Socialists demand bank transparency, suspension of foreclosures in Hungary

The opposition Socialists have called on the government to hold banks accountable, suspend foreclosure proceedings and to immediately terminate its agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) which the party says had guaranteed banks’ profits.

While other countries in the region have enacted measures to prevent the eviction of hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, Hungary is prevented from passing such measures by the pact the prime minister had signed with the EIB in 2015,

Socialist Party deputy leader László Szakács told a press conference on Wednesday.

That agreement, Szakács said, had guaranteed banks that the forint conversion of foreign currency loans “wouldn’t cost them a single penny” and also declared that parliament could not enact any measures that would make home evictions more difficult or favour debtors.

This was why, he said, evictions had restarted after the general election in April. So far, they have affected more than 1,300 properties, Szakács said, adding that the total number could reach 120,000, which would affect some 900,000 people.

József Szabó, head of the Credibility Movement, called it “unacceptable” that banks were “blackmailing” the government by threatening to cut off loans from the state if it passes laws or if courts issue decisions that hurt them.

According to Fidesz, the former, Socialist governments had “coaxed” people into taking out forex loans and then “left them high and dry”.

In a statement, the ruling party insisted that the Fidesz-Christian Democrat government had taken “a number of measures” to help troubled forex debtors, such as converting the loans into forint-denominated ones or offering an opportunity for early repayment.

Source: MTI