during this month and will require
that the Provincial Government of
Alicante through a modification of
credit restore the budget allocation
to this department of the level in
2014.
MOTION BY THE MUNICIPAL
GROUP XABIA DEMOCRATICA
TO THE PLENARY SESSION OF
THE XABIA TOWN COUNCIL
Oscar
Anton
Izquierdo
Spokesperson of the Municipal
Group Xabia Democratica in the
Town Council of Xabia and on behalf
thereof, under the provisions of the
applicable regulations, for reasons
of urgency, raises the following for
discussion at the Plenary Session
of the Municipal Corporation;
FACTS
Since 2011 the County Council
of Alicante (Diputación) -The
Department for Foreign Citizens
launched an integration and
collaboration program called;
the ‘Optimiza’ Project. It is an
initiative aimed at the politicians
and technicians responsible for
the foreigners’ departments, in the
towns of the province of Alicante
with a significant percentage of
foreign residents. The whole idea
of the program is the interaction
of activities and projects between
different towns, in order to put
the scarce resources available to
the towns, to the best use for as
wide a range of subjects as foreign
residents.
Through the Diputación and by
means of staff assigned to this
department activities and initiatives
have been scheduled that have
been a great success among the
community of foreign residents
throughout the province, activities
such as:
• Information campaigns
about procedure and legal
matters
• Development and
integration programs.
• Consulting services and
resident assistance.
• Census campaigns
• Spanish (Castellano)
Courses.
The purpose of these programs is
the integration and improvement of
coexistence of a foreign population
that exceeds 25% of the population
of the province of Alicante who, in
many cases, lack the knowledge
of, or the means to be assisted,
by even the most basic of services
available to all citizens.
In addition to the programs already
carried out, meetings between
councillors
covering
these
departments and foreign residents,
have created strong ties and a
commitment to collaboration and
interaction between the different
towns that make up the ‘Optimiza’
network.
In all these programs Javea
has been very active and has
become known for its model of
the Help Desk which has been
very successful in our town, as
well as English classes taught by
volunteers, lectures and many
other initiatives that have been an
example for the province.
from the provincial government
and other dispensations of which
the aforesaid department makes
no use. The situation is therefore
ABNORMAL; a department that
attends 25% of the population of
the province has the 0,0004% of
the budget. Therefore the charges
covered by the Diputación in
the 2015 budget in force for the
department of foreign resident will
be 0 euros.
It must be stated that over 80%
of activities carried out in the
departments for foreigners are free
of charge - i.e. at NO cost for the
administration - the budget was
aimed towards basic activities of
protection in areas such as social
services or raising awareness of
the need for registration on the
Census or for courses of Castilian
/ Valencian to promote integration.
To correct this injustice, ALL the
members of the ‘Optimiza’ Project
in the Marina Alta, propose a motion
be presented in each of the towns
that are members of the ‘Optimiza’
Project with the aim of raising the
following at the Plenary Session of
the Diputación of Alicante:
On the 3rd February, the ’Optimiza’
Project held a meeting in Denia
and was attended by the councillor
representing Javea Town Council.
The town of Javea represented
in the Plenum session raises the
following proposal to the Diputación
de Alicante:
At this meeting we were informed
that for this year, the 2015 budget
of the Diputación reached the
figure of 193,223,234 euros, the
budget for carrying out programs
for the Foreign Citizens Unit,
the ‘Optimiza’ project will only
have 142,300.00 euros, which is
down compared to the figures for
these same programs in 2014 by
107,800.00 euros, this reduction
corresponds to the disappearance
of budget items like Grants to
Local Councils, Associations and
non-profit entities, for activities
covering
matters concerning
foreign citizens
1. That the budget for the year
2014 be restored and that in the
next proposal of credit amendment
by the Diputación Provincial de
Alicante, a sufficient allocation
be made to cover programs in
existence to date.
Such budget cuts to this
department only cover
staff
costs because it includes the
expenditure on communications
2. Once the department for foreign
residents receives the allocation
(as above), they should then
proceed to approve the budget
covering the following programs:
• Programs for development and
integration.
• Consulting services and
resident care
• Census campaigns.
• Spanish Courses (Castilian)