Today’s announcement by the Ministry of Finance regarding the submission of a legislative amendment to Law 3869/2010 does not constitute a policy initiative by the Government. Rather, as PASOK’s sectoral spokesperson Milena Apostolaki emphasizes in a statement, it constitutes—albeit with a delay of several days—compliance with a binding court ruling.
As she points out, “The decision of the Full Plenary Session of the Supreme Court regarding the method of calculating the monthly installment under the judicial settlement provisions of Law 3869/2010 left no room for interpretation from the outset. It was not an advisory opinion for consultation, nor was it a text for ‘study.’ It was and remains a binding judicial decision, immediately enforceable, which the State was obligated to implement from the very beginning.
Following our repeated interventions, as well as those of the entire opposition, the bar associations, and consumer organizations, the government abandoned its initial intentions to seek a “middle ground” and the “best way to implement” the ruling. There was no middle ground to be found. There can be no middle ground between upholding the law and violating it. The Supreme Court ruled with absolute clarity that the lawful accrual of interest on court-ordered settlements applies to the monthly installment set by the court and not to the total principal, as will also be specified in the legislative proposal to be submitted.
That is why the government’s attempt to present as its own policy choice something that was its self-evident obligation is so striking. Borrowers do not need public relations announcements or ambiguous statements. What they need is the immediate implementation of the court ruling.
However, serious issues remain unresolved, as the government’s regulations on critical matters do not comply with the court rulings, as these are now clarified by the Plenary Session’s Decision. Thousands of borrowers have faced the termination of their repayment plans because creditors applied an incorrect—and now illegal—method of calculating debts. The restoration of legality cannot be selective.
Any termination of a repayment plan based on the illegal method of calculating installments must be deemed automatically void, so that court-approved repayment plans may be reinstated and borrowers may be given the opportunity to settle any debts that arose in the interim due to the unlawful termination. This is the true measure of justice for borrowers. Not delays, nor public relations exercises to demonstrate compliance with decisions that the State was obligated to implement from the outset.
We therefore welcome the Ministry of Finance’s move toward lawful compliance.”