[/QUOTE]
The Financial Commissioner[/QUOTE]
He strongly disagrees[/B] with the cuts made by the Ministry of Finance to the budget of the Out-of-Court Settlement Body for Financial Disputes of a Financial Nature, expressed the Financial Commissioner Pavlos Ioannou before the Finance Committee of the Parliament, which examined the budget of the body during its session today.
The Committee decided to postpone the examination of the relevant budget and to resume the discussion at one of its next sessions so that both the Minister of Finance and the Board of Directors of the Entity could be invited and present.
Speaking before the Committee, Mr. Ioannou requested that all budget lines be crossed except those for salaries, as the Ministry of Finance made a cut in, among others, the funds for the purchase of services from experts.
In her remarks, the President of the Committee, DIKO MP Christiana Erotokritou first said that DIKO supports with all its strength the work of the Commissioner, which so far has managed to save from the teeth of unjust institutions the seizure of the assets of borrowers.
He added that the operation of the body should be strengthened so that it can respond promptly and fairly to the legitimate demands of our fellow citizens, noting however that it should have the power to promptly and fairly reject those who seek to abuse the system and otherwise evade the otherwise newly made and proper repayment of their debts.
He said, "However, a disagreement arose today in the Parliamentary Finance Committee as to the propriety or adequacy of the budget of the Financial Disputes Out-of-Court Settlement Agency and it was therefore considered appropriate that the discussion be continued at a later stage, next week, in the presence of the Minister of Finance and the Board of Directors of the Agency, because our goal, at least for us, will be to arrive at a budget with which both the Commissioner and all the bodies involved will have the necessary tools so that they can carry out the very right and necessary work that they perform for society and our country in general.
Democratic Party MP Alekos Tryfonidis said that despite the tremendous efforts made by both the Financial Commissioner and the employees of the Service, who are employed on a temporary service purchase basis to examine the complaints of borrowers and other citizens, the Body does not seem to be independent. He said its funding is provided by banks, investment and insurance companies, which is one part of the litigants, and noted that a happy medium should be found so that the way the financial institutions contribute does not affect the independence of the institution.
"We demand that the Government urgently bring a bill so that we make a state body Independent, both financially and institutionally, which operates impartially without dependencies and whose decisions are binding, so that the citizen can have recourse and resolve their disputes with banks and other financial services or Loan Management Companies."
"We demand that the Government urgently bring a bill so that we make a state body Independent, both financially and institutionally, which operates impartially without dependencies and whose decisions are binding, so that the citizen can have recourse and resolve their disputes with banks and other financial services or Loan Management Companies. He said and added that in this bill, the DPA calls for the creation of a body with organic structures and employees in all departments and levels to be able to respond directly and effectively and efficiently to the complaints of citizens - borrowers.
The MEP of the Ecologists Stavros Papadouris said 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 to the extent of begging for a budget so that his office could work and make sound and informed decisions, denouncing the Ministry of Finance for trying to cut the budget by half.
The body's budget for 2022 is presented as a marginal deficit of €0.01 million and the deficit will be covered by its cash reserves of €62. 758, with revenues and expenditures amounting to €1.2 million.082 complaints or 96.12%, with a positive outcome for the consumer amounting to 32.15%.
Of the total 5,287 complaints, the examination procedure was terminated for 2,387 complaints, which, as a percentage of the total settlements, amounts to 46.97%. Of the 2,695 that were examined on their merits, Financial Commissioner Pavlos Ioannou decided in favour of the consumer in 1,399 cases, another 235 cases resulted in an amicable settlement, while 1,061 decisions were issued against the consumer.
Source: CNA
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