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The Financial Commissioner Pavlos Ioannou expressed his strong disagreement with the cuts made by the Ministry of Finance to funds of the budget of the Out-of-Court Settlement Body of Financial Disputes, before the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs.
The Commission has decided to postpone the consideration of the relevant budget and to resume the debate at one of its next sessions so that both the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Finance can be invited and present. Board of Directors of the Agency.
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Speaking before the Commission, Mr. Ioannou called for all budget lines to be crossed except for payroll, as the Ministry of Finance proceeded with a cut including funds for the purchase of services by experts.
In her statements, the Chairman of the Committee, DIKO MP Christiana Erotokritou initially said that DIKO supports with all its might the work of the Commissioner, who to date has managed to save from the teeth of unjust organizations the looting of borrowers' assets.
He added that the Agency's operation should be strengthened so that it can respond promptly and fairly & nbsp; to the justified demands of our fellow citizens, noting, however, that he should be able to immediately and fairly reject those who try to abuse the system and otherwise avoid the legal and correct repayment of their debts.
As he said, “however, a disagreement arose today in the Parliamentary Committee on Finance regarding the correctness or adequacy of the budget of the Out-of-Court Financial Dispute Resolution Body and for this reason it was deemed appropriate to continue the discussion at a later stage, next week, in its presence. Minister of Finance and the Board of Directors of the Agency, because the goal – at least for us – will be to reach a budget with which both the Commissioner and all stakeholders have the necessary tools to be able to carry out the very right and necessary work that they perform for our society and our place in general “.
Democrat MP Alekos Tryfonidis said that despite the enormous efforts made by both the Financial Commissioner and the employees of the Service, who are employed under a fixed-term service to investigate the complaints of borrowers and other citizens, it does not seem that is independent. He said that it is financed by banks, investment and insurance companies, ie one part of the parties, and noted that the golden section should be found so that the way of contribution of financial institutions does not affect the independence of the institution.
“We demand that the Government urgently pass a bill in order to make a State Agency Independent, both financially and institutionally, which operates impartially without dependencies and whose decisions are binding, so that the citizen can be satisfied and solve the disputes with banks and other financial services or loan management companies “, he said and added that in this bill DIPA asks for the creation of a body with organic structures and employees in all services and levels, so that they can respond immediately and effectively and efficiently in the complaints of the citizens – borrowers.
The Member of Parliament for Ecologists, Stavros Papadouris, stated that an attempt is being made to strangle the Commissioner, since, as he said, several of his decisions seem to be particularly annoying. He noted that the Commissioner went so far as to ask for a budget so that his office could work and make sound and informed decisions, complaining to the Ministry of Finance that it was trying to cut the budget in half. & Nbsp;
The Budget of the Institution for 2022 is presented with a marginal deficit of € 0.01 million and the deficit will be covered by its cash resources of € 62. 758, with revenues and expenditures amounting to € 1.2 million. of 2021, of which 5,082 complaints or 96.12% have been settled, with the result of a positive outcome for the consumer amounting to 32.15%.
Out of a total of 5,287 complaints, the examination process was terminated for 2,387 complaints, which as a percentage of the total settlements, amounts to 46.97%. Of the 2,695 examined on the merits, Financial Commissioner Pavlos Ioannou ruled in favor of the consumer in 1,399 cases, another 235 cases were settled amicably and 1,061 decisions were issued against the consumer.
