The Mayor of Puebla de Don Fadrique; a village that is in the extreme north east of the province, bordering on Murcia, is demanding the resignation of three councillors who abandoned a Plenary Meeting of the Town Council to go and watch the European Cup semi-finals…. fair!

Mind you, only a sadist would think of convoking a council meeting at 20.00h on the night that Spain played Portugal for the cup semi-final, some might consider.

There were only fifteen items on the agenda, which the Mayor calculated could be dispatched in 45 minutes, just in time to catch kick off. However, half way through of the Plenary Meeting, only the Mayor, Mariano García, and a female councillor, Maria García were left present, bless their cotton socks – the three PSOE councillors had more pressing engagements!

Well, the Mayor not only strongly criticises the attitude of the ‘absent ones,’ but he is also demanding their resignation; a call backed by the conservative councillor and the far-left one, both of whom demand that the PSOE councillors should not receive the 50 euros payment for council-meeting attendance. The Mayor says that the reluctant councillors should be replaced by more responsible one.

The Mayor registered his annoyance in the minutes of the meeting using highly ‘unofficial’ language, involving genitals. “All of us councillors enjoy football and watch the national team,” he said, “but we consider that the village has a higher priority; first comes first, especially when we have families having a tough economical time in the village.”

The Spokesman for the local PSOE, Jesús Amurrio, doesn’t see it quite the same way, however. He says that he was surprised by the Mayor’s “childish tantrum.” He quipped, tongue in cheek, that between the power cut in the village during the World Cup and the date and time chosen by the Mayor for a plenary meeting, they’d never get to see a cup final. On a more serious note, there was nothing to stop the meeting being convoked an hour earlier by making just a couple of phone calls.

“Besides, when we left at 20.40h, all the important points had already been covered,” he reasoned. He also said that he couldn’t give a damn over the 50 euros and that they were quite happy to donate the said sum to charity.

(News: Puebla de Don Fadrique, Altiplano, Granada, Andalucia)