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Month: October 2020

New app lets you buy unsold items

by: Stephanie Horsman
21/10/2020

A new application for smartphones created in Monaco called Ecoslowasting, which sells stock that would otherwise go to waste, is now online and ready for use.

Ecoslowasting, a waste-saving app first introduced last July during the 4th Energy Transition Meetings, has now been officially launched on both the App Store and Google Play.

Founder Elisa Alberto has worked for months with Monaco-based company Actis, a subsidiary of the Telis Group, to refine the app, making it as user-friendly as possible for buyers and merchant-sellers.

“I benefited from real follow-up, from real listening to my needs, both functionally and in terms of user interface or visual identity,” said Ms Alberto. “From the design of the application to its release, the Telis teams have really supported me in this project and have brought real added value. Nothing could be easier than using the app available for IOS and Android.”

The app is an ingenious way to prevent nearly out-of-date, end-of-series or unsold stock from heading to the rubbish heap. Partner traders can now post these unsold items on the digital platform, where they can be sold onto the public at reduced prices.

Buyers go onto the app and choose the items they want and pay securely online. They are then given instructions as to where their products will be and when they will be ready, and they pick them up at the indicated time with their confirmation e-mail. Consumers win, sellers win and the environment wins.

The app is available in English, French and Italian and can be accessed at https://apps.apple.com/fr/app/ecoslowasting/id1532853185 and on Google Play at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details

 

Photo courtesy Ecoslowasting
 
 

Red Cross amasses €175,000 for Storm Alex victims

by: Stephanie Horsman
21/10/2020

The Monaco Red Cross leapt into action after Storm Alex putting out the call for donations, and the people responded.

The Monaco Red Cross, under the leadership of its President Prince Albert II, has been instrumental in providing relief to the victims of Storm Alex, which destroyed large parts of the Vésubie and Roya valleys, cutting off the population and taking several lives.

Donations mounting to €75,000 came in from the community, the Urban Planning Department and the Friends of the Urban Planning Department, who collected food, hygiene and cleaning products, as well as animal feed. They used their own offices as a make-shift collection centre before the products were transported to the Red Cross for distribution.

Meanwhile, the Monaco Red Cross dedicated a further €100,000 for the relief of the victims of the Vésubie and Roya valleys.

In a statement, the Monaco Red Cross said it would like to “sincerely thank all donors and companies for their generosity and support, as well as the Monegasque company Héli Air Monaco, Monaco Logistique and the Monaco Government with the Urban Planning Department for their logistical assistance.”

The outpouring has been so great that the Monaco Red Cross officially stopped taking donations as of 20thOctober, at the request of the affected villages.

 

Photo © Monaco Government Department of Urban Planning

 
 

Panthera Solutions secures 2nd European award

by: Staff Writer
21/10/2020

Monaco-based Panthera Solutions has again been named Best Financial Service Provider Europe, excluding banks, by the international magazine The European in its 2020 awards. 
The European magazine, in a syndicated media agreement with the Thomson Reuters Group, hold the annual European Global Banking and Finance Awards to honour financial institutions in different categories. It recognises organisations and individuals that stand out from the crowd and are consequently moving their industries forward. Good governance, the capacity to influence and innovate, while providing standards of excellence are highly important areas amongst others.
Their award programs are tailored to provide a detailed analysis of the best universally in all market divisions, and were evaluated by a judging panel with extensive experience across a range of sectors, supported by a highly dedicated research team.
“We are particularly proud to be winning this award for the second year running, which further underscores the dedication and commitment behind the Panthera team and the importance we place on the quality of our intervention framework,” said Markus Schuller, Founder Managing Partner of Panthera Solutions. “Despite the uncertainty and challenges 2020 has brought, we have remained committed to pushing forward and adapting, such as converting much of the Panthera Academy to online and thus continuing to provide those services to clients despite travel limitations.
Managing Partner Biljana Kling added: “I am perhaps more delighted with this second award that Panthera has won than the first, simply as it shows we are able to maintain a very high quality of service with our clients and the Panthera team should be extremely proud of that. Transforming the investment decision making process for an investor, demands a skilful approach and intervention and Panthera are continually pushing the boundaries of this exciting field and development.”
 
Photo: Gregory Gadzinski, Luca Signoretti, Biljana Kling, Markus Schuller, Victoria Barker, Matthias Strolz of Panthera Solutions
 
 

Cap d’Ail bid to name school after slain teacher

by: Stephanie Horsman
20/10/2020

An exceptional municipal council meeting will be held this Friday in Cap d’Ail to propose naming the new nursery school located in Zac Saint-Antoine after murdered school teacher Samuel Paty.
Cap d’Ail Mayor Xavier Beck has called a special municipal council meeting for this Friday 23rd October to propose the naming of the town’s new nursery school after Samuel Paty, the history and geography teacher beheaded by a crazed fundamentalist last week in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a town just to the north-west of Paris.
If approved, the council would then approach Mr Paty’s family to ask express permission before finalising the decision.
“The fear aroused by this crime cannot be erased by simply respecting a minute’s silence or yet another gathering of people of good will, as our country has unfortunately experienced very regularly since the attacks of March 2012 in Toulouse,” said a statement published by the town hall.
The French government’s reaction to the crime has been decisive and swift, with police raiding dozens of Islamist groups and the homes of suspected extremists. According to The Guardian, police sources have said they are “preparing to deport 213 foreigners who were on a government watchlist and suspected of holding extreme religious beliefs, including about 150 serving jail sentences.”
80 investigations into radical preachers and hate-spreading extremists are also already underway.
Meanwhile, public displays of unity have been demonstrated with crowds gathering all over the country decrying the incident, not just for the heinousness of it, but also because of the attack on the French state’s views on non-secularism and freedom of expression.

Prince Albert 1st commemoration plans continue

by: Stephanie Horsman
20/10/2020

In the lead up to the June 2022 memorial of his death, the Albert 1er Monaco Committee has launched the next round of commemorations to honour the Prince and his legacy.

The Albert 1er Committee have been busy preparing for the upcoming two years of commemorations marking one hundred years since the death of Monaco’s first 20th century prince.  

Since January 2019, the committee has been installed at the Oceanographic Museum, the beloved institution founded by Albert 1st, and in July of the same year, they unveiled his century logo at the Yacht Club of Monaco.

On Monday 19th October 2020, the committee held another event, fittingly at the Albert 1er High School, marking the launch of commemorations to come with the presentation of the celebratory programme to the public.

With Prince Albert II in attendance, the committee debuted a trailer produced for them by the Audio-Video Institute. This was followed by Robert Fillon, President of the committee, disclosing the highlights of the planned programme which will commence at the end of this year, and go on until the end of 2022.

They include a study day focussed on the 1911 Constitution, a tribute to Prince Albert I at the Naval Academy in Paris, and an exhibit of the Arctic expeditions of Prince Albert I and his cooperation with Norwegian scientists and explorers: 1898-1907.

Monday’s evening also celebrated another famous Monegasque, former Albert 1er high school teacher, writer and philosopher Armand Lunel. Lunel taught philosophy at the school from 1920 to 1953. This year marks the 100th anniversary of his arrival and to honour that, the school is naming their multi-purpose hall after him.

Prince Albert II revealed a dedicatory plaque in his memory in the presence of his family and Jean-Yves Giraudon, president of the PEN-Club, an association founded in 1968 by Armand Lunel himself.

Lunel received the first Renaudot prize in 1926 for his novel Nicolo-Peccavi or the Dreyfus Affair in Carpentras. He was also a symbolic figure of the Monegasque Jewish community during the Second World War.

To see the schedule of events, click here.

 Photo: The Sovereign Prince surrounded by Albert 1er High School Principal Pierre Cellario (left) and Robert Fillon, Chairman of the Prince Albert I Commemoration Committee (right), courtesy Communication Department of the Prince’s Government

 

Police force joins Energy Pact

by: Stephanie Horsman
20/10/2020

The National Pact for Energy Transition has just gained more than 600 new individuals thanks to the recent signing by the Public Security Department.
Public Security is the newest member of the growing group of businesses, associations and institutions to become part of Monaco’s Energy Transition Pact. In an official ceremony held Monday with Prince Albert II and several high-ranking government officials, Director of Public Safety Richard Marangoni put pen to paper, committing the nearly 600 state agents and civil servants that make up the department.
The commitment of the police force is therefore a significant one and will be instrumental in adding even more signatories by agreeing to hold awareness workshops led by the Mission for the Energy Transition (MTE).
“The personnel of the Public Security have been working for several years to apply the recommendations to raise their participation in sustainable development,” said Mr Marangoni in explaining that this next official step had been years in the making.
Recent acts that back up the claim include the creation of a 10-person Living Environment Preservation Unit (UPCV) whose aim is “to ensure the preservation and improvement of the living environment of residents of the Principality”, and the crackdown on those disposing of rubbish, namely masks and gloves, incorrectly on public streets since June.
In her speech, Minister of Equipment, Environment, and Urban Planning Marie-Pierre Gramaglia, expressed the urgent need to make the transition, saying: “Looking at our world, we can clearly see that the challenges are equal to the climate emergency resulting in increasingly frequent and violent episodes such as the devastating storms that have hit the three valleys of the Alpes-Maritimes so hard: la Roya, la Vésubie and la Tinée.”
“Faced with these terrible events, more than ever before, I am convinced that our individual and collective awareness cannot be relaxed,” she added. “Our commitment must be total and lead us towards the decarbonisation of our country by 2050. This mobilisation brings us all together: Monegasques, residents, employees, all socio-professional categories, all stakeholders in our community, and now Public Security.”
The Energy Transition Pact has added close to 1,500 individual signatories in its four year history.
 
Photo from left to right: Minister of the Interior Patrice Cellario, Director of the Mission for Energy Transition Annabelle Jaeger-Seydoux, Minister of State Pierre Dartout, Prince Albert II, Director of Public Security Richard Marangoni and Minister of Equipment, Environment, and Urban Planning Marie-Pierre Gramaglia © Communication Department / Manuel Vitali