A letter to Mr Ashworth (MEP)

Dear Mr Ashworth,

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 know several of these people.

I have lived in Spain for the last 14 years (having purchased a business here in 1987) and am sickened by the corruption found here in almost every walk of life. This country is nearly the world's leading "Banana monarchy" !

Furthermore I would venture that as the ordinary man (Spaniard or other) has virtually no recourse to justice (due to the corruption and crass inefficiency of the system) this country cannot, therefore, be called a democracy.

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,
John G. Deacon