At the Annual General Meeting held by CLARO last week, the 12th since their formation, the Executive Committee appointed Román Jimenez as President, the first time that the party has elected a Spanish National to its senior post.
In the report that was present to party members, CLARO stated that “the deficiencies of the Orihuela Costa are as a direct result of the joint discrimination by the Partido Popular and Ciudadanos in relation in respect of the funds allocated to the Coast, which contributes around 60% of the income of the entire municipality, but in exchange receives a disproportionately small and unfair allocation in return”.
The party says that it is also dissatisfied with this year’s budget noting a lack in investment particularly in the infrastructure with facilities such as a second health centre, cultural and social centres, school, library and an extremely poor road network.
They justify their statement by adding that from a total of almost 13 million euros available to the municipality for investments this year, mainly as a result of the sale of municipal plots in Orihuela Costa, and of the five million included in the budgets (of which the Coast will not see a euro) the Costa will receive just over 2 million euros, a miserly 17%.
This is all the more regrettable given that the government committed to the principle of 40% of the investments from the sale of municipal land for Orihuela Costa in order to correct the historical deficiencies. At the time of the agreement the councillor for finance was was none other than Juan Ignacio López Bas, the current deputy mayor. ”
They add that the coast is still massively underfunded.
The Assembly decided that CLARO’s future strategy should include MUCH CLOSER cooperation with the Costa associations, such as FAOC and La Zenia Citizen Movement, which have recently been very active. As a longer-term strategy, CLARO will support the trend of “a growing Spanish population as a result of the economic success of Orihuela Costa in the creation of jobs.
The report also noted hope that work on the Emergency Services Centre will soon be relaunched and that the planning of a cultural and leisure centre should begin in the near future. There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel in respect of a new school and funds destined for parks and the maintenance of roads will increase. The footbridge along C/Cabo Creuss the road between Lomas de Cabo Roig and Cabo Roig, is also planned to get underway in 2018.
In electing heir new Executive Committee, Roman Jimenez, a local resident well known for his defines of the interests of the Coast, and who worked for several years in the British National Health Service was elected as President.
The new Executive Committee is composed of three Spanish members, Roman Jimenez, Antonio Cerdán, General Secretary and Paul Piccio, two Britons, Bob Houliston and Bob Hunking, an Austrian Karl Failoni and a Swede Eva Johansson.
