The Mayor of Vélez-Málaga, Salomé Arroyo, has been defending the use of Protección Civil staff for beach security as ‘perfectly legal’.
A similar situation occurred in Nerja recently, the Mayor claiming that such action was legal and above board. For once this does not appear to be a party political issue. In Nerja it was the PSOE making claims of illegality, in Vélez-Málaga it is the PP.
The problems appears to centre on Social Security contributions. The Protección Civil service has been allocated the task of providing security and assistence along the 22 kilometres of municipal coastline. In return, they will receive €119,000, which is a subsistence and travel allowance, giving each person about €850 per month.
However, there are no Social Security contributions being paid and this is causing concern. The Protección Civil do, though, have accident insurance.
The Mayor says that periodic work inspections have been carried out in the municipality and, so far, she has not received any reports of irregularities. She also added that the company being used for the liability insurance for the Protección Civil is the same company as was used by the PP when they were in power.