No Property Rights in Europe

European Leftists Want to Seize Homes to House Muslim Migrants, Never let a crisis go to waste, September 25, 2015 by Daniel Greenfield

Never let a crisis go to waste is the theme of the left. Every crisis must be used to seize power, money and property for the agendas of the left. The Muslim migrant crisis in Europe is no different.

The arrival of huge numbers of Muslim illegal aliens has created housing issues. Refugees may be housed in places known for pure evil, like Buchenwald or the Frizl house. But that's not enough. A natural target for leftist activists were the summer homes, those symbols of bourgeois indulgence. Let the Muslim migrants have your summer homes has become the clarion call.

As Ingrid Carlqvist at Gatestone reports from Sweden

The question is: Where will they live? More and more people are now worrying that the government will confiscate the homes of Swedes and give them to asylum seekers. In 1992, the "Threat and Risk Assessment Commission" (Hot- och riskutredningen) established that the government should have the option to seize property, especially summer homes, from the Swedish people in a time of crisis. In early September, editorial columnist Anna Dahlberg of Expressen, one of Sweden's largest dailies, urged Swedes to "make way" and "hand over the keys to their apartments to those in greater need."

It's gone further than that in Germany where the mayor of at least one small town has discussed forcing residents to give up property to refugees and there have been reports, since denied, that the German government wanted to force rentals.

Triggering the excitement was a report from ARD stating that the federal-state group was investigating the introduction of an acceleration law to enforce a temporary compulsory renting of vacant properties.

The House and Landowners Association rejected "coercive measures"

Sweden has already seen such talk earlier.

In a letter to the municipal government, he writes that the municipality should go a step further and use the right to expropriate to seize primarily single-family homes and condominiums owned by Swedes. The homes, the municipality must then give to refugees, he says. “The whole community should join in solidarity to give received refugees housing and integration.” the letter said.

Anders Wilhelmsson says that something “radically” must be done if Halmstad municipality shall be able to provide homes for the 450 new Muslim refugees, plus their families, who is on their way to Sweden.

Voluntary is best, but something radical is needed. It says in the Constitution that expropriation may take place if it is for the public good, and I think housing and integration for these people is more important than taking land to build roads, Wilhelmsson says to Hallandsposten.

It's more than just talk in Germany.

Cities such as Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen and Tübingen have all declared that confiscations cannot be ruled out in emergency situations. In February in Olpe, a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, a family inn was subject to compulsory purchase for migrant accommodation, although in that case negotiations for sale were already underway.

The mayor of Salzgitter, Frank Klingebiel (CDU), has decided to restrict” temporarily “the fundamental right to property. Due to the massive influx of asylum seekers, the mayor intends to requisition empty private homes.

It's a shame that the Muslim migrant crisis is pushing Germany toward fascism.

And the property war may even hit religious organizations.

On the eve of a trip to the United States, Pope Francis has called himself a “son of immigrants” and confirmed the point by issuing a blunt warning to any religious orders in Europe that spurn his recent call to open their doors to refugees because they want to make money off their properties instead.

Go ahead, the pope said, but be ready to pay taxes just like everybody else.

“Some religious orders say ‘No, now that the convent is empty we are going to make a hotel and we can have guests, and support ourselves that way, or make money,’” the pontiff said.

“Well, if that is what you want to do, then pay taxes! A religious school is tax-exempt because it is religious, but if it is functioning as a hotel, then it should pay taxes just like its neighbor. Otherwise it is not fair business.”

Renting space to help with operating expenses is a common practice among religious orders in Europe. For example, in Rome, a pensione operated by an order of nuns just outside St. Peter’s Square offers a room, breakfast, and Mass at 7 a.m. each day for $90 a night. They also rent their rooftop to CBS during major papal events.

It used to be that it was radical leftist governments, like the one in France, that wanted to seize Catholic properties to house the homeless. Now apparently that same message is coming from the Vatican.