Brussels, 27/08/2014 (Agence Europe) - The Centre-Right DIKO party in Cyprus says it will not back the mortgage foreclosure (repossession) rules on Monday 1 September on the grounds that the legislation needs to be changed.
“We submitted specific suggestions to the President and the Minister of Finance, but unfortunately none were considered. It is a bad bill that will create more problems”, said party spokesperson Christiana Erotokritou on Tuesday evening, according to a report in the Financial Mirror. Non-performing loans rose in June to 46.5% of loans according to figures released by the country's central bank on Monday.
After its recent monitoring mission, the troika of lenders (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) was very clear: “Putting in place without delay an effective legal framework for foreclosure and insolvency is essential to ensuring adequate incentives to borrowers and lenders to collaborate to reduce the level of non-performing loans”. The Eurogroup will discuss Cyprus at a meeting in Milan on 12 September. Cypriot Finance Minister Harris Georgiades warned of the impact of any delay in paying the next batch of aid. If the Cypriot economy stagnates, the eurozone and IMF may decide to put aid on hold until progress is made. (EL)