Dec 03 - Feetham Delivers Speech In Ronda
The Leader of the Opposition, Daniel Feetham, was yesterday in Ronda to deliver a speech on Gibraltar to the Colectivo Cultural de Ronda Giner de Los Rios. Mr Feetham also participated in a press conference organised by the President of the PSOE in Ronda Mr Alvaro Alcaide Guerrero at which all the major television and radio channels of the region attended, including Canal Sur and Cadena Ser.
Mr. Alcaide Guerrero was a member of the Andalusian Parliament for many years in the 1990s and Vice President of La Junta. It was a good opportunity, says the GSD, not only to debunk some of the common myths propagated about Gibraltar in Spain but to also emphasise that the current policies of the PP Government are, above all, hurting Spanish citizens and Spanish businesses. A report summarising Mr Feetham’s speech will be transmitted on GBC’s Viewpoint program this Thursday at 9.30 p.m.
A spokesman for the GSD said: “As is well known by now, Mr Feetham travels to Spain to speak about or participate in debates on Gibraltar on a monthly basis. The aim is always to defend the interests of this community in a manner that has been the hallmark of the GSD over the years, namely in a calm, measured and intelligent way.
“It is important that Spanish public opinion understands that the policies of the PP Government are damaging the livelihoods of its own people and that it is not only immoral but ineffective. One of the points Mr Feetham made is that it is almost like justifying “friendly fire”; in other words it is like justifying the collateral damage done to Spanish citizens and business as long as Gibraltar is also damaged. This is part of the going attempts by the GSD to disseminate a message in Spain, designed (amongst other things) to make people see that the PP policy achieves nothing.
“Mr Feetham also emphasised that there is an alternative positive vision for relations between Gibraltar and Spain based on Spain seeing Gibraltar as an opportunity and a source of wealth and employment and rather than a thorn in its side.
“That, of course, requires agreement in relation to a framework for dialogue and Mr Feetham defended the tripartite policy of Miguel Angel Moratinos (as he always does) not only from a Gibraltarian perspective but from a Spanish perspective too”.
