Gibraltar Spat
The Spanish Foreign Ministry has sent a letter to UK authorities threatening legal action over a housing project in Gibraltar.
Madrid sees a violation of the sovereignty principle because the Hassan Centenary Terraces project involves “illegal land reclamation in waters under Spanish sovereignty,” said a ministry source.
Spain could file a complaint with the European Commission, and even turn to the European Court of Justice
The complaint was issued on February 19, and deepens the diplomatic malaise that began in October 2017, when authorities in Gibraltar came up with an affordable housing plan on the east side of the Rock involving six high-rise towers with 665 housing units.
The Spanish ministry, which sent a diplomatic note to the UK in 2017 but got no satisfactory reply, now talks about “new information” suggesting that the the housing scheme is still underway, and calling for “these operations to be halted.”
If Spain’s request goes unheeded again, the government will consider the possibility of “launching whatever legal action it deems most appropriate to defend its position,” said the source.
Economy
Spanish Economy Minister Nadia Calvino said the country will continue to grow faster than the euro-area average and that elections in two months won’t have a meaningful effect on growth.
Calvino and the rest of Spain’s Socialist government are gearing up for early elections on April 28, triggered after lawmakers rejected Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s 2019 budget.
In a TV interview this morning she noted the government’s forecast of 2.2 percent expansion this year
Spain’s economy is among the fastest growing in the euro area
The 10-year Spanish yield spread to Germany has narrowed since Sanchez called early elections in mid-February.
Kirsty Maxwell
Kirsty Maxwell ’s family have been given fresh hope of finding out what led to her death after she plunged from a balcony in Benidorm.
A Spanish judge is set to review new evidence which could suggest she ‘clung on’ to the balcony before the tragic fall .
The 27-year-old died on April 29, 2017, after falling from a 10th floor apartment which was occupied by five men from Nottingham.
It’s believed she jumped from the balcony after arriving back at Payma Apartments after a night out with pals.
But fresh evidence suggests she scaled the barrier of the balcony and clung on to it before losing her grip, say her family.
In addition, the circumstances surrounding Kirsty’s death will also be reviewed by one of the UK’s most experienced forensics scientists.
One of the men in the apartment at the time of Kirsty’s death, Joseph Graham, was arrested on suspicion of homicide but he was later released without charge.
Car Death
A 40-YEAR-OLD man has died after his car crashed into the wall of a house in Mijas.
Firefighters, police and paramedics were quickly on the scene but the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
He was the only occupant of the vehicle.
The Andalucia emergency control centre was alerted to the incident at around 8.30pm last night.
Police are now investigating the circumstances that led up to the accident.