Campoamor Market is Moving!

During discussions with Sr. Cutillas, Councillor responsible for the Markets, it was confirmed to Los Verdes that as from the 8th January 2009 the Campoamor Market will be moved to a new location in the Agua Marina area of Orihuela Costa, near to the Health Centre.

It was also confirmed that those market traders (mostly English) who had sought the help from Los Verdes to obtain a stall will be allocated a pitch at the new location and each stall holder will receive written notification of their positions in the relocated market.

Town Council Meeting - 23rd December 2008

At the full monthly meeting of the Orihuela Town Council (Pleno) held on Tuesday 23rd December 2008 the following points which affect Orihuela Costa were discussed.

The 10th December 2008 was the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For this reason Los Verdes presented a motion that the Town Council of Orihuela agree to do everything within it's powers to comply with the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Similarly to agrees to make available all means possible, to comply with the Declaration, to provide the citizens of the Orihuela Municipality with the maximum guaranteed standards possible in respect of quality of life, health, equality, employment, economic, social participation and safeguarding the Environment. The motion was extended by the input of the P P to include the protection of children, women and those persecuted for political reasons and religious contributions. The motion presented by Los Verdes,with the addition, was agreed unanimously by all members of the Council.

Los Verdes voted with the opposition, in favour of the motion on the PSOE's proposal to declare of Cultural Interest (BIC) the Huerta of the municipality of Orihuela, an idea that emerges from the Dobris Report of the European Union, which highlighted the Huerta of Orihuela along with six other areas of the continent. The motion also asked to be sought from the Valencia plan of action and territorial protection, as was previously the Huerta of Valencia. The motion was rejected with a vote against the Popular Party majority (14 votes against and 11 in favour).

Environment crimes directive enters into force

The arrival of a law that makes serious and life-threatening pollution a crime.

Discharging poisonous substances into the air, dumping toxic waste and trading in protected birds or animals, come one step closer to being criminal offences across the EU today (26 December), as a law on environmental crimes comes into force.

From today the EU's 27 member states will have two years to come up with “effective, proportionate and dissuasive criminal penalties” against people responsible for pollution that causes death, serious injury or major damage to the environment. Companies will be held liable for acts committed by people they employ.

Europeanvoice.com

EU leaders in shameful retreat on climate package:

The following Press Release was issued by the European Green Party on the 11th December.

The Spokespersons of the European Green Party have said that the climate and energy package agreed by the EU heads of government and state at their summit in Brussels today is a watered-down compromise which shows a woeful lack of ambition.

EGP Co-Spokesperson Ulrike Lunacek said : "This could have been one of the most memorable days in the history of the EU if the governments meeting in Brussels had lived up to their commitments to combat climate change and showed by their actions that they were up to the huge challenge posed by climate change . The reality though is that the EU's member states have once again succumbed to the pressure exerted by big industry and put short-sighted national interests ahead of the future of our planet and humanity. The EU has set an appalling example to the rest of the world, particularly at a time when the negotiators meeting in Poznan at the UN climate conference were hoping that the EU would present a strong and effective package which would encourage other countries, particularly emerging countries, to play their part. We are particularly disappointed by the exceptions that have been made for several industrial sectors from the auctioning of emissions permits under the emissions trading schemes. We also disagree completely with the unethical and counterproductive decision to increase the levels of external offsetting so that industries and countries will be allowed to outsource a large percentage of their emissions reductions to countries outside the EU. It now falls to the European Parliament's negotiators to salvage as much as they can from the package before it is presented for a final vote by Parliament next week."

EGP Co-Spokesperson Philippe Lamberts continued: "One of the few real achievements of this Summit is the decision to endorse this week's agreement on EU legislation on renewable energies. Greens, particularly our colleagues in the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament, fought hard to ensure that this legislation will ensure major investment and job creation in one of the key industries of the future. In terms of the economic recovery package agreed on today, we Greens would have gone for a much more comprehensive and far reaching package and so will continue to argue for a real Green New Deal for Europe, which will both combat climate change and stimulate economic growth, creating millions of "green collar "jobs in the renewables sector and other areas of the green economy. It is important to stress that in our view, a stimulus package should be investment-based, not consumption based. As for the Irish Government's decision to hold a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, we hope that this will lead to the speedy ratification of the Lisbon Treaty so that the EU can move forward and that all our citizens can benefit from the advances that the Treaty, while being far from perfect, would bring