From the Costa Blanca News Friday 5th Nov 08
SPAIN IN THE DOCK
By Dave Jones
MEPs showed this week they are preparing to get tough with Spain over town planning and construction industry abuses.
A nine-page draft report was presented to the Petitions Committee in Brussels on Monday by rapporteur Margrete Auken.
The document was drawn up after MEPs visited the Costas for an unprecedented third time earlier this year to investigate complaints from hundreds of European citizens who have become victims of illegal building practices and land grab laws.
The report sets out a number of resolutions which could see Spain face the ultimate penalty of having European Union funds withheld if action is not taken to halt the abuses.
Charles Svoboda, vice-president of Costa Blanca-based protest group Abusos Urbanísticos No (AUN), said it is ‘as tough as I've ever seen on any subject'.
"AUN is both pleased and saddened that the European Parliament will once again be faced with such a stern resolution dealing with land law and related abuses in Spain and notably in the Valencian region," he said.
"We are pleased because this resolution reveals that the Parliament does respond to the concerns of European Citizens and residents and attempts to deal with their problems within the limits of its influence.
"We are saddened that such problems continue to arise in this country and that there has been little effective effort made by the authorities and the legal system to deal with them."
The preliminary report, which will be presented as a motion for a European Parliament resolution, examines ‘the impact of extensive urbanisation in Spain on individual rights of European citizens, on the environment and on the application of EU law'.
The document is a damning indictment of overdevelopment on the Costas and the ‘corrupt' practices of local politicians.
Danish MEP Margrete Auken who drew up the report launches a scathing attack on the Spanish authorities and the now struggling construction industry.
She states that the Petitions Committee has ‘reported three times on the extent of the abuse of the legitimate rights of European citizens to their legally acquired property in Spain'.
She adds that ‘many thousands of European citizens' have bought property in Spain ‘in good faith acting with local lawyers, town planners and architects, only to find later that they have become victims of urbanisation abuse by unscrupulous local authorities and that as a result, their property faces demolition because their homes have been found to be illegally built'.
She also argues that ‘extensive destruction' caused by overdevelopment ‘constitutes a tragic and irretrievable loss' to Spain's identity and heritage.
This has been caused by the greed and speculative behaviour of some local authorities and members of the construction industry who have succeeded in deriving massive benefits, she adds.
She states there is ‘growing evidence' that the courts in Spain ‘have begun to respond to the challenge resulting from excessive urbanisation in many coastal areas, particularly by investigating and bringing charges to bear against corrupt local officials.
However she notes that procedures are ‘outrageously slow' and sentences fail to give satisfaction to ‘victims of such abuse'.
As a result Mrs Auken sets out 19 points to redress the situation.
These include asking the Spanish national and regional governments ‘to thoroughly review and revise all legislation affecting the rights of individual property owners in order to bring an end to the abuse of rights and obligations' contained in European law.
She also calls on regional authorities ‘to declare a moratorium on all new urbanisation plans which do not respect the strict criteria of environmental sustainability and social responsibility and which do not guarantee the respect for the rightful ownership of legitimately acquired property'.
Also all existing developments should be halted ‘where criteria contained in EU law, notably as regards the award of urbanisation contracts and respect for water and environmental provisions, have not been respected or applied'.
She also urges the authorities ‘to establish functioning judicial and administrative mechanisms, involving the regional ombudsmen, which are given the authority to provide means of redress and of compensation for the victims of urbanisation abuse'.
And she also reminds the Spanish authorities that the EU can turn off the funding tap.
"The European Parliament, as the budgetary authority, may also decide to place funding set aside for Cohesion Policies in the reserve chapter if it considers this necessary in order to persuade a member state to end serious breaches of the rules and principles which it obliged to respect either under the Treaty or as a result of the application of EU law, until such times as the problem is resolved," she states.
Further discussion on the report will take place in a session of the Petitions Committee in Brussels next month in which petitioners from Spain will also participate.
It is likely to be voted on in the European Parliament in March.
djones@cbnews.es