Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 12-07-25

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] SYRI�� tables bill for relief of overindebted households

[02] Lt-Gen Constantine Ginis new Chief of Army General Staff

[01] SYRI�� tables bill for relief of overindebted households

The bill will be put to public deliberation until August 3.

Tsipras said that the draft law for a "new seisachtheia" aims at relieving and ridding the overindebted households from loan obligations to banks "given that citizens today are unable to repay the loans they took out in the past".

The bill proposes full write-off of the loan obligations to banks of borrowers whose individual or family income is below the poverty level (7,178 euros individual income or 15,073 euros for a four-member family).

Other provisions include partial write-off of loan obligations to banks of borrowers who have suffered a reduction in their nominal income, with the write-off corresponding to the percentage of reduction of the income from January 1, 2010 to the present.

A third provision is the reduction of total loan obligations to banks of an individual borrower or family so that the monthly payment of installments to all banks collectively will not exceed 30 percent of the monthly individual or family revenues. The remaining sum above the 30 percent of the borrower's annual obligations will be permanently written off. The reductions will be effected on an annual basis and reviewed at the end of each year so as to include prospective changes in the total annual income.

Further provisions include 'rationalization' of interest rates, chiefly on consumer loans, credit cards and overdraft limits; a freeze on all procedures of banks' claims on borrowers' property; and the institution of obligatory rules of settlement for banks so that borrowers will not be dependent on time-consuming and expensive court procedures.

Presenting the main points of the bill, Tsipras said that the banks were making up the losses from bad debts (loans) through their recapitalization from the Credit Stability Fund. In other words, from the 50 billion euros package, he said, but without the borrowers benefiting because the banks continue to demand the repayment of the delayed installments, regardless of the fact that those loans have been classified as bad debts and are taken into account by the recapitalization.

[02] Lt-Gen Constantine Ginis new Chief of Army General Staff

Ginis, up to now commander of the First Army Corps and Army General Inspector, and the second in the line of hierarchy in the Army, replaces Lt.-Gen Constantine Ziazias, who tendered his resignation as GES chief earlier on Wednesday.

"With respect for the personnel I had the honor of commanding for nine months", Ziazias submitted his resignation "for reasons of ethics and dignity, both mine and the Army's," a GES announcement said.

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