Filenews 13 May 2022 - by Eleftheria Paizanos
After months of stagnation, the opposition is reinstating the freezing of divestments, while pushing for a discussion of the 13 bills tabled in previous years by the opposition parties and which are in the drawers of the Parliament.
Yesterday, ELAM submitted a new bill amending the law on the transfer and mortgage of real estate, so as to suspend the sale of mortgaged properties until May 31, 2023. By freezing foreclosures for about a year, ELAM is seeking to give time to members of the House Standing Committee on Finance to consider the 13 pending bills.
According to the ELAM MPs who sign the proposal, every day thousands of citizens are subjected to suffocating pressure, threats and blackmail from banking institutions and credit acquiring companies for the sale of their property. It should be noted that 12 of the law proposals provide for changes to the law on foreclosures and another one concerns the access of borrowers to justice, with the creation of a special jurisdiction of a well-known foreclosure court. Despite the effort made by the opposition parties to unify the bills to make radical changes to the legal framework for divestments, this was not possible. In April 2021, and specifically in the last session of the Plenum of the Parliament with its previous composition, the 13 bills are included in the agenda.
The plenary session was episodic as some had been agreed and others were finally agreed in practice. After consultations and take-and-give of the parties, initially approved the law proposal of AKEL and DIKO with which the divestments were suspended until July 31, 2021. In fact, the freeze also covered properties of great value. Specifically, the divestments of the main residence worth €500,000, of the business premises with an annual turnover of €2 million were suspended. and 10 employees and parcels of €250,000. Due to the approval of this legislation, when the remaining 13 proposals were put up for approval, DISY requested that their discussion be postponed and that they be reinstated in the new Parliament. Request agreed by the MPs of AKEL and DIKO.
This attitude of the three parties provoked the ire of EDEK and Solidarity and as a result its MPs left the chamber. At the time, the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance disagreed with the 13 bills. Finally, it should be mentioned that last summer the Parliament approved another law proposal to suspend divestments until the end of October 2021. First the law was referred back and then a petition was made to the Supreme Court.
