Looking for justice in Spain
Posted by MEP Blogs on 02 2nd, 2010 | no responses
The week before last when Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, visited the European Parliament in Strasbourg, to present his ambitious programme for the Spanish presidency I warned him about starting a campaign to stop EU subsidies to Spain unless he intervenes to stop the confiscation of expatriate properties in many regions extending from Valencia to Andalucia in the South.
Thousands of holiday villas in Spain have even been demolished without compensation for their owners. In some cases, the authorities have charged the property owners for the installation of local services, even after they have lost their Spanish property.
About 15,000 mostly British, Belgian, German and French property owners lodged a formal petition with MEPs four years ago in desperation over a 1994 Valencia land and town planning law which triggered 20,000 compulsory purchases of land or property for "urban" development.
The law's aim was to ensure community development plans were not blocked by individual land-owners, but a loophole meant unscrupulous developers could reclassify rural land as urban without the owners' permission – effectively giving themselves compulsory purchase rights on foreign-owned homes at a fraction of the market value.
The European Court of Justice has already ruled the "land-grab" law illegal, but the European Commission says a replacement law - the Ley Urbanistica Valenciana - still breaches EU public procurement regulations and therefore fails to protect citizens' rights.
An inquiry by the European Parliament's Petitions Committee resulted in a report slamming Spanish planning loopholes which leave homeowners defenceless against developers seizing part or all of their property.
But the abuses are still going so I took the opportunity to tell Mr Zapatero that among others Mr and Mrs Prior, and Ms Snook of Berkshire, and Mr Lohmann of Buckingham faced financial ruin as a result of the property rules: the Priors' Spanish home has been demolished, and Ms Snook and Mr Lohmann cannot live in their properties because of a lack of basic services and infrastructure.
I urged Zapatero to give these people a solution without delay. I went on to say that the people should be allowed to live in the houses they bought and if this was not possible, they need to be granted fair compensation.
Zapatero´s first reaction was that of incredulity about what was going on. I had spoiled his show on how to get Europe out of the crisis, bringing him suddenly down to reality (watch the video here... an image is worth a thousand words). Then he immediately tried to shrug off the responsibility by referring to his lack of competence as this lies, according to him, with regional and local governments.. Well....he will not get rid of my pressure so easily!
The fact that this is left to the lowest level of local authority is precisely what has made this corruption possible! So he will need to "take arms against a sea of troubles". He cannot dismiss the risk that this situation poses to the tourism industry in Spain.
I feel strongly that these homeowners are being treated unjustly and are receiving no protection from any of the responsible parties involved, either the regional government, the Spanish government, their own government at home if they are foreign nationals which is largely the case, or from the European Union.
I brought the matter up in the chamber not only to highlight the problem before the entire EU but also to let all parties know that I intend to pursue the matter.
I want to bring the matter before the entire Parliament for a debate as soon as possible. To do this I am attempting to have it discussed as an oral question to the Spanish presidency of the EU. It is not certain that the powers that be will allow this to happen but we will know within a month if this strategy succeeds.
My office will write to you and keep you informed as to how things proceed.
I am being interviewed by Radio Vera in Spain on Wednesday, February 3 between 1 and 2 pm ( Spanish time) and before that at 11 am by another radio for expatriates (in English).
Thousands of holiday villas in Spain have even been demolished without compensation for their owners. In some cases, the authorities have charged the property owners for the installation of local services, even after they have lost their Spanish property.
About 15,000 mostly British, Belgian, German and French property owners lodged a formal petition with MEPs four years ago in desperation over a 1994 Valencia land and town planning law which triggered 20,000 compulsory purchases of land or property for "urban" development.
The law's aim was to ensure community development plans were not blocked by individual land-owners, but a loophole meant unscrupulous developers could reclassify rural land as urban without the owners' permission – effectively giving themselves compulsory purchase rights on foreign-owned homes at a fraction of the market value.
The European Court of Justice has already ruled the "land-grab" law illegal, but the European Commission says a replacement law - the Ley Urbanistica Valenciana - still breaches EU public procurement regulations and therefore fails to protect citizens' rights.
An inquiry by the European Parliament's Petitions Committee resulted in a report slamming Spanish planning loopholes which leave homeowners defenceless against developers seizing part or all of their property.
But the abuses are still going so I took the opportunity to tell Mr Zapatero that among others Mr and Mrs Prior, and Ms Snook of Berkshire, and Mr Lohmann of Buckingham faced financial ruin as a result of the property rules: the Priors' Spanish home has been demolished, and Ms Snook and Mr Lohmann cannot live in their properties because of a lack of basic services and infrastructure.
I urged Zapatero to give these people a solution without delay. I went on to say that the people should be allowed to live in the houses they bought and if this was not possible, they need to be granted fair compensation.
Zapatero´s first reaction was that of incredulity about what was going on. I had spoiled his show on how to get Europe out of the crisis, bringing him suddenly down to reality (watch the video here... an image is worth a thousand words). Then he immediately tried to shrug off the responsibility by referring to his lack of competence as this lies, according to him, with regional and local governments.. Well....he will not get rid of my pressure so easily!
The fact that this is left to the lowest level of local authority is precisely what has made this corruption possible! So he will need to "take arms against a sea of troubles". He cannot dismiss the risk that this situation poses to the tourism industry in Spain.
I feel strongly that these homeowners are being treated unjustly and are receiving no protection from any of the responsible parties involved, either the regional government, the Spanish government, their own government at home if they are foreign nationals which is largely the case, or from the European Union.
I brought the matter up in the chamber not only to highlight the problem before the entire EU but also to let all parties know that I intend to pursue the matter.
I want to bring the matter before the entire Parliament for a debate as soon as possible. To do this I am attempting to have it discussed as an oral question to the Spanish presidency of the EU. It is not certain that the powers that be will allow this to happen but we will know within a month if this strategy succeeds.
My office will write to you and keep you informed as to how things proceed.
I am being interviewed by Radio Vera in Spain on Wednesday, February 3 between 1 and 2 pm ( Spanish time) and before that at 11 am by another radio for expatriates (in English).
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