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		Spanish Property scandal attacked in Brussels Tuesday, 20th January 2009 Today in Brussels an East Midlands MEP called the Valencia land laws, which have resulted in the confiscation and demolition of hundreds of properties (some owned by East Midlands people), “not unlike Robert Mugabe's land re-distribution policies”. For years, MEPs across the country have received heart-rending complaints from British expatriates who have invested their life savings in a dream bungalow for their retirement in Spain, overlooking the sea, only to be notified that they have fallen foul of local zoning laws and that their property will be repossessed, and often destroyed. Sometimes to add insult to injury they will also receive a massive bill for providing new utility services to the site. Then their property and others nearby will be turned over to a local developer, who will make a fortune from high-rise flats. There are persistent and worrying reports of unduly close relations between developers and Spanish local councils. These complaints have been taken many times to the Petitions Committee of the European parliament, which has pressed the Commission to take action against Spain. Meanwhile the Spanish government blames the regions, while the regions blame the government. Now the Petitions Committee is considering a new and robust report from Mrs Auken, a Danish Green MEP. Today it heard representations from petitioners who have lost their homes, from the Commission and from the Valencia Regional government -- though not from the Spanish government, which declined to attend. In a hard-hitting speech, East Midlands MEP Roger Helmer, who sits on the petitions Committee, demanded action on behalf of the victims, and attacked Valencia's “scandalous” land laws, which, he said, disregarded property rights and the rights of contract. Speaking after the debate, Helmer said “I think that at last the anger and frustration of our constituents, and our anger and frustration on their behalf, is getting through to the Commission and to the Spanish authorities. We will not let up on this one”.