Supermarket Fleece
A study carried out across the Balearics by the group, Afedeco, has revealed the excessive prices paid by shoppers on the island. Researchers bought a total of 55 products on the same day from an Eroski supermarket in Ibiza and Menorca, and from the supermarket chain, Mercadona, in Mallorca. The lowest total was paid in Mallorca where the shopping basket came to 102,93. This was followed by Menorca at a cost of 121,26, with Ibiza 30 per cent higher than their larger neighbour at 133,55.
The minister for Business Development, Joan Serra Mayans, said the survey was an extremely useful study which was relevant to the residents of all three islands. He added that the results, especially those of Menorca, were surprising, especially due to the fact that the island had even worse transport connections than Ibiza, but yet still had prices that were significantly lower.
He added that with the same amount of money a family living in Mallorca could buy enough food for four weeks, but that a family in Ibiza with the same amount would only be able to get enough for three weeks. He said the situation was becoming critical, and meant residents had less money to save, or to spend on other non-essential goods.
Serra Mayans recently hit the headlines after he bitterly attacked the potential consequences of the new Bolkstein directive, which could see huge supermarket chains opening on the island. Currently all of the municipals have a restriction on the floor space of establishments. However he continued that checks would now have to be carried out to see if the smaller establishments on the island were offering the best value for money possible. Otherwise, he hinted, the restrictions currently in place would have to be looked at.
Food prices have soared over the last year, especially for essential items. This resulted in the inflation rate in March reaching its highest levels for 13 years as it soared to 4.5 per cent.

AROUND THE ISLAND

Accused Located
The Frenchman accused of the sexual abuse of two girls in the early 1990´s has been arrested at his home in San Rafael. The man, known only in the witness statement as Pierre, was eventually detained on Saturday afternoon in a wooded area on the outskirts of town where he shared a tent with his wife. He was immediately sent to jail without the option of bail. The following day he appeared before the judge and began to answer questions about his relationship with the family, and in particular the daughters.
The four girls parents had been arrested the previous week after the eldest daughter made an official denuncia, explaining that all four had been the subject of sexual and physical abuse over a period of 15 years.
Pierre admitted he knew the family, whom he described as weird. He revealed how he had first met the father during the early 90s as part of a group which had begun to meet, worried the world was going to come to an end in the year 2000. He explained that for approximately five years they had lived in different houses, on the same piece of land. He went on to describe the area and the layout of the house where the family lived, including the locations of the bedrooms. Investigators said the witness was extremely co-operative until the judge began questioning him about the suspected abuse of the children. He then chose not to answer the questions, only saying that the accusations were disgusting.
Police eventually found the man in a heavily wooded area with extremely difficult access, close to San Rafael. They revealed they had had very little to go on as the family had not seen the man in over six years, and it was even rumoured he had left the island having been diagnosed with cancer.
All three remain in custody while a trial date is set.

Contaminated Oil
Supermarkets on the island began withdrawing bottles of sunflower oil from their shelves as a precaution, with similar measures witnessed in several other countries across Europe. The European Union´s Food Commission demanded the measures after nine contaminated containers were discovered in a shipment from the Ukraine. The countries affected included France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. Experts said the amount of contamination was extremely small, but they had taken the measures to be on the safe side.

Medical Strike
A total of around 4,000 appointments had to be cancelled during the latest four days of strike action at the public health care centres and hospitals across the island. Although the statistics differed depending on the source, it was clear a huge number of patients were forced to re-schedule, with 1,158 cancellations on the first morning alone. Whilst sources at Can Misses claimed about 30 per cent of staff observed the action, the Union put the figure closer to 80 per cent, a far more realistic figure according to sources. However, it was confirmed that the number of cancellations was reduced even further after the Local Health Authority, Ib-Salut, insisted on a far greater minimum service.
The strike, which began on Tuesday and continued on through until Friday, will now take place every Tuesday throughout May and June.
The negotiations did not seem to be making much progress, with the Health Secretary, Vicenc Thomas, claiming the demands of the doctors were not realistic and his administration did not have the extra 5 million they were calling for.

Captain Fined
The Maritime Commission has fined the captain of the catamaran, Magic 1, which ran aground off the coast of Ibiza in September 2006, a total of 240,000. The boat was carrying 114 workers from a variety of the islands biggest nightclubs at the time, all of whom were celebrating the close of the summer season. An investigation carried out in the aftermath of the accident revealed the vessel had veered off course due to a miscalculation by the crew member steering the boat, in addition to losing one of its motors. The change in direction caused the catamaran to beach on the island of es Penjats, located between Ibiza and s´Espalmador.
An emergency call was immediately sent out, and two vessels were soon on the scene, the first a catamaran run by the owners of Magic 1, the second belonging to the Maritime Rescue team. All of the crew and passengers were subsequently brought safely to land on board both of the vessels. Surprisingly, due to the forcefulness of the collision, only five people were injured in the accident, the most serious suffering a fractured leg.
The captain of the vessel received a total of two fines, each of 120,000. The first was for exceeding the boats maximum passenger capacity, and the other was for an abuse of responsibility by the captain, although this was not explained further. The fine brings to an end the investigation into the incident.

Controversial Catalan Facing Jail
The secretary of the largest General Workers Union on the island, UGT, has expressed his satisfaction at the public prosecution services call for the controversial hotelier, Fernando Ferré, to serve a ten year jail sentence. The plea comes after two of the hotels owned by Ferré´s company, Grupo Playa Sol, were raided in February 2006 and around 30 immigrant workers arrested. The properties, S´Estanyol and San Remo were undergoing a total reconstruction at the time.
Diego Ruiz claimed the arrests followed complaints by his own union about the situation at both hotels. He added that Ferré had by far the most cumulative denuncias of any hotelier on the island, and was renowned for his non-compliance of even the most basic workers rights.
If found guilty the Catalan businessman could now face up to ten years in prison, although he has argued his innocence since the very beginning, claiming he was unaware of the individual status of each of the workers at the site and had contracted a company to carry out all of the reforms. A trial date has yet to be set.

High Price
Continuing the theme of high prices, according to figures released last week, residents within the Balearics currently pay an average rental price for an apartment of 651, 55 above the national average. The most expensive region is Madrid, where the average cost of renting a property is 740. This is followed by Navarra (662) with the Balearics in 3rd place. Residents of Extremadura pay the cheapest prices forking out just 380 every month.

Developers on the Move
The larger property developers were said to be slowly moving away from the island, as they look for new, more profitable projects in other countries. Antonia Fuster, the general secretary of the Property Developers Association in the Balearics, claimed a number of promoters who had come to the island several years ago, to take advantage of the property boom, were now packing up and moving to newer areas. Popular destinations included the various countries which had recently joined the European Union, including Poland and Romania. She said that while most of the companies would keep an office on the island, the majority of their work would take place abroad.
Fuster maintained that the lenders were chiefly to blame for the sudden slow-down in sales. She said the banks had become far more conservative about whom they lent money to, and their demands had become far stricter. She added there were still many buyers out there, but that in the current climate, they were unable to borrow the money.
The news came on the back of comments by the spokesman of the Association of Estate Agents on the island, Ramon Arnau, in which he warned prices could fall over the next few months, due to the economic crisis. He claimed the mainland was already being affected, and that it was only a matter of time before some decreases were seen in Ibiza. However, he added their effects would not be as dramatic as those witnessed on the mainland and the island would be protected to a degree by its insular status. He ended by saying recent price hikes had affected the market and were partly to blame for the recent slowdown.

Matutes-MAB Trial
The court case began last week into the mountains of soil excavated during the building of the airport road and dumped onto land belonging to Fiesta Hotels, owned by the powerful Matutes Group. The company began the action against MAB, the firm which built the roads, last year, and are demanding payment of 125,000 per month for the use of their land, which represents rent they say should have been paid from May 2007. In total around 350,000 m3 of earth was deposited in the area.
The general manager of MAB, Matias Arrom Quetglas, claimed there had been a verbal agreement between the two companies made during a meeting in July 2006 that they would deposit the earth on the Matutes owned land, to be subsequently used in the construction of a planned golf course in the area. He said if the agreement had only been temporary, they would have accumulated the earth in bigger piles, occupying less land and making it far easier for future collection. Instead they spread the earth out across the land, as agreed in the meeting with members of the Matutes group, including Antonio Matutes.
The head of the project to build the airport road, Fernando Jimenez, confirmed the agreement, and said he was under orders to take the soil directly to the land situated next to where the work was taking place. Both said the Govern Balear was aware of the deal, and that it had turned a blind eye.
The project leader for the Govern, Jose Morey, backed up these reports hinting he knew about the deal extra-officially, and added it was part of his job to be aware of such things.
Next it was the turn of the author of the golf project to take the stand. Marco Martín Cabrero confirmed he had mentioned in his report, some 22 times according to MAB´s lawyer, that the area was severely deficient in soil and some 390,000 m3 would be needed if the project was to eventually be carried out.
Representatives of the Matutes Group, for their part, claimed there had been no such deal made, and asked why no documentation existed supporting such an agreement. They claimed a temporary pact had been made to leave the earth on their land so as to avoid transporting it all the way to the official waste tip during the busy summer months. The plan, he says, was to leave it there temporarily and later transport it during the winter, when there was less traffic on the roads.
The Matutes backed golf course looked a certainty last year, before the change of Government. However, when Pere Palau lost the presidency of the Consell Insular, so the probabilities of carrying out the project diminished.
What did become clear in court was that any such agreement, whether true or not, would have benefited both companies immensely. It is estimated MAB saved up to 2.7 million in transportation costs, while the Matutes group would have had similar rewards.
Meanwhile the Govern Balear, with financial help from the Consell, is to finally carry out the tests on the dumped soil ordered last month by the court. The judge wanted to know if MAB had mixed asphalt, plastic and metals in with the soil, as claimed by some environmental groups. They also demanded the company transport the soil from the land in Playa den Bossa to a specialised quarry, as agreed in the original contract.

Easyjet Flights
The low cost airline, Easyjet, is to continue its flights between Madrid and Ibiza during this summer. The company first began the route last year and after its success announced, last week, a total of three daily flights between the capital during the peak summer months. The first flights will begin on 19th May, leaving Madrid at 10.20am and taking off again from Ibiza at 12.30pm.
The second will be a night flight to try and take advantage of the Madrid clubbers looking for flights to the island and will begin on 30th May. It will take off from the capital at 10.10pm and return at 11.45pm.
The third flight will start operating on 20th June, taking off from the capital during the afternoon.

Consell Forge On
The issue of the temporary taxi licences, which caused so much controversy earlier in the year, is to go ahead as planned, according to sources at the Consell Insular. They confirmed on Tuesday that a letter had been sent out to the Town Halls of both Ibiza and San Jose asking both administrations if they would be prepared to accept more licences, following the withdrawal of San Antonio, Santa Eulalia and San Juan from the process. However, it now looks extremely unlikely they will be able to cover the 166 places they had originally hoped.
The Town Hall in Ibiza confirmed a number of licence holders had withdrawn their application from the process, and that only eight remained. However, they added there were enough drivers who had processed an application and they would be forging ahead with the Consells plan.
The Town Hall of San Jose confirmed they would be issuing the 26 licences in the original plan, but would not be granting any more. These permits will be split between the 13 licence owners and 13 drivers who presented an application.
This would leave a total of 59 places still to fill for the Transport Minister, Albert Prats, in order to reach his goal. However, although this now looks unlikely he appears to be happy for the moment that there will at least be 106 more taxis on the roads during July, August and September. He also suggested the possibility of permitting hoteliers to offer a minibus service from their hotel, exclusively for clients. This would ease the situation somewhat and ensure guests are not stranded at the airport on arrival.

Guess What?
Air Europa pilots look set to join a long list of workers to go on strike, after an announcement on Tuesday. Their Union, Sepla, has called a strike from 5th May for five days and could walk out again in June in protest against the airline's plan to launch a low-cost airline, Universal Airlines.
The pilots are worried that the launch of this second airline would endanger jobs at the company, one of Iberia's main rivals on short-haul routes from Spain.
Air Europa, owned by Globalia, has a total of 527 pilots and 40 planes.
The strike action will have an influence on travel to and from the island with delays or cancellations to some flights. Those travelling on the days affected should consult their local agent before travelling.

Med Plea
According to the head of contracting at Medhotels.com, Andy Tilby, tourism on the island is set to experience a slight decline this year. During a meeting with the major hoteliers on the island, however, he added that while the short term forecast looked unfavourable, he was positive about the general trend in the Balearics, and added that the long term picture was rosy.
A strong euro, added to a general lack of confidence in the UK economy, and rising unemployment has meant a reduction in sales of around 8-9 per cent across the board, with Spain being severely affected as it becomes less competitive due to rising prices.
The company, owned by Lastminute.com, brought a total 28,000 visitors to the island last year, a figure they hope to improve in 2008 with the help of the late bookings market.
His views were backed up the following day by the commercial director of Air Berlin, during a visit to the island. He said the economic crisis across Europe was without doubt a reality, but he was convinced the Balearics would be one of the areas that benefited from the slump. He said residents of Northern European countries, which experienced bad weather during most of the year, needed to get away to the sun at least once during the summer, and the closeness and easy connections to Ibiza would ensure it remained as popular as ever.

IBIZA TOWN

Environmentally-friendly Plans
The capital is soon to become a town with less traffic, a better bus service, and bicycle lanes according to the environment and mobility minister, Joan Rubio. His administration is currently working on a plan it hopes to have approved by the end of the year, and in operation by 2010.
Amongst a wide range of proposals, Rubio wants to see the main entrance/exit roads to the capital becoming one-way, a speed-limit of 30kmph introduced and an array of car parks built across the town. The plan will ensure the centre becomes a far safer place, especially for bicycles. When the first part of the plan has been actioned, the second instalment will begin, involving the construction of bicycle lanes to encourage tourists and residents alike to opt for two wheels rather than four.

Pool Investment
On Thursday the mayor of Ibiza Town, Lurdes Costa, confirmed an investment of 10 million in the swimming pool at Can Misses, which is set to transform it into the envy of the Islands. The current two pools will be increased to four and there will also be room for a thermal area, a gymnasium, an outdoor pool, as well as a cafeteria with terrace and childrens playground. The work is set to get underway in August and will take around 18 months to complete. It is hoped the pool will eventually be used by 5,000 users in the local area.

Lighting Up
The Town Hall in Ibiza is to plough a total of 25 million over the next 20 years into the lighting of the capitals streets and municipal buildings. The investment, which was agreed on Monday, will affect over 80 roads and will be split into two parts. The first will involve the construction of a new lighting system across the capital, costing a total of 10,836,286, work which they hope can be completed within the next two years. The rest of the money will be spent on maintenance of the lights during a 20 year period.

Oil Collection
The Town Hall began its used-oil recycling program on Tuesday, by handing out plastic containers in the town centre. There have been a total of six collection points dotted around the borough and the authorities intend to hand out a total of 10,000 containers, with all schoolchildren in the capital receiving one to take home to their parents. Until now San Antonio has been the only borough to have begun such a program.
A spokesman for the borough said that although they were not investing money into the project as it was being run as a business by a private firm, they realised the importance of the scheme and for this reason they would be donating the first 10,000 containers and promoting the campaign.
The oil collected by the company will be used in the production of bio-chemical fuels, used by an increasing number of cars.

SAN JOSE

Golf Promoters Sell Up
Calas del Mediterraneo SA, the company which unsuccessfully tried to build a golf course in Cala d´Hort, has sold its land in the area. The hugely controversial plan was set to make Cala d´Hort the location of the islands second golf course. However, the project met with huge public outrage which caused the authorities to eventually decline its application and look at preserving the area. Since then Cala d´Hort has become a protected area.
The company has sold all of the land it owned in the area, some 1,500,000 m2, to an unnamed Andalucian businessman.
Because the land is in an area of outstanding natural beauty the Govern Balear was given the option to buy it, an opportunity they have turned down. A source said they simply did not have the finances to purchase the land, and they were confident the current legislation would ensure no large building projects would ever be allowed in the area.

Road Completed
This week is set to see an end to the road works which have blighted Cala de Bou for the last four years. The Town Hall confirmed that the work would be finished today (30th April). The road will then be tarmac-ed from the hotel Bergantin up to Calle Lugo, with the rest being finished at the end of the season.

SANTA EULALIA

Car Show
The 32nd Annual Motor Show is set to kick off the local fiestas within the borough, it was announced last week. The exhibition will take place in Santa Eulalia on 3rd May. A statement by the head of the Association organising the event, Jose Colomar, claimed there would be a total of 150 vehicles on view, with all of the major dealers on the island present. The show will take place in el paseo de s´Alamera and the surrounding streets. Colomar revealed that each of the dealers would bring around six vehicles to the exhibition and that it would be a unique opportunity for the public to obtain information from all of the dealers under one (non-existent) roof.

CRIME & INCIDENTS

Family Complaint
The whereabouts of Nigel Rees, the Welshman who went missing in November after beginning a round-the-world voyage in his caravan, remains a mystery after experts studying the medical evidence from the body continued to deny it was that of the man.
Sources close to the family of Rees revealed they had written a letter to the authorities in Spain complaining about the continued delay in identifying the corpse, which was found by a walker in San Antonio back in November.
Police on the island have said from the very start that they believe the body is that of Rees, however the forensic department in Barcelona where all of the information was sent, have yet to confirm the identity of the body.

San An Stabbing
A 21 year old youth was arrested on Monday, accused of the stabbing of a man in San Antonio in the early hours of Sunday morning.
According to early investigations the incident started inside the popular bar, La Noche, as a fight began and punches were thrown. A friend of the arrested youth was injured in the brawl. The fight then continued outside, and resulted in the stabbing of the individual. Police were still unsure whether a knife was used in the attack, as some witnesses claimed they saw a large knife being branded by the youth. The defendant, however, said he had picked up a broken bottle and stabbed the victim in the stomach. He made no reference to the injury in the neck also suffered by the youth, although he said he could not remember much of the incident due to drugs he had taken that evening. The injured man was rushed to hospital where he was said to be recovering favourably.
A 21 year old woman was also arrested, accused of perverting the course of justice. Apparently the defendant had gone to her apartment after the incident, and when police later called, she told them the victim was not there. While she was released on bail, the man was sent to prison while the investigation was concluded.

Drugs Float to Shore
Local police discovered four large packets of hashish on a beach close to Cap des Falcó, on Thursday. Officers were making a routine patrol of the area when they spotted the packages, each weighing around 15 kilos. They suspect the parcels could have been hidden in the water to be collected at a later date, but were dislodged by the heavy storms in the area two weeks ago. The discovery of the four packages close to ses Salinas followed that of a single packet in Cala d´Hort. A spokesman said they were on red alert and had not ruled out finding more parcels.
Investigators confirmed the following day that documents were also found in one of the packages which linked the drugs to a Dutch registered boat.

Serious Condition
The British woman who was severely injured in a car accident last Saturday afternoon remained in a medically induced coma all week. The accident occurred close to Puig den Valls, in the capital. According to the latest investigations the victim was the passenger in a car which was hit by a BMW as it tried to make a left turn into es Raspallar. Doctors said she suffered a fracture to her first cervical vertebrae, commonly called a broken neck. Although no diagnosis was yet being made, they added that any injury to the vertebrae would have serious consequences because the spinal cord, the central nervous system's connection between the brain and the body, runs through the centre of the vertebrae.

Ibiza News powered by Ibiza Sun

By modern day standards Ibiza is an extremely safe place to holiday. This is a weeks worth of news and so its effect is magnified. Please do not fret while you are here - you are quite safe!!

If you have any stories for our incidents section then call or fax 971-348-271 or e-mail on: editor@theibizasun.com