Complaint lodged with EU by Spanish Motorhome users - Update. (1 Viewer)

[Momo]

Hello everyone! Just to keep you all informed regarding the Complaint lodged with the EU by Spanish Motorhome users and members of the forum:

Link Removed

A copy of the complaint has been sent, individually, to all the European Members of Parliament:


Number of Members/Political Group:

278 European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats
216 Socialist Group
104 Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
044 Union for Europe of Nations
042 Greens / European Free Alliance Greens
041 European United Left / Nordic Green Left
024 Independence/Democracial
023 Identity, Tradition, Soberaníal
013 Independent Members.

Total: 785.

Number of seats each country:

99 Germany
12 Ireland
17 Austria
72 Italy
22 Belgium
08 Latvia
17 Bulgaria
12 Lithuania
06 Cyprus
06 Luxembourg
13 Denmark
05 Malta
13 Slovakia
25 Netherlands
07 Slovenia
50 Poland
50 Spain
22 Portugal
06 Estonia
72 United Kingdom
13 Finland
22 Czech Republic
72 France
33 Romania
22 Greece
18 Sweden
24 Hungary

A personalized email was sent to each individual MEP, (in Spanish, English, French, Italian or Portuguese) as follows:

·18/05/09 – Spain (50)
·19/05/09 - Ireland (12)
·20/05/09 - UK (72)
·21/05/09 – Italy (72)
·04/06/09 – France (72)
·18/06/09 – Portugal (22)
·18/06/09 – The Netherlands (25)
·18/06/09 – Denmark (13)
·18/06/09 – Sweden (18)
·18/06/09 – Finland (13)

We are proceeding with personalized emails to the remaining countries, which will be sent in English.

On 21/05/09 we received a reply from Mr. Roger Helmer MEP for East Midlands, UK.

On 16/06/09 we received a reply on behalf of the Secretary General of the European Commission informing that the DG Enterprise and Industry would proceed with processing the complaint that we have presented.

Also on 16/06/09 we received a reply from the Directorate General of the Presidency of the European Parliament informing us that the request has been registered and forwarded to the Petitions Committee for consideration.

If you wish to join us in this battle, please send your full name(s) and address(es) and your Passport Numbers (still no ID cards in UK?) (you can send as many family members, friends, etc) to:

momoac@ya.com


and we will include you in the Petition/Complaint. Obviously your details will be used for this purpose only.

If any MHF members are travelling to Spain and would like to receive a copy of the document “Instruction 08/V-74” in English and Spanish please let me know and I will be only too pleased to forward copies.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best regards
Momo :thumb:

 

[Momo]

Petion/Complaint lodged with EU by Spanish Motorhome users.

Hello everyone:

Nobody willing to jump into the deep end and join us in this Petion?

Remember my email is:

momoac@ya.com

Regards
Momo

 

[buccaneer]

The link above is broken, what is the complaint about ??

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[vwalan]

hi buccanear its about the rights of m,homers n campers parking in spain. i have used the regs last year and the guardia left us alone. we may have been lucky ,he didnt know what to say. i did ask for his identity n wrote it all down n said if we were moved i would denounce him. i have tried to send Momo a message on his link but it seems he might not have got it.

 

[hilldweller]

Hello everyone:

Nobody willing to jump into the deep end and join us in this Petion?

Regards
Momo

I'm afraid I may be typical of many MHers. We don't visit Spain much so when I read of the police not making us welcome, in fact just the opposite then I'd take the view "We don't need this, we are welcome in Italy, that's where we will go next".

By all means quote me in your campaign, I'm sure many will be taking the same view.

Good Luck with your campaign, it's not about holidays it's about your personal freedom and from that point of view it seems to be more that you should sort out your government. After all I doubt a Spanish person writing in Spanish to the English government would get any hearing. For goodness sake they don't even listen to the English.

 

[Momo]

I'm afraid I may be typical of many MHers. We don't visit Spain much so when I read of the police not making us welcome, in fact just the opposite then I'd take the view "We don't need this, we are welcome in Italy, that's where we will go next".

By all means quote me in your campaign, I'm sure many will be taking the same view.

Good Luck with your campaign, it's not about holidays it's about your personal freedom and from that point of view it seems to be more that you should sort out your government. After all I doubt a Spanish person writing in Spanish to the English government would get any hearing. For goodness sake they don't even listen to the English.

Hi hilldweller: It's not a case of anyone having to write a letter etc. that's already been done. It's just to have more backing by European Motorhome users and which can be published in our site (not names only numbers) - but if we are requested by the EU to prove just how many people are behind our Petition, we can supply the list. Every day we publish the number of people who back the Petition - believe me, we have been informed that members of the Spanish Government read the Forum and are anxious that this complaint does not become more public than it already is. It won't be the first time that the EU has had to give Spain a thick ear!! :thumb:

Regards, Momo.

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[Braunston]

Momo[/LEFT];163143]Hello everyone:

Nobody willing to jump into the deep end and join us in this

Petion​

?

Remember my email is:

momoac@ya.com

Regards

Momo​

Hi,

Momo​

We in the UK are constantly being told to be careful of people coping our identities and are therefore very reluctant to give out information about ourselves to unknown people, please don't take that as a question on your honesty as its certainly isn't but we only know one another over a virtual space and therefore a lot of people while totally supporting your endeavours may be very reluctant to give certain personal information, like their address and passport numbers etc

In the UK we can start petitions to our government online via the government's own web site, this requires people to enter certain personal details but it does seem to get well supported, is there a similar method for giving support to your proposal by providing the personal information direct to an EU web site ? just a thought as this may get more people to sign up.

 

[Longtemps]

As I understand it, Spain is in a worse financial mess than than even the good old UK, so you would think that they would want tourists of any kind. I have found that in Spain recently, the campsite prices are now exhorbitant, as are the drinks in the bars, as is the food in their restaurants, which I don't find very good anyway [compared to French and Italian!]. The Spanish are on the whole as anti foreigner as ever [unless your spending devalued euros, and sometimes even then!], only more so.
I say forget Spain for the foreseeable future, if they won't welcome us, unlike the wonderful French, Germans and Italians then so be it.
Finally with regards to giving personal info for a petition over the net, as well intentioned as it is, sorry I for one would be very dubious.

 

[John & Joan]

Motorhome use in Spain is not as clear cut as you would think. I made an enquiry to a respected Spanish correspondent and blog writer Arsenio Gutiérrez Broken Link Removed on a suggestion by Momo, regarding Motorhomes and an appeal to the EU in 2009.

This is his reply (English corrected)
Dear John,
Many thanks for your inquiry. Unfortunately in Spain laws are not like you have perceived. In fact, the laws of the road apply only to movement and parking of an empty autocaravan, as a vehicle. But using a autocaravan as accommodation is considered under the same laws governing camping. These laws are different in the 17 autonomous communities of Spain who have independence to enact there own laws.

There are also laws that prohibit using autocaravans as accommodation in the area from the coast by a law regulating the use of a dividing strip on the coast (Ley de Costa). Mainly in Spain it is prohibited to spend the night outside a camping site, protecting the interests of camping site business owners. In fact, except in the Basque Country and Navarre, spending the night in a autocaravan off site is illegal. But these rules are only enforced in some locations, in most of the Spanish territory it is allowed to stay overnight in a autocaravan, but not because it is a right protected by law. You run the risk of being denounced and fined, especially on the coast.

The application of laws on camping is used strictly in Asturias, Cantabria and some towns of the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The municipal Aires for motorhomes are exceptions. Instruction 08 / V-74 has no application absolutely in the use of autocaravans as accommodation, it only applies to parking under the laws of the road. This is possible in Spain because of the independence in the regions to make laws on issues such as camping.

Europe

I know, there have been a couple of appeals to the Chamber in the European Union in Brussels about the unification of criteria among member countries on the use of autocaravans as accommodation. The response has been that it is a domestic issue that should be regulated by each individual country.

I feel I have seemed pessimistic because the legal answer is negative in Spain, especially for Spanish campers although enforcement of the laws on camping is not very strict, however, every year a few hundred penalties are issued which will incur a fine of up to 400,00 €.

Sincerely, Arsenio Gutiérrez

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