European Commission says it is monitoring whether Spain is discriminating against foreign property owners

European Commission says it is monitoring whether Spain is discriminating against foreign property owners
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By h.b. - Sep 23, 2010 - 9:19 PM
European Justice Commissioner, Vivian Reding, has answered a question put by the British UKIP MEP Marta Andreasen.

Marta Andreasen - Photo YouTube

The European Justice Commissioner, Viviane Reding, has said that the European Commission is ‘monitoring’ whether Spain is carrying out any sort of discrimination against foreigners, following the high number of complaints presented by the protest groups representing those whose homes are under threat of demolition, be they built in protected areas, or under the regulations of the 1988 Ley de Costas.

Most of the people affected by the threatened demolitions are British citizens and others from northern Europe, who have chosen to live in the provinces of Almería and Málaga.

UKIP British Euro MP, Argentinean born Spanish accountant, Marta Andreasen, has been told in a written European parliamentary answer, to a question she placed on August 17th, that the European Commission has contacted the Spanish Authorities over the matter of the right to own property, as protected by the European Letter of Fundamental Rights.

In her answer, Reding said however that the Commission can only intervene ‘if the question affects the application of community law’ and added that ‘this connection has not been identified upto now’.

However, given the high number of complaints, the Commission says it is monitoring to see ‘if there is any discrimination on the basis of nationality’.

Marta Andreasen has been at the front of the fight to defend the property owners in Spain, and upset the Spanish Prime Minister last July when she compared the situation to that suffered by the British in Zimbabwe. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero firmly denied that allegation and said that it was up to the courts to act against the real estate predators. He defended the Spanish Coastal Law saying it protected the coast and combated abuse.

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