L-R: Rémy Rolland (Domain Administrator), Albert Croesi (Head of Mission to the Minister of State in Operation Apolline) and Olivier Lavagna (Director of Public Works). Photo: Charly Gallo/DC
More than 200 Monegasque families will have to leave their homes at the Les Jardins d’Apolline complex while major work is undertaken to remedy problems with water pipes.
Albert Croesi, Head of Mission to the Minister of State in Operation Apolline, Olivier Lavagna, Director of Public Works, and Rémy Rolland, Domain Administrator, held a press briefing on Tuesday, July 18, on the latest developments concerning the domestic water supply at “Les Jardins d’Apolline”.
Mr Croesi welcomed a number of recent steps, including the putting in place of sand and UV filters in the four blocks and the installation of filters on kitchen taps. The water will be safe to drink in the near future, he said.
After certain ground works are finished, including soil moisture mapping, all 237 apartments will undergo structural work to pipes, partitions, and tiles. Work will begin in early 2018 and will last eight to 10 months per block.
During construction work, residents will be rehoused in furnished apartments, with the aim of minimising their inconvenience. The State will assume responsibility for the temporary removal of the residents and their furniture will be stored in secure storage.
Meanwhile, meetings are being held regularly with the businesses in the buildings to minimise the disturbances generated by the work. (Homepage image: Nicolas Huk)
Air France has won the support of the biggest pilots’ union, SNPL, to create a low-cost airline. “Boost” will be launched in the autumn, using pilots on the same salaries as at Air France. Pilots approved the move by 78.2 percent with a turnout of almost 83 percent after several months of talks.
But while the pilots at Boost will not suffer from a reduction in salaries, cabin crew will be hired at a lower cost, Air France said on Monday, July 17. Air France has suffered a series of pilots’ strikes that have cost the airline millions of euros in lost revenues.
Air France plans to launch Boost in the fall on medium-haul and then in the summer of 2018 on long-haul flights, with the objective of maintaining routes currently running at a deficit on Air France and adding new ones.
The pilots’ union said it welcomed the “realisation of months of negotiation. We hope this agreement will create a dynamic of confidence, a prerequisite for preparing for the reforms of our company and thus successfully confronting competition.”
Jean-Marie Véran, Special Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Isabelle Picco, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Monaco to the UN and Serge Telle, Minister of State, at the UN Photo: CD.
The High-Level Forum on Sustainable Development, convened by the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), is being held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from July 17 to 19.
Serge Telle, Minister of State, presented the National Voluntary Review, prepared by the government, on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Objectives on Monday, July 17.
Emphasising the importance of collective action to transform the world through 17 goals against hunger, poverty, disease, inequality, ignorance, injustice, irresponsible growth, climate alterations, degradation of the environment, and the destruction of the oceans, he declared: “Monaco spends more than 1.1 percent of its revenues on official development assistance (…) and more than 65 percent of its financing to seven of the least advanced nations, in the form of donations.”
“(Bearing in mind) its size and with its means, Monaco wants to be positive and responsible.” Mr Telle added that the Principality has itself reached “a very high level of human development”. Monaco wishes to be an active player in the world by providing development assistance, he said.
“It is in our common interest to engage collectively in the way that the United Nations proposes today: that of Sustainable Development.”
Alexis Jacquemond, a 20-year-old from Cap d’Ail, has been killed in a scooter accident at the exit of the IM2S tunnel, while travelling in the direction of Nice. Although the accident took place in the early hours of Saturday, July 15, it came to light only on Tuesday, three days later.
The young man had been travelling from a barbecue at Le Méridien in Monaco and was being followed by a friend on a second scooter when Alexis lost control of his vehicle approaching the exit of the tunnel, violently hitting the parapet.
Alerted by his friend, the Monaco fire service, paramedics and the police attended the scene, but the young man could not be saved.
Our Q&A with Monaco’s Brazilian community
visits J. Safra Sarasin Bank’s Executive Director, Severiano Alves-Pereira
Severiano Alves-Pereira, Executive Director, Banque J. Safra Sarasin Monaco
ML: Where are you from in Brazil and how did your path lead to Monaco?
SA-P: Born in the South of Brazil, I am another recent member of the Brazilian community in Monaco, having arrived in the Principality mid-2014. Prior to moving here, I had already spent over 20 years living outside Brazil, in Miami in the US and, for most of the time, in Geneva, Switzerland.
ML: You are the Executive Director at Banque J. Safra Sarasin Monaco. Can you talk about your career history and your role as Executive Director?
SA-P: An international career in finance and business trips around the world have helped me to be at ease among many nationalities and to appreciate different cultural backgrounds. I managed to learn a few languages – five! – in the process and had my two children in this international environment. Brazilians are known to be a welcoming crowd in their own country and when abroad tend to adapt easily to their surroundings.
Having combined a Latin approach obtained in Brazil and in Miami with a Swiss one (hoping that the outcome would not be too peculiar…), it was time for a new challenge.
Monaco quickly placed itself on the top of my list of choices. I was lucky enough to be familiar with Monte Carlo as a tourist; the time had come to experience it as a resident. The question was whether a Brazilian (and, in my case, under Swiss influence) could adapt easily?
ML: Monaco has more than 30 banks and Banque J. Safra Sarasin is one of its largest. Can you expand upon the specialised services the bank offers, and the key to its success in terms of being a key player in Monaco?
SA-P: My daily activities are in finance, in Private Wealth Management with a renowned bank. The historic stability of the Principality’s finances has always been a beacon of attractiveness for the Monegasque Financial Centre. In my short period here I have already witnessed the evolution of our financial centre. From a financial centre that focused historically on Southern European clients, it is becoming increasingly more international, transparent and modern, capable of dealing with the most demanding, and sophisticated clients from varied horizons. In the wake of this evolution, complementary services such as accountancy, legal expertise and corporate service providers are also coming the Principality, supplementing the much-needed holistic offer expected by modern Private Banking clients.
ML: What did you discover Monaco had to offer once you settled in?
SA-P: After I moved here, my expectations were confirmed. Monaco is indeed a concentration of positive elements, including, very importantly for Brazilians, known for their “joie de vivre” and “outdoor approach”, the fun of living in Monaco on a daily basis, even in the off-season, with its outdoor life and all year-round sports. Take the Larvotto beach, for example, with its summer beach-volley; it makes you think of Ipanema and its sporty beach enthusiasts. My kids also love their life here. Even though they are based in Switzerland most of the year, they look forward to spending the weekends and school holidays in MC. The local Brazilian community, although not very large, is very welcoming.
ML: The Rio Olympics opened this weekend. Does it make you nostalgic?
SA-P: Is there anything I particularly miss from my country of origin? We even have a word in Brazilian Portuguese for this sense of longing: “saudade”, one of the most used words in Brazilian music, especially in the Bossa Nova … it refers to “a deep emotional state of nostalgic longing for an absent something or someone”. Even if Monaco has so much to offer, one distinctive element that’s hard to beat in Brazil: the beauty, richness and vastness of its inland regions and its landscape.
ML: If you had not chosen private banking, what would’ve been your alternative career?
SA-P: If I didn’t work in finance, I could imagine myself raising cattle on a Brazilian ranch…
