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Progress Report, April 2010,
Please read the request below and act on it now. Dear SOHA.ES Member, As you know we are working closely with Marta Andreasen MEP who is fighting our corner in the European Parliament and who joined us on our march in Malaga earlier this month. We have received an email today from her assistant to tell us that Marta is trying very hard to get the question of Spanish property abuses debated in the plenary session of the EU Parliament because the Petitions Committee, of which she is a member, does not have the power to request or impose any action. It is vitally important that our problems are debated as this is the best and quickest way to persuade the Spanish Authorities that their current practices cannot continue. In order to help her succeed she has asked that everyone who is affected by the actions of the Junta de Andalucia write to every MEP of their homeland requesting their support. It is not necessary to email those MEPs who are EFD members (Europe of Freedom and Democracy), as these are members of the same group as Marta and as such they already support us. To make the task simpler there are links below showing the MEP details for each country in the EU. Please click on the link for the country of your homeland and you will see the full list. In the case of the United Kingdom there are 72 MEPs listed of which 12 are EFD Members. This means that there are 60 MEPs that we are asking you to write to. At the end of this email there is a letter template for you to use. You only need to insert the name of the MEP and your own name and address into the places shown and then copy and paste it into an email for each MEP on your list. I realise that emailing every MEP may take a while but this is an opportunity that we cannot afford to miss. Please make the effort to write to each MEP as soon as you possibly can. Marta has said that the emails are needed urgently if she is to succeed in her battle on our behalf and that it's vitally important that we secure cross-party support. For those of our members, including Friends of SOHA.ES, who are not directly affected but still wish to help us, please use the same email shown below but delete the sentence "I am one of these people." Once you have emailed all the MEPs it is important to send one final email to Marta's assistant. His name is Matthieu Laloux (email address is: [email protected]) and he has asked that you send him a list of the MEP names that you have written to. Please ensure that you put MEP in the subject box when you send your email to Matthieu and this information will then be used in the European Parliament. Once again, it's imperative that we all ACT NOW.... Best wishes Steve Wood
MEP lists by Country are as follows: United Kingdom: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/groupAndCountry/search.do?country=GB&language=EN 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 For all other nationalities, please find your MEPs following this link: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/groupAndCountry.do?language=EN
Text to cut and paste into an email is as follows: Dear (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 and address)
March 2010, For all the latest news and progress update, please see the news section of this site
February 2010, MAYOR GIVES OWNERS OF ILLEGAL HOMES HOPE... INTERESTING FACTS AND REPORTS PRODUCED BY CIUDADANOS EUROPEOS (SPAIN) FOR YOUR INFORMATION... WE ARE TRYING TO ORGANIZE A MARCH IN MALAGA IN 2010 to coincide with the meeting of the EU held at the Palacios de Congresos. Join Us... For these and more information please see the news section of this site.
Progress Report, January 2010, Petition. (Please see the news section of this site) Protest march in Almeria. (Please see the news section of this site) Destruction order postponed. (Please see the news section of this site) SOHA.ES membership increased. (Please see the news section of this site) Press and publicity increased. With articles appearing almost every week in major UK and Spanish newspapers as well as radio, TV, Face book, Youtube and other media... (Please see the news section of this site)
Progress Report, December 2009, The meeting with the Junta de Andalucia. (Please see report published under the News section of this site) We have increased membership and awarness in the area. (Please see various reports published under the News section of this site) SOHA.ES has received support from the Green party. (Please see letter published under the News section of this site) General meeting on the 18th of November. (Please see report published under the News section of this site) SOHA.ES was visited and members interviewed by Jane Slade of the Sunday Express on 5th of December.She came over specially to do this report on the situation in our area. We look forward to seeing the report in the newspaper soon. Our first fund raising event was held on the 4th of December. The event was a success as; everyone had a good time it helped with spreading the word about SOHA.ES It raised 364 Euros for SOHA.ES Good work, all who organised it and well done to all who came and enjoyed themselves as well as made donations, etc. Please see the News section of this site for more information
Progress Report, November 2009, Three important articles in the news section (added 09/11/2009) This is progress indeed... (Please see the news section of this site) House of Lords Questions, Four questions put forward by Lord Burnett which is asking the Goverment to take action with regards to the Spanish land laws, and the rights of EU citizens being abused. (Please see the news section of this site) Representatives of SOHA.ES to meet Junta de Andalucia on November 16th to further discuss the situation in the area and possible solutions. SOHA.ES general meeting to be held on November 18th at the Camping restaurant at 19.30. Well, I don't know if I can call the following progress, but at least we can see what happened!!! From the blog of our friends at AUN... There was a good deal of interest attracted to what should have been a vote, on October 22 on a Greens amendment to the EU Budget that, had it succeeded would have moved some 185 million euros into a "reserve" unless and until Spain and in particular, Valencia had brought its land laws and practices into accord with EU norms as regards, for example the environment, public contracts , etc. That amount was calculated to be the portion of the subventions for Spain that would be allocated , by Madrid , to Valencia. Such an amendment had been defeated in the budget committee a few days earlier, but was reintroduced at the level of the plenary. There is no doubt a fuller explanation available, but on Oct 22, President Buzek of the Parliament ruled the amendment to be not eligible to be voted upon. He apparently did this on the basis of advice from his professional staff on procedural grounds that could equally be argued differently. Whether they had in turn been subject to lobbying by, for example Spanish MEPs is not clear. The Greens ( and others) are actively exploring ways by which this issue can be brought to a vote again before the next budget cycle in a year's time. The implementation of the Lisbon Treaty if it is indeed to be ratified soon , may provide an occasion to try once more, since there are budgetary implicatations that will need to be considered by the Parliament . AUN had, before Oct 22, approached several of our supportive MEPs across national and party lines to press for a yes vote. We believed, on the basis of feedback, that there would have been a good chance of a positive vote on the amendment, but that must remain speculation for now. Our arguments in support of the concept of this proposal were based on the fact that this amendment would be a confirmation, in practical terms, of the Auken report adopted with a solid majority in Strasbourg on March 26th of this year. It would also have been a way of aquainting newly elected MEPs with the core issues of that report. Another contention is that while this money would be withheld for some time, not withdrawn, Spain itself should not be receiving such funds based on the strength, until recently, of its economy. According to reports at the time it was agreed that Spain would continue to receive stability pact subventions until then, this was only because Spain threatened to block EU expansion. How can Spain in the meantime boast that it is economically better off than Italy, which receives no such subventions and at the same time demand entry into the G20 for example and still contend that it should receive EU hand outs at least until 2013?
Progress Report, October 2009, A meeting was held in Seville between SOHA.ES committee and Junta de Andalucia (see news section) to discuss our problems and possibilities for the future. Articles have been published by Diario Sur in recent weeks to bring attention to the situation in our region (see news section) A second meeting has now been arranged between our group and Junta de Andalucia on monday 16th of November to further discuss our situtaion and possible solutions. 12 SOHA.ES members attended meeting in Albir, Alicante, to support other groups with different problems, but all to do with land laws in Spain (see news section) Our case was put forward to Margaret Auken by Philip Smalley. (see some interviews on the following links on you tube.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wP3WT_kRpQ&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watchv=5NMNnJso_h0&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lywRiYLhMNE&feature=related Willy Meyer, MEP, chair of EU petitions committee, Member of Andalucian parliament and senior figure in the United Left party has stated his intention to raise a question in the Andalucian parliament on the topic of urban abuse. The IU are a minority group in the Andalucian parliament but opening the dialogue is still a major step for our cause. He has been given the information via other groups and we wait for an outcome. Emails have been sent to many people on our mailing lists asking them to forward it to other people on their list so we can start getting more support from members as well as friends of SOHA.ES.(see membership section) Dates for the next three general meetings have been put on the website, next one being 18th of November. Look forward to seeing you all there.
Progress Report, July 2009, PROPERTY PROBLEMS TO BE FORMALLY BROUGHT BEFORE THE ANDALUCIAN GOVERNMENT Izquuierda Unida - Los Verdes, the Spanish political party ( think of them as the Spanish Liberal Party as they ally with the UK Liberal party) most sensitive to the problem of urbanistic abuse are to bring before the Andalucian Junta three of the 10 recommendations of the Auken Report. This is a very encouraging action and is a direct result of the meetings held at Mojacar on 30th May 2009 and Torre on 10th July 2009 described below: 1. COMISIÓN DE INVESTIGACIÓN: Se establezca una comisión de investigación estatal, con representantes de la administración y de las asociaciones ciudadanas (incluyendo las de defensa de los propietarios y los ecologistas), para investigar los graves problemas urbanísticos y medioambientales surgidos, elaborar un informe de las causas de dichos problemas y sus posibles soluciones, así como recomendaciones para el futuro. 1. COMMISSION OF INVESTIGATION: A national commission of investigation be established, with representatives of the administration and citizens groups (including those for the protection of homeowners rights and the ecologists), to investigate the existing grave planning and environmental problems, to draw up a report on the causes of said problems and their possible solutions, as well as recommendations for the future. 2. ARBITRAJE: Se cree una comisión administrativa especial que cuente con un defensor del pueblo provincial, asesorado por servicios independientes de investigación, incluyendo representantes de la administración y de las asociaciones ciudadanas (incluyendo las de defensa de los propietarios y los ecologistas), y con poderes de arbitraje sobre los conflictos relacionados con estos problemas, a las que puedan acceder de forma gratuita los afectados. 2. ARBITRATION: The creation of a special administrative commission that includes a provincial public ombudsman, advised by independent investigation services, including representatives from the administration and from citizens groups (including those for the defence of individual property owners and ecology groups), and with arbitration powers in relation to disputes concerning these problems, available to affected parties free of charge. 3. RESPONSABILIDAD: Es necesario hacer efectiva y realizable las responsabilidades de los promotores, administraciones y terceros pertinentes por haber dado lugar a los graves problemas urbanísticos y medioambientales que existen. Cualquier procedimiento de regularización deberá pasar, en la medida posible, por la firma de los respectivos convenios con la administración (incluyendo las garantías suficientes) por los causantes de las irregularidades, estableciendo las medidas compensatorias oportunas que deberán ser realizadas por dichos responsables. 3. RESPONSIBILITY: The liability of developers, the administration and pertinent third parties, for having given rise to the grave planning and environmental problems which exist, must be made enforceable and real. Any process of regularisation should, as far as possible, include binding agreements (including adequate guarantees) between those who have caused the irregularities and the administration, and these must include the opportune measures so that those who caused the irregularities compensate for the damage caused. Compliments of Gerardo M Vasquez, lawyer and Lenox Napier. 19th July 2009 AULAN REPORTS: BRITISH CITIZENS MEET THE UNITED LEFT GREEN PARTY Following on from the recent successful round table meeting held in Mojacar, between ecologists and numerous citizens associations from Almeria, other parts of Andalucia and beyond, a meeting was held on the 10th July 2009, in Torre, attended by over 100 persons, including members of the citizens associations, AULAN, AUAN, Levante sin Cables, AVEP, Cantoria Residents Association, as well as other members of the public. The initiative for the meeting came from Izquierda Unida Los Verdes, and presiding the meeting was Enrique Ruiz Guerrero, the lawyer of that political party. At the meeting was Jose Antonio Castro, an Andalucian Parliament MP, and member of the Planning and Environmental Law committees of the Andalucian Parliament, who came to hear the concerns of numerous citizens affected by planning and real estate abuse, many of whom are without basic services such as water and electricity. From the United Left Green Party, were also present Rosalia, the coordinator for the party in Almeria, Antonio Romero a member of the Diputacion of Almeria, Martin the Councillor from Turre of the same party, as well as other members of the party. A video was shown explaining the plight of the El Fas residents in Cantoria, one of whose members it was stated had received veiled death threats, as well as of the Prior family, whose house was razed to the ground over a year ago, despite having planning permission, and who are now living in their garage. AUAN gave a speech asking for building licences to be frozen in the Almanzora Valley (where there are thousands of allegedly illegal houses) until the cases of planning irregularities are resolved. Mrs Prior also gave a speech. In the case of Mrs Prior it was suggested from the floor that, given that it was clear that the Prior family were innocent victims of a political fight between the Town Hall of Vera and the Junta de Andalucia, and given that each of these arms of the Spanish administration accepted that the family should be compensated, but that the compensation be paid by the other branch, the matter should be submitted to independent arbitration as to who should pay so as to avoid lengthy and expensive court proceedings, which could take years. A member of the residents of El Fas, AVEP in Bedar, as well as a resident in El Gor in Huercal- Overa, and Juan Grima on behalf of Levante sin Cables also explained their problems. Lenox Napier, well known for his defence of citizens rights in the area, also gave a general explanation of the plight of many people who had thought they had bought a dream in Spain, where they wished to spend the last years of their lives, only to find that the dream had turned into a nightmare. The Decalogue presented at the recent round table was given to the participants of the United Left Green Party. The meeting was ended by a speech by Jose Antonio Castro who made various commitments including: (1) They would raise a non-legislative motion in the Andalucian Parliament on the basis of the first three points of the Decalogue; (2) They would raise parliamentary questions on a general level asking how the Junta proposed to deal with these sort of planning problems; (3) They would assist with a meeting with the Public Ombudsman´s office for Andalucia where the citizens groups could explain their problems and could ask the Ombudsman to investigate these. Compliments of Gerardo M Vasquez, lawyer, 12th July 2009
Progress Report , April 2009, There is an old Chinese curse that says - May you live in interesting times. Well, the times are certainly becoming interesting. The demolition process begins Since our last progress report we have heard from the Ayuntamiento in La Viñuela that there are 6 houses in the Viñuela area that have had their licences annulled in the Malaga courts following actions initiated by the Junta De Andalucia. Additionally, we have heard that the Junta has pressed for the process of demolition to begin. Whilst we believe that this process may take years to complete we are shocked to discover that the Junta has taken these actions after everything they have said. This includes a signed letter from the Junta telling us that the Plan General would solve the majority of our problems and that only those houses built on protected land or on land unsuitable for building would be pursued. What is even more interesting is that we know only one of these six houses belongs to one of our members. That means that there are five houses where the process of demolition has begun but their owners have not joined SOHA.ES. We suspect that not every owner of a house which has had its building licence annulled is aware of what has happened. Only by inquiry at your Ayuntamiento can you find out. As a result of this news we have written to the Regional Councillor for Housing and Territorial Planning, Juan Espadas, advising him or our concerns and urging him to reconsider. We will inform you of any reply that we receive. The first mayor goes to jail You would have had to have been living in England not to have heard that José Manuel Martin Alba, or Pepe Calayo as he is known locally, has been arrested and detained in prison while investigations take place into corruption and malfeasance in the Ayuntamiento of Alcaucin. Additionally, we hear, at least 25 mayors in the province of Malaga alone are also under investigation. At SOHA.ES we take no satisfaction from this as we can clearly see that the system has failed from top to bottom. However, in addition to the mayor of Alcaucin numerous others were arrested including lawyers, developers, estate agents and family members. Whilst the guilty should be punished the government of Spain must fix the system. For 20 years the Junta has turned a blind eye to the abuses that have gone on in countless Ayuntamientos. Whatever happens the innocent home owner must be protected. SOHA.ES on telly! As the news of the arrest of the mayor of Alcaucin spreads so has the interest in SOHA.ES. In the news section you can see the results of the interview the Chairman and I did with El Pais. I have also done two radio interviews with Cadena Sur and the Chairman and I did a piece to camera for Canal Sur Television which was broadcast on Sunday 20th April on Andalucia Directo. Good news. Finally some good news regarding the Priors who had their house demolished in Vera. They are suing the Junta for illegally demolishing their home. The Constitutional Court has ruled that the rights of the Priors were ignored when they were not properly informed of the original court process against the house, and as such says that the legal process that culminated in the destruction order is null. Let us hope that full and proper compensation is paid to the Priors soon. Progress Report October. We hope you all enjoyed your summer. Over the summer things have been much quieter than the first few months of SOHA.ES's existence. We are happy to say that we are not aware of any new summons being sent out to Axarquia residents (though if you know different then please let us know), no demolition orders have been sent out and we are not aware of any new license annulments since March. Our key achievement this summer is the development of strong links with other groups in Andalusia in a similar situation to ourselves. In particular, Les Nash, has built an exceptional relationship with Abusos Urbanisticos Almanzora No (AUAN). AUAN are based in Almanzora valley in Almeria and are facing even worse problems than us given that they are facing actual demolition orders. You can find out more about AUAN on their website http://www.almanzora-au.org/ The site is full of interesting information. Our members have already been given a detailed guide to how to get your property regularised (not legal but accepted) using the antiquity rule often called the four year rule. Recently AUAN met with senior members of the Junta de Andalucia to discuss the situation. The main points of that discussion are as follows:
Our recent conversation with the Mayor of La Viñuela has led us to deduce that a very similar process is being conducted here in Axarquia. We believe that 95% of homes regularised is not good enough, we want all honestly bought homes to be legalised. It seems that the economic downturn has softened the Junta's position. Now the Junta appear reluctant to create an international cause celebre over the homes of non Spaniards. We will continue to monitor the situation and to build our relationship with AUAN. On a negative note, the response to our survey has been poor. If you are a member and have not completed the survey please contact Tony Lindsey-Jones to get a form. Progress March As we have said before this is a marathon not a sprint. None of our members' homes are imminently threatened with demolition. However, we still have much to do to guarantee their safety.
Next Steps
Progress February The problem is this. Our ayuntamientos, like many others, have issued building licences for urban development on land that the junta believe is rural. The junta, under pressure to stamp out illegal building are taking owners to court. The conflict between the junta and the ayuntamientos has caused a complete moratorium on the issue of new licences, even to those who are already living in their homes having bought their homes in good faith. In the last two weeks much has happened.
Over the next few weeks we hope to rapidly expand our membership, start to organise some fund raising activities, and begin raising awareness of the issue in the media.
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