Europe should reach the neighbourhood too
Spain’s entry into the European Union 40 years ago today brought enormous benefits. Alicante is home to one of the largest EU agencies outside Brussels, with more than a thousand EU staff working and living in the city. Its social and economic impact on the city and province is immeasurable. Yet we have seen no event in Alicante to mark this anniversary. We believe the city council, the provincial council and the Generalitat Valenciana should have organised a small event for such a significant date. But what can we expect from a city that, instead of making the most of the EUIPO’s exceptional setting, surrounds it with tacky, flimsy hotels that practically hem the offices in, builds a shabby cycle lane while criticising the request and calling EUIPO officials ‘spoilt snobs’, and recently cuts their bus connections? What is happening to this city is appalling, and what it does to its southern gateway and everything there is worse still.