Calamity in Roses

From Peter Moore in Roses (via AUN) we have got the following report on his incredible situation:

The past 6 months have turned a crisis into a calamity in the Catalonia port town of Roses.

In Santa Margarita, a small enclave at the city limits, the rule of law and common justice has been abandoned in favour of shameless piracy.

Firstly as I informed you some time ago we have been subject to the Spanish Ley de Costas that is currently working its way across Spain expropriating land and property within 200m to 500m of the shoreline. However, in our case this law has been applied in a way that would leave a geographer shaking his head in disbelief.

However, this is Spain, a member state of the European Union, where laws are created and then used to steal from rather than to protect the private citizen.

Living as I do at a distance of 1000M to 1500M from the shoreline (as the crow flies) my property and many others like it have become subject to this costal law on the basis that the canals to which our properties adjoin contain seawater and as such have been declared as the sea. There is no recognition of the fact that these canals were built on a lake and on a river bed. The previous demarcation clearly evidences the shoreline ending where the canals begin. There is no recognition from the Spanish authorities of legally binding deeds and contracts that declare private ownership of both land and berths. That the private development predates the Ley de Costas and that the law is being applied retrospectively. History is being rewritten and our property is being expropriated under Spanish Law. You would think it bad enough that the Spanish authorities were trying to grab property belonging to private citizens in such a parasitical way but that is just the start of it. The local and regional administration are challenging the Spanish authorities who are imposing the Ley de Costas on us, not to protect the property and rights of their citizens, but to further exploit them. The regional authorities want to wrestle control of the area away from private ownership so that they can create a ‘sports marina’. This will involve them taking away 6M of privately owned land to create a public walkway (often this land forms part of a private citizens house situated on the canals). A marina will be developed, and the canals which private citizens have maintained over the past 30-40 years will be also be developed.(?) Private Citizens who live on the canals will then be charged for the privilege of the expropriation. The cost for this work is estimated at 19 – 60 million Euros to be paid for by the owners of the properties who are losing not only their berths but their land and in some case their houses too. No compensation but expensive berth fees to be charged to anyone wishing to rent back what they previously owned. Only a small percentage of the effected residents received any official notification in their post boxes warning them of the possibility of expropriation of their property and even less have received notification that laws have now been passed approving of the expropriation. We owners have been given one year to apply for a temporary concession to use what was formally ours until such time that the development occurs. (Very few owners have been officially informed of this.) We are no longer allowed to sell our properties as the authorities will no longer register them. And don’t believe this has anything to do with protecting the environment. While our private land is subject to expropriation, on the other side of the river, the public land that forms part of a protected nature reserve is being industrialised to create a dry dock without any protection from flooding! The local authorities believe that can gain around a million Euros each year for fees for berths (currently/previously owned by us) you will understand that the environment is not real motivator. There are many interested parties lurking in the shadows, with some potential benefactors openly suggesting that deals have already been stuck. If the development goes ahead the environment damage to the area will be there for all to see. Catalan or Spanish abuse? Choose your poison. We Europeans who pay taxes in Spain, lubricate the Spanish economy are at the mercy of unjust and unworthy law makers and officials. We may not be being killed, but Spain is becoming the Balkans of Western Europe where Europeans are being cleansed of their land by Catalans and Spanish authorities alike. Here there are no NATO planes flying overhead or UN peacekeepers on the ground to defend us. We need European wide action now from our MEPs as the only thing that will stop this corruption in Spain is to deprived her officials of European money. Only when Spain shows she can act as a modern western democracy should she be allowed to share in European wide benefits. Happy for you to publicise this widely.

Read much more about those effected on the website http://www.euroclub24.com/

Best wishes Peter