Wednesday 31 March 2010

How to Help

From Marta Andreasen's office

What is currently happening?

Marta is now a member of the Petitions Committee in the European Parliament and has met some of you, either at her Brussels office or at the Soha march in Malaga. However, her focus remains to get the question of the Spanish property abuses debated in the plenary of the Parliament because the Petitions Committee does not have the power to request or impose any action. For this, we need help from all of you.

What can I do?

We need all nationalities concerned to write to their MEPs, and report back to me, as soon as possible. The window for debate in Parliament is not so wide, and we need to act fast: a large cross-party support is what this cause needs.

The steps are:

1. Find out who your MEPs are: see link below by country of origin.

2. Email as many as possible, in your own name (see below). There is no need to contact the EFD members (Europe of Freedom and Democracy), they are Marta's group and already support you. I have provided a short text for simplicity. You may add to it, but keep in mind that some may not read beyond a few lines.

3. Please write back to me with the names of the MEPs you contacted – please start the email subject with “MEP”. We will use this information in Parliament.

The largest group, by nationality, in alphabetical order are:

Belgique:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/groupAndCountry/search.do?country=BE&language=FR

Danmark:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/groupAndCountry/search.do?country=DK&language=DA

Deutschland:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/groupAndCountry/search.do?country=DE&language=DE

España:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/groupAndCountry/search.do?country=ES&language=ES

France:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/groupAndCountry/search.do?country=FR&language=FR

Nederland:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/groupAndCountry/search.do?country=NL&language=NL

Österreich:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/groupAndCountry/search.do?country=AT&language=DE

Sverige:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/groupAndCountry/search.do?country=SE&language=sv

United Kingdom:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/groupAndCountry/search.do?country=GB&language=EN

For all other nationalities, please find your MEPs following this link:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/groupAndCountry.do?language=EN

A suggested text to send follows.

Thank you all for taking the time to contact your MEPs - we must show a strong and organised face to Europe.

Best wishes of success,

Matthieu Laloux
Assistant to Marta Andreasen, MEP

laloux@gmail.com



*** ***
Dear Mr / Ms *<Name of MEP>*,

You may be aware of the situation affecting over 250,000 home owners in Spain. The Spanish authorities are threatening the lawful owners with demolition of their houses without compensation, or are imposing extortionate financial penalties. These judicial orders have been given under an arbitrary cancellation of building permits or a retroactive application of the law.

This issue is widely reported in the European press (simply enter “Spanish property scandal/abuse” in a search engine), yet the Spanish government is dismissing those claims as a mere infringement of building regulations by wealthy foreigners. This is not true: the families affected are mostly ordinary Spanish citizens, and retired foreigners, who are facing ruin and are being denied their most basic human right of a shelter and peaceful existence. These people are fighting their cases through the local courts, but are not being given justice. Their suffering is real. I am one of these people.

We are asking you to support a motion for an urgent debate about the Spanish property abuses in the plenary session of the European Parliament and seize the opportunity of the Spanish Presidency of the European Union to solve the issue.

Yours Sincerely,

<Your Name & Address>


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