An estimated 400,000 evictions have taken place across Spain since 2008. With one of the world’s toughest mortgage laws, foreclosures are a much bigger problem in Spain than in other countries that have been suffering the ongoing economic crisis. The grassroots activists of the Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca (PAH) have been campaigning for a major change to this law, to redress the balance of power between banks and struggling homeowners.
In this recent video, activists call on the governing Partido Popular (PP) to introduce that change and accept proposals in their Initiativa Legislativa Popular (ILP), a motion backed by 1.5 million signatories that includes the cancellation of a homeowner’s debts once they have been evicted.
On March 14, the European Court of Justice ruled against Spain’s evictions laws, deeming them unfair. The ruling is not binding, but it represents a major boost to campaigners and could encourage the government and Spain’s judiciary to take a different approach to this problem, which has become the most dramatic symptom of the economic crisis.
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