Top MEP visits

By Dave Jones
THE DANISH MEP charged with preparing the report to the EU parliament on development abuses in Spain is visiting the Costa Blanca this week.

After arriving in Madrid on Wednesday, Margrete Auken will meet residents hit by construction industry, land law and environmental abuses today (Friday).

Her team will be installed in the Hotel Meliá Villa Gadea on the N-332 between Calpe and Altea.

Those affected by land grabs and related problems have been invited to attend the hotel at 11.30.

Charles Svoboda, vice-president of pressure group Abusos Urbanísticos No (AUN) said: "There will be limited time only for the meeting, so anyone wishing to speak should plan on being very concise and, if they wish, be prepared to provide their story in writing to the delegation at the gathering.

"This visit should be very useful to the team and we hope everyone who wishes to meet them will come to the event."

As highlighted in CBNews in December, Ms Auken's initial draft report was presented to the EU's Petitions Committee in Brussels last month.

Based of the findings of MEPs who had visited the Costas for an unprecedented third time to investigate complaints from hundreds of European citizens, the report sets out resolutions that could see Spain face the ultimate penalty of having EU funds withheld if action is not taken to halt the abuses.

Thus far Ms Auken's report is a damning indictment of overdevelopment on the Costas and the ‘corrupt' practices of local politicians.

In the initial draft she launched a scathing attack on national and regional authorities in Spain and the construction industry.

She stated that thousands of European citizens have bought property ‘in good faith acting with local lawyers, town planners and architects, only to find later that they have become victims of urbanisation abuse by unscrupulous local authorities and that as a result, their property faces demolition because their homes have been found to be illegally built'.

She also argued that ‘extensive destruction' caused by overdevelopment ‘constitutes a tragic and irretrievable loss' to Spain's identity and heritage.

The draft of her report will be revised following this week's meetings and presented to the Petitions Committee for consideration on January 20.

Mr Svoboda added that AUN has been invited and plans to attend this session at the EU parliament in Brussels.

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