06/12/2001 00:00
TW
0

He grabbed the headlines three years ago when he announced that he wanted to form his own political party and now Majorca's undisputed “sausage king” is back with a new idea, a Majorcan-German friendship society. Horst Abel, who owns the German food company of the same name, announced his new project yesterday alongside, Josep Moll, a former socialist politician. “At the moment we have twenty members but we naturally hope that our membership will grow,” he said. Neither Moll nor Abel could give an exact figure on the number of German residents but they estimated that there are between 30'000 and 40'000 who come to the island regularly and between 12'000 and 15'000 people who live here year round. Moll said that one of the main aims of the society was to destroy the myth that all “Germans were millionaires and were coming to Majorca to buy Raixa (the Majorcan estate controversially bought by a German fashion designer last month). here are many German pensioners who have little money,” he said. He added that he hoped that the society would help bring Germans and Majorcans together because at the moment there were cases of Germans being “rejected” on the island. “This state of affairs is no good to anyone and we must see if we can overcome it,” said Moll. “Our society is becoming more multi-cultural and we must work together so that people can integrate more easily,” he said. The society will be holding a series of functions which it is hoped will lead to a greater understanding between Majorcans and Germans. The society also has the full support of the German Consulate and they are not ruling out the possibility of even providing financial help for German pensioners who are suffering real financial dire straits. The massive purchase of properties in Majorca by Germans over the last decade has caused some controversy and at one stage there was even talk of introducing a law to limit purchases. This call was later rejected.