Expats fight for property rights in Spain

Thursday, 04 June 2009 08:30

A new political party that is campaigning in the European elections on an anti-corruption platform has been formed by British expatriates in Spain.

The Centro Democratico Liberal (DCL) is loosely modelled on the British Liberal Democrats. It is targeting the centre ground between Spain’s two main parties, the ruling socialist PSOE and the conservative Popular Party.

The intention is to win the votes of the dissatisfied foreign population with a promise to tackle corruption and urban planning abuses.

Thousands of expatriates have been threatened with the loss of illegally built homes. Others have been victims of a controversial ‘land grab’ law in Valencia. Expatriates had exploited anger over property rights to win seats on local councils on the Costas, where an estimated one million Britons own property. But this is the first time that non-Spanish candidates will attempt to win seats in the European elections.

Jacqueline Cotterill, a 49 year-old British woman who moved to Spain in 1990 has emerged as the top Briton on the DCL’s national list. Cotterill is already the deputy mayor of Parcent, a small town near Benidorm on the Costa Blanca.

She has now in line to run for the European parliament. “I never imagined I would get involved in politics but I had to stand up for the rights of those who have made their home here,” she said.

“The mainstream Spanish political parties haven’t taken much notice of European residents here but we are a resource, we pay taxes, and yet we have had no political representation until now.

“Local corruption and poor planning laws have caused huge problems for so many of the British people who have bought homes out here,” she continued. “This new party is committed to reforming land laws in line with EU recommendations and upholding the rights of European citizens, something which has unfortunately been lacking here in Spain.”