks of stasis. However, they remain extremely cautious about making plans until the international tourist market returns. It comes after Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez revealed his four-step ‘de-escalation’ plan last night after a week of positive COVID-19 data. He insisted that life will return to a ‘new normal’ by June, with restaurants, hotels and businesses allowed to gradually open throughout May - albeit at heavily reduced capacities. As long as the numbers of infections continue to drop, restaurant terraces will be allowed to open with a 30% capacity, as well as hotels and other tourist accommodation, on May 11. Some two weeks later, restaurant dining rooms can open for business, while cinemas, theatres and museums
By Joshua Parfitt, Laurence Dollimore and Jon Clarke
will follow suit. Cultural events such as weddings will be able to take place with a capacity of up to 400 people outdoors and 50 indoors. By early June, it is envisaged that more restrictions will be lifted, although restaurants could still be limited to a capacity of just 50% with ‘strict separation’ between customers. The president of the Hosteleria de España – the largest business association in Spain – insisted however that the measures are ‘unviable’. “The hospitality industry cannot open under these conditions,” said Jose Luiz Yzuel, who represents 270,000 restaurants and hotels. “Opening up a restaurant, cleaning the toilets, and all the work that goes
into reviving an establishment, to then just attend 30% of outside tables will not earn enough for even the electricity bill.” He called it a genuine ‘wind-up’ that the government was sticking to a Royal Decree clause requiring businesses not to fire anyone for six months after reopening. He criticised the inflexibility of the ERTE, or temporary layoff mechanism that does not allow a progressive re-employment of staff. “If the government wants us to reopen, then listen to us, and take measures that mean we can stay alive.” Steve Jasper, owner of popular Father Ted bar, in Moraira, said the regulations lacked ‘clarification’ on conditions under which bars can open. “The requirements need to be clear so they can be implemented firstly by the Continues on Page 4