Filenews 14 July 2022
Amid recriminations and petitions that reached as far as Andreas Vgenopoulos, the Plenary Session of the Parliament approved the two bills related to the framework for the management of delays, thus paving the way for the disbursement of the first tranche of €85 million. from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
The two bills, which have been under discussion since mid-2021 and their adoption had been postponed in December 2021, were approved in a law with 30 votes in favour (DISY, DIKO, Ecologists) and against 21 votes from AKEL, EDEK, ELAM. Moreover, the House rejected four oral amendments tabled by ISDS.
The first bill aims to amend the Purchase and Sale of Credit Facilities and Related Matters Law, in order to create a framework for the licensing and supervision of credit facility management companies.
The second bill concerns the amendment of the Immovable Property (Tenure, Registration and Valuation) Law, so that credit management companies have access to the data of the Land Registry and the Artemis database for guarantors and associated persons and collateral providers under specific conditions.
The trigger of the controversy began with a report by AKEL MP Andreas Kafkalias and the response of the Deputy President of DISY Harris Georgiadis. The first criticised the government for not transposing an EU directive into national law, while calling for the adoption of these bills, while leaving a trail for the ownership of management companies.
Taking the floor, Harris Georgiades welcomed the fact that "suddenly" AKEL became a pro-European party to stress that it is not "not a pro-European turn but a sign of hypocrisy".
AKEL's Secretary General Stefanos Stefanou criticized the fact that the government in both 2014 and 2018, when changes were made to the legal framework for managing arrears, said it would bring in programs to protect borrowers.
"I can remind you countless times when the government for issues related to the service of banks comes at the speed of light and when there are issues of protecting the world about others it turbulences," he said, adding that "hypocrisy is in the DISY government that always uses European directives to serve the banks."
In response, DISY President Averoff Neophytou said that AKEL forgot that AKEL also passed the foreclosure laws in 2014. It has challenged the other parties, which have a majority in parliament, to change the laws that have been enacted.
"Stop the hypocrisy, say from morning to night that the laws must be changed, the Averoff is to blame, the Alarm is to blame. Here is Rhodes to change the laws that kill the world. This story and the innuendo must stop. What we hear in the grassroots organizations. You made us owners of Altamira, Pimco, " he added.
In his second speech, Mr. Stefanou responded with reports to the European Commission that the heart of the economic crisis in Cyprus in 2013 was due to an oversized banking sector, while he invited DISY to discuss the 13 total bills pending in the Parliamentary Committee on Finance on the framework of foreclosures.
"But it is their President who ran with the Minister of Finance in the Balkans and in Moscow and inaugurated the expansion of the banking system, but they supported Vgenopoulos who demanded and pressed for the conditions to be changed so that no extra heads would be needed when he would make Laiki the largest bank in the Balkans", replied Mr. Neophytou.
Regarding the pending bills, Mr. Neophytou called on the opposition to approve them since it holds the majority. "We have opinions, we will not block the economy again, you will downgrade the credit rating of the state. Make the laws to see who predicts, who evaluates, who understands, who is in favor of the economy of the place and who is populist. Here is Rhodes," he said.
In a new response, AKEL's SG said that these are "lies told in the most obscene way". "What he has said about Christofias is an unaccountable lie." "We are divided by chaos, but whenever we lack the arguments they employ the lie," he said, adding that AKEL does not have a statement "that we have the best bankers in the world".
Moreover, DIKO's President Nicholas Papadopoulos said that DISY and especially Averoff Neophytou are not to blame for the situation the country found itself in in 2013 "and for the bills we were forced to vote on under the threat of the Troika".
"It could be much better managed and it could be better managed on individual issues."
For the two bills, he said they are positive for borrowers, as they will institutionalize the management of loans by servicers.
"The problem (of NPLs) continues and remains, has not been solved and will not be solved with what we will vote on," he said, adding that "a special Court must be made for borrowers on the basis of EDEK's proposal.
Finance Committee chairwoman Christiana Erotokritou said the important thing is that the two bills are the product of consensus and the product of overall work.
"Let's not miss the basics. These are only about managing loans," she said and pointed out that a management company can be fined 250,000 euros in case of violation of the law.
DHPA MP Alekos Tryfonidis, although he criticized the practices of management companies, added that DHPA will vote in favour of the bills because they have achieved changes for the benefit of borrowers.
And Ecologist MP Stavros Papadouris advocated the adoption of the bills. "It's a very dangerous bill but the positive thing is the licensing and supervision of loan servicing companies," he said, adding that today loan servicing companies operate unchecked and cannot be penalised.
EDEK MP Elias Myrianthous said the bill has improved "but at the same time the problem remains because the borrower continues to be at the mercy of the banks".
CNA
