Declaration of assets in another country.

In  October 2012 a law was passed in Madrid stating that all residents in Spain had to declare to the Spanish Tax Authorities, Assets valued at more than €50,000 . This included property, bonds , pensions and savings. This came into effect in April of this year. Failure to do so, could result in heavy fines and sequestration of assets. As a result of this law, which was designed to catch out individuals who have been defrauding the Spanish Authorities for years, it also caught out many foreign residents who have legitimate savings and properties in their country of birth. This has already caused several residents to give up their home in Spain and return to the UK.
As the President of PIPN, I was extremely concerned about this new legislation. I was contacted by several action groups throughout the Costa Blanca and the Balearics and asked to support a motion to force the Spanish Government to have a moratorium on this Law.  I presented this motion at the last Plenary meeting of the Town Council . It was passed by a majority, with Trinidad Martinez and the rest of PSOE voting against the motion and Mariano Marti Sanchez, Mark Lewis and the rest of his party abstaining.
  Despite the fact that this Law was passed by the Partido Popular government in Madrid , the local Partido Popular, supported the motion.
The representative from the Town Hall in Palma , Mallorca , has also lodged a motion against this Law, with the European Parliament .
As a result of our actions, the Spanish government in Madrid, have agreed to meet a delegation from the action group, this coming month.
I hope that we will be successful in having this Law amended so as not to cause unnecessary financial  hardship to the resident extranjeros in San Fulgencio and the rest of Spain.

Speed limits and other stuff

Well it's been a while, but its been a busy time. I understand that some people are concerned about the 30 kilometre  signs appearing on the Urb. Why they are concerned, baffles me. This is a built up area and the need for safe driving is essential. Only in the last two weeks, I have had two near misses, due to individuals driving too fast and being unable to stop at the junction. I did manage to get the registration numbers, and guess what, they were hire cars, being used by holiday makers. One person stated that they were unable to drive their vehicle at under 30KPH. I would submit, that if you cannot drive within the limit, then you possibly should not be driving at all. Or, maybe, being fined and your licence endorsed will convince you that you can drive at this speed.
Bars and Restaurants.
Last year, along with the Chief of Police, myself , the Mayor and Councillor Herrero, had several meetings with Bar Owners. The purpose of this was to explain the rules about licences. The most important of these being the opening licence. At this time, out of the 48 bars/restaurants only 16 had their opening licence. This week we have seen the arrival again of the POLICIA NACIONAL AUTONOMICA. They will be here all next week also. I had a meeting with the inspector in charge today. In his words, he stated that the state of the bars/restaurants in this area was a disaster, with only 3 bars getting their opening licences in the last year. Why so few? The majority of the owners have failed to comply with the requirements from the Technico Department of the Town Hall. Inspections reveal that there are no fire exits, no extinguishers, no disabled access, fire exits being blocked, no insurances etc. There have already been several Denunciations, they have 15 days to rectify their premises. Failure to do so, may result in a fine up to €30,000 . Yes, this is not a misprint .
The Policia Nacional Autonomica are coming to a bar near you, so be warned , AGAIN.
For those bars and restaurants that have all their paperwork in order, they are very happy, because it will mean that as the illegal bars are closed down, due to infringements or being unable to pay the fines, they will get the business and the extra revenue.