New delay in the trials of Katselis Law – When will they take place

Of Tasos Dasopoulos

The trial of the approximately 30,000 cases of the Katselis law from the beginning of 2022, which was agreed in 2020 with the institutions, is extended for another year, until the beginning of 2023, but to express reservations about whether the issue will be closed by then.

After 18 months that the courts were closed or under-functioning due to the restrictive measures against the coronavirus, the representatives of the institutions returned to one of the obligations undertaken by the Greek authorities, from March 2019:

The liquidation of the approximately 30,000 applications for inclusion in the Katseli law (and its successor the Katseli-Stathaki law) for “red” loans amounting to 6.2 billion euros, which are still pending in the courts.

The Ministry of Justice undertook to present a plan to speed up the trial of these cases, with the aim of closing all these cases within the first quarter of 2023. The plan is based on the strengthening of the five courts of first instance (Piraeus, Nikaia, Corinth, Patras , Larissa) where 80% of the cases are concentrated.

This reinforcement will be done in two ways. The specific courts of first instance will be strengthened with additional staff that will deal only with the adjudication of the applications of the Katselis law. Also, with the care of the ministry, there will be a partial “dispersion” of the cases in neighboring courts of first instance, so that the cases are heard within the new deadline.

The representatives of the institutions insist on the pending cases of the Katselis law not only because they have as object the liquidation of red loans amounting to 6.2 billion euros but also because the specific institutional framework has proven to be a refuge of the so-called “strategic defaulters”.

The current Government “inherited” 47,000 cases of the Katselis law, some of which were scheduled to be held regularly even in 2032

In an effort to quickly clear these cases, the first move in the summer of 2019 was for the co-responsible Ministries of Finance and Development to ask all those who had a pending application to update their applications, so that a regular trial can be set no later than the first quarter. 2022.

Shelter for strategic defaulters

The result was that 25% of those who had filed an application (approximately 12,000) suddenly appeared not to have their case tried, asking for a settlement to repay their loan as they knew that if their case went to trial they would have a negative result. Eventually, 32,000 borrowers updated their application.

With around 2,000 cases pending by March 2020, there are now about 30,000 applications pending. During the negotiations that took place in the framework of the 12th evaluation, they heard the plan of the Greek authorities, agreed on the new deadline, but kept their reservations if the trial of all the cases is not reached by the beginning of the following year.

In any case, the issue of the liquidation of the rest of the Katselis law will remain open even after the exit of Greece from the enhanced supervision regime in the summer of 2022.

Competent sources of YPOIK, stressed that the specific issue is not going to delay the procedures. The issue of the applications of the Katselis Law will be left together with another 2-3 to be monitored on a semi-annual basis, in the context of the European semester