Well done Josey,
FYI David Lidington MP was approached many years ago when Keith Rule and Ruth Genda presented detailed evidence relating to BG abuse. At that time the suggestion was made that the British Government had little power to address these obvious abuses, but since then, and following the recent European elections, the European Commission appear to have placed greater emphasis on a commitment to “safeguard the rule of law”. See Jean Claude Junker’s mission statement to the new European Justice Commisioner Vera Jourova in November 2014 in which he makes several references to the Rule of Law.
http://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/cwt/files/commissioner_mission_letters/jourova_en.pdf
As such it is imperative to direct MPs and MEPs to the current requirement for Spain to comply with citizens’ rights to timely justice and timely enforcement of existing law.
The main aspect to focus on in this regard is that there are no time constraints on Spanish Courts or the Spanish Judiciary to ensure that abusive delays are prevented… the consequence being that many innocent purchasers have been significantly compromised during this last decade and beyond, when failure to regain monies following developer breach as per Ley57/68 became further compromised as more and more developers went into administration (indeed some assets stripped in the lengthy interim period!).
As you know, Banks and developers however are jointly and severally liable, but the Banks are now routinely contesting purchasers inalienable rights as defined in ley 57/68, and this together with inconsistent judicial rulings due to varying interpretations of the law in different regions of Spain has now resulted in a legal lottery, culminating in even greater stresses on the courts and judiciary, as an ever increasing number of appeals and counter appeals further exacerbate the problem.
Keith Rule identified many years ago in his educative BG petition www.bankguaranteesinspain.com that given the failure to regulate the Banks in Spain, that there was a requirement for specialised courts to deal with the large numbers of offplan purchasers who had been exposed to this developer/Banking abuse (and non compliance with Ley57/68) as speedily and consistently as possible, so as to gain consistent rulings and avoid overloading the justice system! How ironic that this is now what we are all having to contend with in Spain!
The Banks who are essentially unregulated in Spain have, from the outset, failed in their duty to comply with existing law ley 57/68 by not adequately safeguarding depositors monies as required in law, and MUST be made speedily accountable to return monies in a consistent manner according to the rule of law. This requirement to conform with the rule of law therefore needs to be stressed to all MPs and MEPs at every possible opportunity.
FYI, many MEPs who were contacted prior to the European elections were not re-elected, thus further delaying action to address this major problem, but these are now some useful contacts: I hope this helps.
The latest European Justice Commissioner is Vera Jourova:
VERA-JOUROVA-CONTACT@ec.europa.eu
European Commission
Rue de la Loi / Wetstraat 200
1049 Brussels
Belgium
Also the first Vice President is Frans Timmermans
Frans Timmermans
European Commission
Rue de la Loi / Wetstraat 200
1049 Brussels
Belgium
People can also write to their MP and MEP by using the following website
www.writetothem.com
You might also wish to bring the following to the attention of MPs and MEPs
___________________________________________________________________________
As advised in February 2014 by Andrew Kinsman
Parliamentary Assistant to Marta Andreasen MEP
:
You ask "if EU law includes any directive to ensure that a member state has to comply with its own laws and does not act OUTSIDE the rule of law and adheres to the principal of legal certainty?"
The answer is no. However as part of the process of joining the EU, the institutions of a country are assessed against what are now known as the "Copenhagen Criteria", one of which is respect for the rule of law, and Spain would have been assessed as meeting these criteria at its accession in 1986.
It is important that this be framed as a property matter, not a consumer matter. Purchase of a property is not seen as a consumer issue, and the reference in the Charter to consumer rights is rather more limited.
Article 38
Consumer protection
Union policies shall ensure a high level of consumer protection.
Accession to the European Convention on Human Rights is accepted (with some reservations) as an essential condition of EU membership. The Convention is not an EU treaty, although the treaties refer to it. It binds signatory states to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights (which again is not an EU body). Spain is a signatory and is bound by the ECHR.
However the European Court of Human Rights only has jurisdiction over matters covered by the European Convention on Human Rights. Cases in the ECHR have to be against a state, not an individual or company. Moreover you are only allowed to use it when you have exhausted all the possibilities in the legal system in the signatory state (in this case it means going to the Supreme Court of Spain). The Court is strict and unbending on questions of admissibility - and any refusal is for keeps: you are not allowed a second chance. Moreover there is no mechanism for enforcing the judgements - they are dependent on moral authority only.
________________________________________________________________________________
Moral authority and safeguarding the rule of law therefore appear to be the most effective way for the European Commission to tackle this major problem in Spain…...
If they want to regain the trust of citizens, then they should not give lip service to this problem but demonstrate a commitment to protect citizens against Banking abuse on this scale.
Good luck Josey and keep us posted how you get on.
I hope this helps.
This message was last edited by ads on 18/03/2015.