Dear Islander,
Well the saying that it’s an ill wind that brings nobody any good looks as if it applies to the situation in Croatia as in the front page story. Although it´s tough on many of the yachts that have, in the last few years, migrated there it may bring back some of them to the western Med and the Balearic waters.
If anyone has some first-hand experience of what’s happening there I’d be obliged if they could get in touch with me.
On the subject of chartering and following the open letter written by a local charter skipper I bring your attention to the letter by Mike Lane on page 6. He is not only well qualified to comment but was in fact involved in the drawn out discussions that led to France allowing foreign flagged yachts. If the Balearics is genuinely seeking what they describe as ‘quality tourism’ then the sooner they get their act together and abolish the matriculation tax problem the better. This tax is against EU ruling but they just don’t seem to care and Brussels seems not to be able to enforce it’s abolition.
On the Palma boat yard concession front there has been very little news but I’m led to believe that it is very unlikely to hear anything until after this summer! On this subject, the announcement of the dramatic plans to change Moll Vell and the Dique del Oeste where it looks that the plan is to remove the boat yard to the Dique del Oeste in perhaps 15 years anyway!
There has been much talk about the taxmen in the various countries targeting yachtsmen’s tax liabilities. For those of you who are paid (fully or partially offshore)the article in the features section should be of interest to you and may just be worth investigating for both personal and the status of the yacht´s tax liabilities.
I know that many of you readers are away from the islands for some time and an interesting new car insurance policy has been launched by Solbank that gives an option to insure a car for a minimum period of three months. I’ve checked it out and it is not exclusively for current Solbank customers and I’m assured it is very simple and straightforward to set up an account in Solbank to look after the premiums. (see more on this in news)
As we reported in a past issue the organisers of the SEAS show in Nice came over to try to persuade a number of companies to take a joint stand this year. It seems that there were no takers but one foresighted companies, E3 didn’t go for the option but took an exhibition to their audience- check the details in news- good idea I think.
Here comes Summer!