AKEL MEP Georgiou raises the issue of foreclosures and the homeless before the Commission

30th September 2019

AKEL MEP G. Georgiou today raised the issue of the tragic situation in Cyprus with the homeless dying abandoned before the European Commission, as a result of the absence of a comprehensive housing policy, while the danger of the foreclosure of primary family homes hangs over hundreds of working class families.

More specifically, addressing the Commission during the urgency procedure, AKEL MEP G. Georgiou briefed on the violation of human rights in housing, due to the absence of a comprehensive housing policy, but also because of the existing legal framework in Cyprus, which fully serves the banks and provides no protection to the vulnerable groups of the population. He also referred to the infringement of the right of citizens being able to assert the suspension of the foreclosure until a court has decided whether the entire amount being claimed is legal or not.

AKEL MEP G. Georgiou emphatically underlined that the right to housing constitutes an inalienable human right, which has been enshrined through the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. It has also been reaffirmed by the European Convention on Human Rights. Furthermore, he also recalls that to take recourse to justice and seek the safeguarding of an impartial tribunal is an inalienable human right.

In addition, AKEL MEP G. Georgiou calls on the Commission to reply as to what action it will take to put an end to the violation of Article 2 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which stresses that the Union is based on the values of the respect for human rights. He also called on the Commission to reply whether the EU intends to take steps to end the violation of the right to housing and the right to take recourse to justice in Cyprus.