Filenews 10 December 2022 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
It seems that the President of the Republic, Nicos Anastasiades, will exhaust all the time available to him, before signing the law to freeze foreclosures until the end of January 2023.
Since December 2, when the Plenum of the Parliament had rejected by a majority the referral of the law for a new suspension of foreclosures, the President of the Republic has 15 days to sign the law, that is, until about December 16, unless the sending of the text to his office was delayed by a few days. By exhausting the deadline for the President, the Government will gain time to implement the suspension of the law for a shorter period of time and to reduce the consequences that the Government expects on the economy.
After the signing of the law by the President of the Republic, it will be published in the Official Gazette of the Republic. It is worth mentioning that until yesterday the legislation had not been published in the Official Journal. However, after the new data that emerged, the foreclosures will be in the refrigerator for a month and a half instead of three months, as the Parliament initially sought.
"F" had written last week that the President of the Republic would sign the law providing for the suspension of auctions, as there seems to have been an informal agreement between the Presidential and some opposition parties. The imminent signing of the law was also publicly confirmed by the Government Spokesman Marios Pelekanos.
This decision seems to suit both the opposition parties and the Government, as they have in fact divided in the middle the period when the foreclosures will be on ice.
The Government, due to the Supreme Court's decision last May, which ruled that a previous three-month suspension of foreclosures was constitutional, faced legal obstacles to go back to court. Lawyers, speaking to "F", said that it would be legally paradoxical for the Republic's President to proceed with a new petition for a law on which the Court has already ruled, with the only difference being the dates on which the law will not apply. On the other hand, the opposition parties, while acknowledging that a continuous freeze on foreclosures is not the solution to tackle non-performing loans, as strategic defaulters also benefit from it, will provide protection to borrowers with the legislation for another few weeks. It is reminded that from the day the law is published, main residences worth up to €350,000, business premises with a turnover of €750,000 will not be put under the hammer. and parcels of land worth up to €100,000.
