The following are a few quotes taken from a reply I received from Andrew Kinsman (parliamentary assistant to Marta Andreasen):
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The non-application of justice in Spain is brought to Prime Minister Zapatero's attention regularly when the opportunity becomes available, most recently on the occasion of his last visit to the European parliament in Strasbourg. As you will no doubt recall he took grave exception to what he was told.
To put this in context, President of the Parliament Jerzy Buzek himself wrote to Señor Zapatero in February last year, politely asking for any response to the Auken Report. He received an extremely bland reply which entirely avoided the issues raised by the report.
According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalists, Spain is near the bottom of the league on the question of transparency surrounding structural funds, and our own investigations confirm this.
Regarding the suggestion of an EU Directive, I do not see how it could work. The quotation in your e-mail refers to "speedy and adequate compensation for the innocent victims of real estate fraud in all member states".
Firstly this implicitly requires successful criminal proceedings to demonstrate that fraud has taken place; to pay compensation otherwise would be to pre-judge a case and brand someone a criminal without due process of law.
Secondly the question of who would pay the compensation is not mentioned - and one could be sure that the real wrongdoer had long since departed the scene by the time compensation was due to be awarded.
We know that the administration of justice is seriously lacking in several parts of Spain, especially but not solely where the land grab issue and related property issues are involved, and that the regional appeals systems are used abusively to delay resolution for British and other citizens indefinitely.
Having looked at Keith Rule's petition on bank guarantees it seems eminently sensible and effective. However the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament needs to be added to the list of recipients. In fact the more that goes through the Petitions Committee, the better, as it is one part of the European parliament that the Spanish government does take notice of. Temperate and well-written individual petitions help too - they are the water dripping on a stone that wears it away.
One of our best means of tackling this is to have a good supply of examples ready to present when we have the opportunity - to demonstrate injustice, refute dishonesty and indicate the large scale of the problem. So, although of little solace to you, I thank you for having addressed me. I will take it up in a sort of black book I am compiling.
Marta is co-sponsor of a Written Declaration (the equivalent of an Early Day Motion in the UK) on abusive Spanish property issues. This may not sound much, but her three co-sponsors are Spanish MEPs, and I understand that this is the first time that Spanish MEPs (who are elected nationally, rather than for constituencies) have co-sponsored a declaration critical of the Spanish government.
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As you can see it’s imperative that “examples ready to present” are forwarded to Marta Andreasen’s office, so please I would encourage those affected to send on your details as concisely as possible (bearing in mind temperate and well written!
), and stress the fact, where applicable, that the regional appeals system appears to be abusively delaying resolution.
The email contact is as follows:
marta.andreasen-office@europarl.europa.eu