The Diplomat
The intention of the Madrid City Council to install a cleaning depot in the Montecarmelo neighbourhood has provoked the mobilisation of the German Embassy. The reason: the fact that the German School, a splendid facility inaugurated in 2015 and the largest civilian building of the Federal Republic of Germany abroad, is located in the immediate vicinity.
Last Monday, the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, held a meeting with the German ambassador to Spain, María Margarete Gosse, to discuss the matter, and put himself at her disposal to pass on “all the information”. This was announced by the mayor himself, aware of the ambassador’s concern, who did not miss the opportunity to express it during her speech at the reception she gave on the occasion of the Day of German Unity, precisely at the German School on the 27th.
Martínez-Almeida told the German diplomatic representative that he considers the depot to be “essential” for the workers. “I conveyed to her the will that there has to be a cleaning depot, that it is essential to guarantee the dignity of the workers that they can have the best facilities, which at the same time will improve the cleanliness of a neighbourhood like Montecarmelo”, he told journalists, assuring them that the meeting had been very cordial.
The installation of the depot is not only of concern to the German Embassy, the country that invested 55 million euros in the building, but also to the residents of Montecarmelo, who have been demonstrating and proposing a possible alternative to the Town Hall. Yesterday the mayor dismissed that proposal, recalling that it is located in the area of the Fuencarral road and would mean that the cleaning workers would have to go out with their trolleys and cross two roads. “I sincerely believe that this is not the approach,” he said.
