15el Periòdic d’Andorrawww.elperiodic.ad DIMARTS, 10 DE JULIOL DEL 2018

Tema del dia CONEIXEMENT SOBRE L’ÚS DE LES TECNOLOGIES el Periòdicd

'And

orr

axxel Periòdic News

E N G L I S H E D I T I O N W E D 2 0

Mares de la transició (Mot-hers of transition) is a group of forty women who gave birth before Fe-

bruary 1, 2019, and who are current-ly breastfeeding and are in maternity leave. Fifteen days ago, all of them as-ked the CASS to apply the new Labor Relations Code that came into force on the 1st day and, among other mea-sures, includes the increase of 16 to 20 weeks of rest. However, the new regu-lation, does not specify whether these mothers can accede to the agreement of the extension of the maternity le-ave, thus there is a legal vacuum in which «the right and benefit of the child should prevail» stated the spo-keswoman of the group. Also, libe-ral councilor, Judith Pallarés, belie-ved that this debate had already taken place in the previous Legislative Com-mission and «it became clear that, if the law is favorable to mothers and their children, they can accept it wit-hout a doubt» although «there is no fi-nal additional provision» in the text that specifies it.

Independent MP, Sílvia Bonet, des-pite acknowledging the lack of offici-al precision, also expressed support for the new law being applied equa-lly to all women. «I understand that it is a bit of a hassle for companies, but when the law comes into force, it should be applied and the maternity leave of all mothers be extended. The-re isn’t so many cases, it is not unsol-vable» stated Bonet.

UNCLEAR LAW/In spite of the confiden-ce of the two counsellors, the spokes-man lamented that when the petition to the CASS entered, «verbally», they predicted that the resolution would be unfavorable to them. They infor-med them that what will determine the impact will be the Board of Direc-tors that must meet on the 26th, but given the social and political signifi-

Lack of dialogue between CASS and Council for new maternal leave

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONTROVERSY

Forty mothers denounced a legal vacuum for women who gave birth before the 1st of February

Pallarés and Bonet believe all women can access the regulation, but company isn’t sure on the issue

EL PERIÒDICESCALDES-ENGORDANY

@PeriodicAND

MARICEL BLANCH

33 A mother with her newborn.

cance that has been generated, the-ir president, Jean Michel Rascagne-res, told EL PERIÒDIC that holding an urgent meeting beforehand «is not ruled out». Rascagneres assured that he had read the law «thoroughly» du-ring the weekend and, despite having a personal opinion, he did not want to make any statement, because «one thing is my opinion as a lawyer, and another as president of the Board of Directors». «Without wanting to at-tack anyone» he added in reference to the statements of Pallarés and Bonet, «the councilors should speak more clearly» when drafting laws, because, in his opinion, the whole conflict lies in a «set of articles that have not been specified enough».

ITS A MATTER OF DAYS/ However, the as-sociation can not afford to «waste ti-me», since for some of them it is on-ly «a matter of days» that theur ma-

ternity leave will end and, therefore they need to know if the can count on these extra four weeks or not. «Our intentions are not economical, we don’t want the money, we just want to spend as much time as possible with our children and if we go back to work, we will miss the opportunity to extend lactation» said the spokes-woman.Time is also precisely the re-ason why the group discards to act in the judicial path, «because it can ta-ke up to a year and our cause will no longer make sense», but by the admi-nistrative means «we will arrive until in the end» she assured. As a matter of fact, the Minister of Social Affairs, Xavier Espot, recently agreed to meet the women involved, but according to the spokeswoman, all he said was that «the matter is in the hands of the CASS and its Board of Directors».

On the other hand, the feminist group Stop Violències recently ma-

de a tweet, announcing that they are beginning to «organize» and «work» ahead of March 8, International Wo-men’s Day. Although they have not yet announced whether they will ma-ke any kind of protest, the tweet was accompanied by a long list of the «lack of labor rights of workers in Andorra».

The statement says that «women of all nationalities and ages including season workers want» among other measures, that «Andorra become a member of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and to sign and ra-tify article 189 that regulates domes-tic and care work» or to create «spe-cific laws against harassment and se-xual violence that will protect us and provide effective ways to report the incident».

They also stated that women «re-present 70% of unqualified work» and they «work four times more for part-ti-me jobs compared to men». H

«I understand that it is a bit of a hassle for companies, but there are not so many cases. It’s not unsolvable»

«Without wanting to attack anyone councillors should speak more clearly and thoroughly when drafting laws»

SÍLVIA BONET

J.M. RASCAGNERES

COUNCILLOR

HEAD ADMINISTRATION OF CASS

www.elperiodic.ad WEDNESDAY, 20 FEBRUARY 201916 el Periòdic News

On January 31st, the opposition of the Comú of Ordino demanded more information about a bud-get item superior to 100,000 euros that appeared in the intervention report on Secnoa’s 2017-2018 se-ason annual accounts. According to the regulations, and as explai-ned by the liberal councillors San-dra Tudó and Eva Choy in that co-uncil meeting, the item lines over this amount must have the joint guarantee of all the members of the management board (at that moment in its comú totality) to be-come effective, which had not be-en followed in this particular ca-se. This item, which was of 150,000

ACCOUNTING

EL PERIÒDICORDINO

euros in total, was used to finan-ce two reports that the corporati-on ordered to the company KPMG to evaluate the feasibility of ente-ring Saetde’s company into Sec-noa. And they have been backed up by the reports made in respon-se to the complaints of the comú’s opposition.

In total, the sum is 150,000 eu-ros, but it corresponds to different stages of this feasibility study. In the summer of 2017, KPMG was hi-red for an amount of 50,000 euros to initiate the process of this offer received from the company led by Joan Viladomat to buy shares from Secnoa and enter the ski station of Ordino Arcalís.

In a second stage, and becau-

se the corporation considered in-teresting the offer received by Sa-etde, it decided to commission a new study to KPMG, in this particu-lar case, which was to be the admi-nistrative and public procedure to formalize the entry of private capi-tal to the station. In this case, in a contract signed in October 2017, it was agreed to pay the audit office 100,000 euros, which were paid in March 2018.

The payments were signed, in the first stage, by the director of the station, Xabier Ajona, and the second part by the then president of Secnoa and mayor of Ordino, Jo-sep Àngel Mortés.

All these payments have been reflected in the closed accounts

ANA / M. F.

33 The ski station of Arcalís, during this winter season.

The pre-election movements don’t stop for anyone. When everyone assumed that at best voters could choose

from seven national lists –DA, PS, L’A, Third Option, SDP waiting for Andorra Sobirana and Podem–, Al-fons Clavera has burst into the polit-ical scene with the announcement of a new candidature –which could be the eighth–. The ex-liberal from Escal-des assured on Monday that he had the 14 names to make the list and an-nounced that his number two will be a woman from Sant Julià de Lòria: Raquel Fernàndez López, 42-year-old, accountant and coach, will accompa-ny him in the project.

For the moment, the new group still does not want to provide more details pending to define the place that each person will occupy on the list and finish closing the electoral programme, with which they assure they are already working on. For now, they define themselves as a candidacy of «centre-right politics but that will promote leftist policies». Their idea is to defend «more conservative po-sitions» as well as «the values of An-dorra», but without giving up «social policies more closely linked to what is known as left-wing spectrum». On an economic level, it is clear that «we must defend the small and medium business». About Europe, they work with «interesting proposals», while on abortion they did not want to re-veal anything in spite of disassociat-ing the project of the pro-life associa-tion that Clavera would be promoting with Simó Duró. H

Clavera enters elections with a new national candidature

EL PERIÒDICESCALDES-ENGORDANY

@PeriodicAND

PREPARATION OF ELECTORAL LISTS

Marc Casal and Meritxell Alcobé have refused to head DA’s team in the parish of Canillo

CC will make an independent territorial list for la Massana

COMÚ DE LA MASSANA

33 The current members of the Comú of la Massana and members of Ciutadans Compromesos.

After weeks of uncertainty, con-versations and meetings to see what the best formula was, this Monday evening, some light started to enlighten the elector-al scenery of the parish of la Mas-sana. Ciutadans Compromesos (CC) held a meeting in which, in a

Sílvia Calvó and Xavier Giménez, DA’s optionfor Escaldes-Engordany

majority way, it was decided that the group will set up a parish list on its own for the elections on 7 April.

As they made public through social networks, the proposal was supported by «the majority of the comú and a large majority of sym-pathizers and former elected offi-cials». It was also reported that a green light was authorised on the creation of an election commis-sion that will be in charge of choos-ing the candidates «with an inde-pendent profile and representing

the character of CC: dialogue, con-sensus and being useful for the parish and country». The mayor of la Massana, David Baró, assured this newspaper that «we have not talked about names» and that «we have not ruled out anyone». In ad-dition, the idea is that if the terri-torial election is won, an own par-liamentary group will be formed completed with a councillor from another group that would be de-fined by means of a post-elector-al pact. «We are open to post-elec-tion pacts, but they must be real

EL PERIÒDICESCALDES-ENGORDANY

He will lead the project along with Raquel Fernández from Sant Julià de Lòria

pacts», he said, referring to avoid-ing breakups during the term.

Once the CC movement has been decided, the territorial sce-nario will have to be defined. A pri-ori, it would seem that an inde-pendent proposal such as this one would mean that the rest of par-ties would not present candidacy and thus avoid the rupture of the comú. The consulted sources, how-ever, stated that although the hird option would seem to not make a list, DA and L’A had not decided an-ything yet.

On the other hand, a meeting among DA members was also held on Monday in Escaldes to close the parish list. The consulted sources assumed that the duo formed by Sílvia Calvó and Xavier Giménez would be the best option in a par-

ish where until now they have not had any problems in order to win.

The Democrats have more prob-lems in making a candidacy for Ca-nillo. Although they had opted for Marc Casal and Meritxell Alcobé, the latter confirmed to EL PERIÒD-IC that both have rejected the pro-posal. For the moment, therefore, the parish committee keeps strug-gling to find candidates, since the democrat ranks admit that not achieving it would be «a failure».

VICKY GRAU / DA has also managed to close the proposal that will fight to obtain two councillors from the parish of Sant Julià. The until now business manager of Naturlandia, Vicky Grau, will accompany Carles Álvarez Marfany, as this newspa-per could confirm.

On the other hand, PS and L’A are still working on the parish list. The consulted sources reiterated that «everything is still open» and that «it is time to fit the pieces of the puzzle». H

The comú paid 150,000 euros to KPMG for a feasibility report

and the managing board has been aware of it at all times.

For this reason, and in addition to the fact that these 150,000 euros are the global amount for the sum

of two different reports, the comp-troller has considered that the whole process has been done with transparency and the amounts are justifiable. H

17el Periòdic d’Andorra 17el Periòdic d’AndorraWEDNESDAY, 20 FEBRUARY 2019 el Periòdic News www.elperiodic.ad 17

The facilities of the Serradells, except the pool, reopens tomorrow

Tomorrow, the Serradells Sports Cen-ter will reopen all facilities, with the exception of the pool, after the drea-dful fire on November 22nd.

The reopening of the centre isfo-llows the established deadlines, sin-ce it had been announced that it would be operational at the end of this month of February. Once the scaffold outside of the building has been removed and thethorough cle-aning tasks finished in the areas not affected by the fire and ventilation systems, the users of the sports centr will be able to use the facilities agaien

during normal hours: from Monday to Friday from 6.30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., and on Saturdays, Sundays and ho-lidays from 10 am to 2 pm and from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The sports clubs that carry out their activities in Serra-dells and since November have relo-cated in other areas, but they will co-me back to their old home over the co-ming days, as reported from the comú on the same note. Regarding the nur-sery school, which currently has fifty children, also resume their daily te-aching at usual hours on Thursdays: from Monday to Friday from 7.45 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Babies and children have been relocated for almost three mont-hs in the nursery school of Santa Colo-ma and El Llamp. The swimming po-ol, strongly damaged by the fire, has remained isolated and will remain closed until the work that allows the

The comú will apply a 10% overall discount to all members of the centre

FACILITIES

EL PERIÒDICESCALDES-ENGORDANY

reopening is over. While this service can not be offered, the comú will ap-ply a 10% overall discount to all facil-ties for users of the centre. The entran-ce to the Serradells is only accessible in the parking area, where a provisio-nal tunnel has been made to allow sa-fe access. Access to the centre through the square Pierre de Coubertain is on-ly available for people who walk on the rec of Obac. Therefore, the passage through the ramp that connects the parking lot with the square is closed, both for vehicles and pedestrians.The comú wanted to emphasize the sup-port of the rest of corporations, to gua-rantee the sports leisure of the users of the Serradells during the time of closure, as well as «the understanding of the users of the centres of other pa-rishes, that have experienced an alte-ration of their capacity. H

«A new school, bringing added value to Andorra»LISA MASON-JONES Head teacher at the British College of Andorra

Lisa Mason-Jones is the Headteacher at The British College of Andorra. The school opened in September 2018 and it expands the range of educational choices for the families of the coun-try. The school is located where the old Hostel of La Comella was.

–What benefits does ‘The British Co-llege of Andorra’ bring to Andorra?–Having a British school in Andorra is an exciting development for the country. We provide a quality educa-tion that is respected worldwide and this is proven by the fact that students will be able to access universities in En-gland, America and around the world, uponcompletion of their studies. The-re is no precedent of a British school in Andorra and, given the reputation that British education has, this new opportunity and educational choice for local and foreign families is a po-sitive addition.Personally, I think it brings added value to the country.

–This is the opening school year for this new project. –Indeed, we opened in September

EL PERIÒDICESCALDES-ENGORDANY

@PeriodicAND

–Is there a typical student?–Our student body is very varied. We have Andorran, Spanish and British families. Also, international families from Russia, Brazil, the Czech Repu-blic and Sweden.

–Could you give us an assessment of the school since it opened?–We have been very busy indeed. We have high academic standards in all areas of the curriculum, especially in English and Mathematics. We ha-ve also developed a programme of ex-tra-curricular activities. The educatio-nal programme is well structured and academically rigorous, following the UK National curriculum.

–Are all subjects taught in English?–The majority of teaching is in English with highly qualified and experien-ced, native speaking British Class Tea-chers. In addition to this teaching, stu-dents have four hours a week of Ca-talan and an hour of Spanish with a native speaking teaching of the lan-guages.Older students also havean hour of French classes.

–How did you choose the location of the school?–The building was chosen by our local investors. Before, it was a hostel and it has been an excellent building choi-ce to remodel as a school. The British College of Andorra is in a beautiful lo-cation and it is a safe and tranquil pla-ce for children to learn. In addition, as the school continues to grow, we hope to have additional buildings, such as a Sports Hall and expand the already excellent facilities for our students. H

2018 and now, we are in the second term, following the Andorran calen-dar for the academic year. We now ha-ve four clases, led by British teachers, with students ranging between 3 and 12 years. Our intention is to open mo-re classes aswe gradually expand the age range from 3 to 18 years.

–How many students do you have?–44 currently. Prospective families are visiting each week and we are recrui-ting students for immediate enrol-ment and for September 2019.

A. R.

33 Lisa Mason-Jones.

«We provide a quality education respected worldwide, proven by the fact that students can access institutions around the world»

Advancement of the social flats of the Armor Foundation

The Private Foundation Armor pro-ject that foresees the construction of a building destined for social de-velopment is in progress. The Comú of Andorra la Vella will hold a coun-cil session on Friday in which it is planned to deal with the proposed city-planning agreement between the Foundation and the corporation for the construction of the building «with the use of social and healthca-re equipment». in the street Ciutat de Valls number 49 and 69. If there are no unforeseen events, the pro-posal should be approved without any problems.

It should be noted that in July 2018 the Minister of Social Affairs, Justice and Interior, Xavier Es-pot, and the president of the Priva-te Foundation Armor, Jordi Aristot

Borras, signed a collaboration agre-ement for the assignment of « a buil-ding that was foreseen to be able to allocate it to people at risk of social exclusion or who have social needs. As explained, the idea was to build 22 homes and nine offices aimed at public or private entities that deve-lop social and non-profit organiza-tions. According to the agreement, the Government will have to pay an amount of 40,000 euros per year as a consideration for the transfer of the use of the building. Maintenance ex-penses and repairs derived from the use of the building will be assumed by the Ministry of Social Affairs.

The agreement must enter into force when the building is delivered and will have a renewable period of 5 years, subject to prior agreement by the Government, for successive periods of 5 years. H

PROJECT

EL PERIÒDICESCALDES-ENGORDANY

WEDNESDAY, 20 FEBRUARY 2018 el Periòdic News18 www.elperiodic.ad el Periòdic News

MARICEL BLANCH

33 Pedregal, Alberch, Purito and Aixàs in Caldea, this Monday.

Aixàs assures that Real Madrid’s threat is an «on-the-spot reaction»

EL PERIÒDICESCALDES-ENGORDANY

@PeriodicAND

BASKETBALL 3 ACB

The ACB recognizes «the existence of serious errors at the end of the game» but also reminded that «we are human»

Once again, the refereeing controversy became the star of the Copa del Rey, this time due to the de-

cisions made on the last seconds of the final between Real Madrid and Barça Lassa which gave the victory to the Blaugranes. In this regard, Gor-ka Aixàs, president of MoraBanc An-dorra, said that «everyone saw them» and that «I have the same opinion». In addition, he explained that there were two situations in which the ref-erees were «unfortunate».

Eleven seconds before the end of the game, a clear foul by Anthony Randolph on Chris Singleton was not called which would have cer-tified Barça’s win. Then, almost at the buzzer, a decisive basket by An-te Tomic was considered valid as the referees believed that he had re-ceived an illegal block although the ball touched the ring previously.

Therefore, after the threats of Re-al Madrid to leave the competition, Aixàs stressed that «I cannot imag-ine an ACB without Madrid» and re-iterated that «although they have threatened to leave, everything is a result of the controversy, an on-the-spot reaction for how the final end-ed». «We all know that they are the driving force of the competition and that their rivalry provides us spec-

The white club raises a question among its members to leave the Liga Endesa after bad refereeingtacular games such as Sunday’s», he indicated and added that «they are necessary». «It is difficult to imagine a competition without them», he re-iterated.

In this regard, Real Madrid, Mora-Banc’s next rival, proposed a consul-tation among its members to decide whether to continue in the competi-tion if it did not remove the referees of the final indefinitely. In addition, the Association of Basketball Refe-rees issued a statement recognizing «the existence of serious errors at the end of the game» affirming that «we accept and respect the decision that the ACB can take in relation to these errors». They also reminded that «we are human and we make mistakes», although «we will keep working to try to avoid them».

Antonio Martín, president of the ACB, also admitted that «several seri-ous refereeing mistakes were made» in the last plays of the final, which generated great controversy and mo-tivated a protest of the white club af-ter losing by 93 to 94. He also empha-sized that «we must learn to accept human errors» and that «technical training must be improved in a con-tinuous way throughout the sea-son». «This will be a priority», he in-sisted.

These statements came after Juan Carlos Sánchez, director of Real Ma-drid’s basketball team, exploded: «Last year we remained silent, but this time we won’t». «We’ve had

SKI 3 ALPINE SKIING

Grandvalira started this Monday the installation of the stands for the World Cup Finals that will take place from March 11th to the 17th. The technical team transported all the necessary equipment to the Àli-ga slope to build the stands that will have a total capacity of 1,000 people.

On the other hand, the stands at the foot of the Avet slope in Soldeu will begin to be installed later this month. In this case, the technical team will prepare an installation to

The installation of stands for the Finals have started

accommodate a total of 1,500 people.In this way, the entry to the stands

for the general public will be free and can be accessed on foot from the bot-tom part of the two slopes.

It should be remembered that the Àliga will host the speed disciplines on the 13th and 14th while the Avet will host the rest of the tests from the 15th until the end of the event: the team competition, the Alpine Team Event, with Andorran participation and the slalom and giant slalom, which will be the last two races of the competition. H

EL PERIÒDICCANILLO

GRANDVALIRA

33 The construction of the stands for the World Cup Finals, on Monday. FAE

33 Roger Puig at the European Cup in Zagreb.

Puig finishes 2nd at the giant of the European Cup in Zagreb

The Paralympic skier Roger Puig competed at the giant race of the European Cup in Zagreb, Croatia, on Monday, where he managed to finish in second place. In the first run, he finished in second place after making an important mis-

EL PERIÒDIC ZAGREB

ing the first position.RIUS, 46TH / Àlex Rius finished in 46th place at the first qualify-ing round of the Junior World Championship of Val di Fassa, in the north of Italy. He did so with a time of 1.23.97, at 3.63 from the best register. H

MOTORSPORT 3 RESULTS

The drivers of the Automò-bil Club d’Andorra had a good start of the season in the fifth edition of la Pujada al Coll del Pollastre. Ramonet Plaus (Silver Car S3) won in the category CM/Promotion, while Gerard de la Casa (Seat Córdoba WRC) also achieved a victory in the Tour-ism category. For his part, Edgar Montellà (Speed Car GT-R), fin-ished in the second position of CM/Promotion.

The organizers prepared the usual route for this race, that is, the hill of 3.45 kilometres that is part of the BV-5031 road, lo-cated in Arenys de Munt. It was a fast track with a total elevation of 118 metres and an average gradient of 3.3%. A maximum of five races were scheduled to start the 2019 Mountain Cham-pionship of Catalonia. H

Plaus and De la Casa win at Coll del Pollastre

EL PERIÒDICARENYS DE MUNT

take in the last wall which removed him from the first posi-tion. However, in the second run, he was able to maintain his spot.

The winner of the race was the Slove-nian Martin France while the third place was the Frenchman Pierre Creton.

In this regard, Pu-ig achieved this re-sult with complicat-ed slope conditions and managed to add 80 points to the gen-eral ranking, where he is now approach-

enough», he reiterated. Felipe Reyes also exploded, who called the refe-rees «thieves» and said that it was «a fucking theft», «and let everyone know it, two years in a row, this is a robbery, it’s very clear, clearly a block», he said very angrily.

In spite of this, the reaction was not the same on the part of Madrid in the match against MoraBanc when the famous backcourt violation of the Copa del Rey took place.

PURITO FOR BUTHAN / On March 2nd and 3rd the Poliesportiu d’Andorra will host the most ambitious solidar-ity challenge in its history: Purito for Buthan. Organized with Caldea, the earnings will go to Unicef.

In this regard, Joaquim Purito Ro-dríguez gives his name to an initia-tive that wants to travel the 7,848 kil-ometres that separate Andorra from Buthan, where Unicef Andorra has a collaborative programme. In this way, with the effort of the partici-pants in seven spinning classes, the event will end on MoraBanc’s court at the half-time of the match against Real Madrid, where Purito and four runners will cycle the last metres.

Thus, Caldea will provide all the necessary equipment. In each class, there will be 50 bicycles and each class costs 15 euros except for the one at 6 pm with Purito Rodríguez which costs 25.

In this context, the club’s presi-dent, Gorka Aixàs, wanted to thank «Caldea for the collaboration and Joaquim Rodriguez for his predispo-sition to help us». «It is a pleasure for us to collaborate with Unicef again with whom we have been organiz-ing initiatives for years now», he add-ed.

For her part, Marta Alberch, from Unicef, explained that «the aid that can be reached is important because the collaboration projects that we are achieving with Buthan are abso-lutely fundamental». H