Canaries to lose British Consulate

[Janet]

The Canaries are to lose their full-time Consul status. The Consulate is to be merged with Malaga as part of a "restructuring process" which is almost certainly a euphemism for "cost cutting exercise". This is a huge blow for British residents and holidaymakers in the islands who, despite occasional complaints, rely heavily on the permanent availability of a Consulate service for everything from hospital emergencies to lost passports, or Britons under arrest to mundane document procedures. Where does that leave the Canaries now? No doubt this story will run and run, and there will be much more on this in days and weeks to come.  JA

[Guanche]

Typical. Including the Embassy in Madrid there are seven other consulates on the peninsular. Madrid, Alicante, Barcelona, Bilbao, Ibiza, Malaga and Mallorca. So they are shutting both the Tenerife office and the Gran Canaria office and sending them to the peninsular where there are seven other offices that can be accessed by car. And they close the two that have to be accessed by aircraft situated in the middle of the Atlantic with a large ex-pat community and a massive Uk tourist industry.

[Janet]

That's about the size of it yes. What's interesting is that the FO has just released an official press release announcing Maria Leng's departure, and saying a successor was to be appointed, but saying nothing about this merger ... nor about the fact that the successor won't be based in the Canaries!

Either they can't do so until Madrid's Foreign Ministry has been formally told (which I understand still hasn't happened), or there's confusion ... or misinformation.

There will still be a "presence" here, but not an actual consul, so the best way of looking at it is a demotion; worst way is that we're being dumped. The area in Spain with the largest number of British visitors!

Apparently I'm being interviewed on the radio again on Monday between 1 and 1.30 about it .... 

[Perikles]

Perhaps they will use Janet's website as a surrogate consular service. Just as effective and a lot cheaper to run. 

[Briz]

Perhaps they will use Janet's website as a surrogate consular service. Just as effective and a lot cheaper to run. 

Good idea  .................................but will she want to do the prison visits 

[Janet]

The actual "visits" are done by volunteers other than when there's official stuff to take care of ... it's the official stuff that's going to be the problem, of course, the area where it's most essential! 

[Nova]

Apparently I'm being interviewed on the radio again on Monday between 1 and 1.30 about it .... 

Please can somebody record it?  I won't be able to this time because I'll be at work

[Michael]

Not good.

BTW this won't let me embed but you can watch it on Youtube.

[Janet]

The British Embassy has announced that Steve Jones, the Consul in Malaga, will now cover the whole of southern Spain including the Canaries. An extra casework officer will be recruited in Tenerife for the Consulate here. The "restructuring process" involves caseworkers providing face-to-face assistance, with Consuls focusing on "strategic issues": the Embassy sees these including "new ways of preventing and tackling the most common and complex problems that face Brits abroad – from lost passports to serious criminal matters". In what sounds very much like management-speak, Dave Thomas, Consular Regional Director for southern Europe, said that the Consuls were being freed up "to focus on consular policy, driving up standards of delivery and customer service, and overall management of our consular teams".

The Embassy press release says:

Steve Jones succeeds Maria Leng, who has led the team in the islands for the past two years and contributed extensively to the modernisation of British consular services there. He brings a wealth of experience in assisting British nationals and in representing the United Kingdom in Spain. He has led the busy consular team in Malaga for three years, where he also oversees the Foreign Office's consular contact centre for southern Europe.  Last year he collected the Foreign Secretary's Award for Service Delivery. He served as Consul in the Canaries between 2007 and 2009.  He previously worked in the travel industry in the Canaries, as Overseas Manager for Thomas Cook based in Fuerteventura.

I'm sure everyone will wish Steve well in his new post, but I'm also sure that we in the Canaries would wish for a dedicated Consul on the ground here in these islands. As the Embassy itself says: "The Canaries are among the most popular destinations worldwide for British nationals, with some 85,000 residents on the islands and 3.5 million visitors every year. " JA

[Guanche]

You should apply for the position Janet. I'll do your prison and police visits for you!