Benidorm commemorates Europe Day in the newly renovated Neptuno Square

Today, on Europe Day, the Benidorm City Council held its traditional institutional plenary session in the recently renovated Plaza Neptuno. In the institutional declaration, the mayor Toni Pérez recalled that "now that we are ending the Pedro Zaragoza Orts year, I want to remember on this day that European and Western values found in Benidorm, its tourism, opening and in those European weeks of August 1964 and January 1965 hospitality and maximum interest, imagining how Spain could be part of Europe.”

Benidorm has also expressed its unconditional support for peace in Europe: “At the beginning of what is now the European Union, a strong Europe was sought against aggression from the East. Today, seeing the Russian aggression against a country that has been wanting to be part of the European reality for years, the concept gains vigor and responsibility. Europe has expressed its unconditional support for Ukraine. Benidorm recognized the Ukrainian people last year on a day like today. Today from Benidorm we continue to demand peace and an end to this unjust war."

Pérez recalled the beginnings of the European Union, "what began as a mere economic union, has evolved into an organization active on all fronts: from climate and the environment to health and foreign relations, including health, justice, and immigration. Today Europe seeks to be closer, more social, more connected, more sustainable and innovative and is supported to achieve this by solid concepts forged in European development funds.”

In Benidorm, European funds have materialized in its Sustainable and Integrative Urban Development Strategy. A project with great citizen participation, which has transformed three residential neighborhoods in the city. “With the third European call and competing with 150 cities in Spain, Benidorm obtained financing of 10 million euros for its DUSI strategy. The EDUSI is a formula to build Europe, an essential element to improve Benidorm, ”said the mayor in his institutional statement.

Toni Pérez also wanted to remember the Benidorm scientist and professor at the University of Zurich Javier Pérez-Ramírez, emphasizing the value of innovation that Benidorm has always claimed. This outstanding researcher from Benidorm has been awarded the Europe distinction from the Benidorm City Council.

Pérez also wanted to "recognize Europe's commitment to our city, fundamentally with the EDUSI strategy that Benidorm was fortunate to project with broad citizen participation. Today Europe has set its sights not only on geopolitics and large infrastructure but on making our cities more socially and environmentally sustainable.”

The institutional plenary session has been attended by the municipal corporation, representatives of the social and cultural entities of Benidorm, and positions such as the Greek consul. In the act of Europe Day, an outdoor exhibition has also been inaugurated that explains the different actions of EDUSI Benidorm and that will remain in Neptuno Square.

Neptuno Square is a key public space in the Alfredo Corral y Maravall environment. This square, which is part of the EDUSI's mobility and accessibility improvements to the south of Jaime I, has been transformed to guarantee comprehensive accessibility for all residents. With a new illuminated fountain, urban furniture, a pergola-sail, and more green area to shade and, the fundamental action of "a non-slip flooring that was necessary to guarantee that our elderly and people with reduced mobility could safely enjoy this space”, according to Toni Pérez.

The renovation of Plaza Neptuno is part of the first phase of the works on the south of Jaime I, framed within the Sustainable and Integrative Urban Development Strategy (EDUSI) of Benidorm. The total investment, which amounts to €1,052,591.96, has a contribution of €437,667.74 from European FEDER funds and responds to the strategic objectives of improving mobility and promoting social inclusion.

ABOUT BENIDORM EDUSI:

The Plurirregional Operational Program of Spain 2014-2020, and the Operational Program for Sustainable Growth (POCS) promote the DUSI strategy, for Sustainable and Integrated Urban Development, which Benidorm, as established in the Resolution of May 4, 2018, published in The Official State Gazette (BOE) of the Order of the Third Call HFP/888/2017, has managed to opt for and obtain financing from the FEDER aid of 10 Million Euros, through its EDUSI BENIDORM strategy.

The EDUSI BENIDORM is made up of a series of thematic, specific, strategic, and operational objectives, encompassed through 13 Lines of Action, whose social, environmental, economic, and urban impact on the city aims to transform a delimited urban area of the city into the to intervene and regenerate fully, for the sake of producing an impact and global improvement in the city.