Greg Stone

MEPS DENIED VOTE ON BLOCKING MONEY FOR SPANISH LAND GRABBING AUTHORITIES

Lib Dem Euro-MP for the North East, Fiona Hall, has reacted with disappointment that an attempt to hold back European funding for "land grabbing" autonomous communities in Spain failed on procedural grounds during today's votes on the European Budget in Strasbourg (Oct 22).

Originally, the "land grabbing" laws were introduced by the local authority in Valencia and subsequently copied by several other regional authorities allegedly to help deliver low cost housing for local residents by preventing holiday home developers and speculators banking land. However, in practice many properties bought by foreign holidaymakers have been demolished or left worthless by property developers exploiting the rules.

Fiona has been contacted by a number of constituents who have bought homes in Valencia - many spending their life savings on the purchase of their dream house or land - only to find local authorities using the unjust Spanish laws to grab land back after the contracts have been signed. And unlike the English compulsory purchase scheme, where compensation can be received, in Spain the property owners also have to pay the developers considerable funds for the privilege of having as much as 30% of land taken away in some cases.

"Understandably, this has driven people to breaking point," said Fiona. "Many British people have worked hard for decades to achieve their dream of retirement in the sun, only to be forced to give up part of their property without compensation, and in some cases also footing massive bills from property developers.

Today, Members of the European Parliament tabled an amendment to the European Budget to hold back European funding for Valencia for the period 2007-2013 until these unjust laws are brought in line with EU laws protecting property rights. However, on procedural grounds, the amendment could not be voted on.

Said Fiona:

"It is very disappointing that we did not get the chance to use our budgetary powers today to put the Spanish Government and autonomous communities under financial pressure to change their unjust land grabbing laws. I will continue to push for this matter to stay on the agenda. The spotlight is on Spain to put its house in order."

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Full text of the proposed amendment - not voted on procedural grounds (Oct 22nd 2009):

The European Parliament has received a great number of petitions from EU citizens concerning abuse of legitimate property rights and infringements of Community law in the fields of environmental protection, water management and public procurement in the context of urban development in Spain, notably in the Autonomous Community of Valencia and the autonomous communities which have adopted regional land laws modelled on the legislation in Valencia.

In its most recent resolution on these petitions, adopted on 26 March 2009 (P6_TA(2009)0192), Parliament roundly condemned the legislation and practices of these regions in the abovementioned respects and recalled that «as the budgetary authority, (Parliament) may also decide to place funding set aside for cohesion policies in the reserve if it considers this necessary in order to persuade a Member State to end serious breaches of the rules and principles which it is obliged to respect either under the Treaty or as a result of the application of EU law, until such time as the problem is resolved».

The funds made available by the ERDF (budget heading 13 03 18) for Valencia for the period 2007-2013 are about € 1.3 billion. Per annum this amount would be about € 185 million. By way of a symbolic amount, this sum has been placed in the reserve to demonstrate Parliament's determination to those autonomous communities in Spain which persistently and seriously breach their obligations to respect the principles upon which the Union is founded, in particular committing systematic infringements of Community law in the context of urbanisation plans.

The appropriations have therefore been placed in the reserve until the European Parliament has received guarantees that no such plans will be approved and that plans which have been adopted will be repealed and replaced by plans which respect the fundamental right to private property as protected by the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as Community law as regards the essential aspects referred to in Parliament's resolution of 26 March 2009.

Justification:

The reserve will be released when the Parliament can establish that, when funds are allocated, the following problems have been taken into account by the competent authorities: abuse of legitimate property rights, sustainable development in connection with town planning, environmental protection and water supply, control of town planning procedures in connection with public procurement awards by local and regional authorities and that the situation of the EU citizens affected has therefore been improved.