The leaders of Spain’s two main political parties are to meet on Monday to tackle the crisis over home evictions because of unpaid mortgages. Following anger at the country’s banks, a leading lender at the Basque country said it was suspending repossessions following eviction related suicides.
Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy has said his meeting with the socialist opposition leader will aim to stop evictions temporarily and make banks better apply their code of conduct and renegotiate debts.
The opposition leader said " the aim of the meeting on legal reform is for nobody to lose their house over unpaid mortgage due to a difficult situation unforeseen when the mortgage was signed".
The death of 53-year-old Amaga Egaña at the Basque town of Barakaldo prompted a vigil in her memory and more protests. The former socialist councillor threw herself out of her fourth-storey flat reportedly as court bailiffs came up the stairs to repossess it.
This senior judge says "I feel pain and also shame, shame because the system ,and more precisely the justice system that I am responsible for, hasn’t been able to stop this abuse".
Last month top magistrates denounced evictions, which they said had
risen by a 5th this year, and totalled 350,000 since the crisis began. The European Court of justice is examining Spanish law on evictions having heard official advice that it
contravenes European norms.
VOCABULARY
To be to( frequently used in newspaper, radio and television reports to refer to future events. It expresses certainty that what is forecast will happen)
Tackle: afrontar, abordar/
to confront with a difficult proposition /to undertake
Leading lender: prestamista principal, lider en el sector hipotecario
Suspend: suspender /
cause to cease temporarily
Repossess: embargar /
to take back possession of (property), esp for nonpayment of money due
Unforeseen: improvisto, inesperado
unexpected
Mortgage: hipoteca /
an agreement under which a person borrows money to buy property
Prompt : dar pie/
to give rise to by suggestion / to urge (someone to do something)
vigil: vigiLia /
a purposeful watch maintained, esp at night, to guard, observe, pray, etc
Former: anterior/
having been at a previous time
Storey: piso /
a floor or level of a building ( a 4-storey buiding- un edificio de 4 pisos)
Reportedly: supuestamente, según consta /
a statement made widely known; rumour
Court bailiff: agente judicial
Rise- rose-risen : aumentar /
increase
Contravene: contravener, desobedecer /
to come into conflict with or infringe, contradict
