A shortage of State-funded housing for Monegasques will continue for the next two years, according to the State Housing Allocation Commission, as full delivery is revised for 2023.
The State Housing Allocation Commission met on Thursday with members of the National Council in attendance.
The significant shortage of housing for Monegasque nationals was discussed, as eligible families anxiously await the fruition of the National Housing Plan.
To date, only 116 apartments have been allocated, while 443 requests for housing have been validated.
In a statement released by the National Council following Thursday’s meeting, the council said that it is standing alongside those waiting for housing, acknowledging that access to free housing has been “significantly improved by the Government at the request of elected officials”.
“The national council is also paying great attention to respecting the delivery deadlines of the next operations,” added the council.
Around 30 apartments are due be delivered next year, followed by 220 in 2022 and 341 in 2023, said the council.
In October 2019, the council had earmarked full delivery for the end of 2022.
According to the President of the Housing Committee Franck Lobono, “the lack of foresight inherited from the previous term of office has seriously affected Monegasque families for several years, for lack of sufficient construction schedules to house Monegasques whose situation justifies it. The wait will have been long before housing all these families, but everyone will be able to measure the remedial efforts that have been made thanks to the National Housing Plan decided by the Prince and requested by the National Council upon its inauguration in February 2018″.
President of the National Council Stéphane Valeri added: “All Monegasque households whose situation justifies it will be well housed in their country in 2022 and at the latest in 2023.”
Photo: Jardins d’Appoline during 2016 construction
For the entire month of November, the public will be able to enjoy shows and events in Monaco at seriously reduced rates as part of a new ‘Culture and You in Monaco’ initiative.
In an effort to get people out and enjoying all the cultural aspects that the Principality has to offer, the Department of Cultural Affairs has launched ‘Culture and You in Monaco’.
Working in collaboration with the Grimaldi Forum, the Monte-Carlo Opera, the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Monte-Carlo Ballets, the Princess Grace Theatre, the Audio-Visual Institute of Monaco and the museums of the Principality, the entire month of November is dedicated to a series of performances for a single price of €5 for entry, as well as free entry to museums and exhibition halls.
To stay in compliance with health regulations and curfew times, showtimes have been adjusted to accommodate the rules.
Upcoming events include the Philharmonic Orchestra who will play on 8th November at 6pm at the Auditorium Rainier III, the Audio-Visual Institute screening Fellini’s Roma at the Theatre des Variétes at 7pm on 10th November, and the original theatre production of Speakeasy at 6.30pm on 13th November at the Grimaldi Forum.
Later in the month, the Opera de Monte-Carlo will present Carmen on the 20th November at 6pm and again on the 22nd at 3pm. Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo Princess Grace Dance Academy will perform on the 21st at 2.30pm and 6.30pm at the Theatre des Variétés, and the musical spectacle Une des dernières soirées de Carnaval (The last days of Carnival) comes to the Grimaldi Forum at 6.30pm on the 27th. The Philharmonic Orchestra rounds out the programme with two shows at the Auditorium Rainier III on 28th and 29th November, both at 6pm.
The museums have plenty to see as well. Villa Sauber is hosting the exhibit Artifices Instables every day from 10am to 6pm, the Prehistoric Museum has the exhibition Monarchéo every day from 9am to 6pm, and the Salle d’exposition du Quai Antoine 1er presents Charles Fréger, Portraits Filmés – Monaco every Tuesday through Sunday from 1pm to 7pm for the month.
Reservation of shows can be made on www.montecarloticket.com or directly from the organizers on www.balletsdemontecarlo.com, www.grimaldiforum.com, www.institut-audiovisuel.com, www.opmc.mc, and www.tpg.mc
Yvan Griboval and his zero-emission maxi-catamaran ‘Amaala Explorer’, ceremonially launched in October by Prince Albert, has successfully returned to Monaco after traversing 1,500 nautical miles across the Mediterranean collecting chemical contaminant samples.
On 15th October, Prince Albert was on hand to bid the Monaco-based OceanoScientific and its skipper farewell from the marina of the Yacht Club of Monaco.
The Amaala Explorer went on to make port calls in Porto Cervo, Italy; Barcelona, Spain; and La Seyne-sur-Mer, France before returning to Monaco on 29th October.
The expedition was undertaken with a two-fold objective to determine the nature and density of the chemical compounds that affect the marine environment. It also placed a wider focus on the impact of chemical contaminants on the ocean and human health, and validates the applicability of the expedition’s sampling method, using a cost-effective research alternative with a zero-carbon emission vessel.
Over the course of two weeks, the crew collected water samples from various points within a triangle of 1,500 nautical miles in the western Mediterranean.
“While almost everyone has realised that plastic pollution is an appalling scourge on the ocean, we want to show that chemical contaminants – metallic and organic – that pollute the sea and poison the phytoplankton and plankton at the start of the food chain, are found in our dinner plates at the other end of the chain of life,” said Yvan Griboval, circumnavigator explorer and member of the Yacht Club of Monaco.
The samples were handed over to the Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer (Ifremer) by the crew and Amaala Chief Executive Officer Nicholas Naples and Chief Sustainability Officer Brendan Jack at the last port of call in La Seyne-sur-Mer, France. The scientists at the Ifremer, who advised on the scientific aspects of the undertaking, will now quantify and analyse the concentration of metals and elements such as cadmium, lead, nickel and mercury, all of which can alter the composition of the sea and affect the marine food chain.
The expedition and the results unearthed as part of its study will inform Amaala’s own conservation efforts.
“It was important for us to be a part of this scientific expedition because we are creating a new ultra-luxury resort on the Red Sea along Saudi Arabia’s north western coast, and the two seas – the Mediterranean and the Red Sea – are connected,” Amaala Chief Sustainability Officer Brendan Jack told Monaco Life. “So, issues that you would find in the Mediterranean won’t be confined to the Med, they will also be issues for the Atlantic and the Red Sea. We share the sea so we share the same issues, as well as the same solutions that will come about from studies like these.”
The 33-meter Amaala Explorer at sea during two-week OceanoScientific Expedition to study water pollutants, courtesy OceanoScientific
In an effort to preserve and nurture the Red Sea’s vibrant coral gardens and rich underwater life, Amaala has forged partnerships with global marine conservation entities, including the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, the Scientific Centre of Monaco, and the Oceanographic Institute.
“We have a vision to not only conserve what we have – and most people struggle to even do that – our goal is to enhance what we have, to increase the terrestrial flora and fauna, the marine flora and fauna, to try and expand our coral reefs, our seagrass areas – habitats for a lot of critical species that use our area,” said Brendan Jack.
The expedition was conducted on the specially commissioned Amaala Explorer, a former record-breaking 110-foot racing maxi-catamaran that was converted into a scientific research ship with zero carbon emissions. It functioned as the expedition’s lodging and lab.
The vessel and expedition were skippered by Yvan Griboval, who worked with a team of scientists specialised in the study of organic contaminants, including an onboard Swedish marine scientist Linn Sekund and Amaala Director of Sports Marc Archer.
“The work that OceanoScientific has done here is something to be applauded and it has just come from people’s personal passion,” said Amaala’s Brendan Jack. “This is not something that has been driven by government or bureaucracy, it is grassroots stuff, and it is this sort of passion that is going to make a difference.”
A short documentary film about the expedition, in English and French, will be distributed in 2021, along with scientific results in late 2021 and scientific publication in late 2023.
Top photo left to right: Amaala CEO Nicholas Naples, OceanoScientific Expedition Director Yvan Griboval, HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, Amaala CSO Brendan Jack, courtesy OceanoScientific
The appeal trial of Wojciech Janowski, sentenced to life in prison for ordering the assassination of his mother-in-law Hélène Pastor in 2014, has again been postponed due to the Covid health crisis.
Wojciech Janowski and his co-accused appeared in the Aix-en-Provence court on Monday 2nd November for the month-long trial, which was suspended initially in March because of the lockdown. This week, their defence lawyers jointly requested a postponement of this appeal trial for the same reasons.
“The worst case scenario would be that this trial begins and before its end, we are forced – as in March – to end it,” said Jean-Robert Phung, lawyer for one of the five men.
However, the Advocate General had called for the continuation of the trial, arguing that “life, judicial life” should go on.
Wojciech Janowski, ex-honorary consul of Poland in Monaco, was sentenced to life in prison in 2018 after being found guilty of ordering the ambush that claimed the lives of his mother-in-law and her driver. On 6th May 2014, Hélène Pastor, aged 77, and Mohamed Darwich, aged 63, were fatally shot in front of a hospital in Nice where the billionaire had just visited her son Gildo, the victim of a double stroke.
Following the tragedy, Wojciech Janowski had confessed in police custody to organising the ambush, but later retracted his confession saying he was coerced by police.
Later during trial, his lawyer at the time Éric Dupond-Moretti – now France’s Minister of Justice – had conceded that his client was indeed the instigator of the assassination of Hélène Pastor, but not that of the driver. This statement was contested nine months later by Wojciech Janowski, who accused his lawyer of having pleaded guilty against his will.
The murders significantly shook the Principality of Monaco, of which Hélène Pastor was one of its wealthiest citizens, heir to a real estate empire estimated at €12 billion.
AS Monaco Basketball’s season has ground to a halt this November with all their scheduled Jeep Elite matches postponed. But there is a silver lining: organisers are working to revamp the schedule to allow games to be played and broadcast live with the cooperation of a TV broadcaster and the teams.
It’s a case of good news/bad news for basketball fans as the Ligue Nationale de Basket (LNB), who manage the Jeep Elite schedule, has decided to postpone all scheduled matches for the month of November. That’s clearly the bad news. The good news is that they are looking at ways to broadcast future games live so supporters can still get their Roca Team fix.
Details of how this will work is expected soon, although not soon enough for fans and players who anticipate being able to get back on the court for the 15 games that were previously on the books.
“The fact that all upcoming Roca Team matches will be broadcast live will be highly appreciated by our fans,” said Executive Director of ASM Basketball, Oleksiy Yefimov. “Even when we could welcome the fans to Gaston-Médecin this season, the Covid restrictions did not allow us to receive all the supporters in the room. I am convinced that our partners will also appreciate the visibility due to the TV audience. In this period of confinement, fans will be all the more likely to want to watch the matches of the Roca Team. And above all, playing will help maintain the vital link of our supporters and all basketball fans in France.”
The Roca Team’s Euro Cup 7 scheduled match against Andorra at Gaston-Medecin was already postponed due to the quarantine of the Andorran workforce on 4th November as an outbreak of Covid was detected at the Mora Banc Andorra.
Photo of Roca Team’s last game, courtesy AS Monaco Basket
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