They will have meetings in the coming weeks with the Minister of Finance, in order to plan a solution, they will give it to the President of the Republic and he will give it to the Minister for approval.
The Laiki Depositors Association (SYKALA) will have a series of meetings with the Minister of Finance to discuss proposals and suggestions for a solution to the problem of the cut depositors of Laiki Bank. The aim is to reach an agreed proposal, which will be given to the President of the Republic, who in turn will submit it to the Minister for approval.
The decision was taken yesterday at a meeting between SYKALA and the President of the Republic in the presence of the Minister of Finance, Haris Georgiadis. As the President of SYKALA, Adonis Papakonstantinou, stated in our newspaper, yesterday's meeting with President Anastasiadis was the first after two years and ways were discussed in it, in order to find a compensation plan for the Laiki depositors who, as he noted, paid the highest price by cutting deposits.
New approach
Asked if SYKALA believes that there is an intention to compensate the cut depositors, Mr. Papakonstantinou said that the noticeable difference between yesterday's discussion and the previous ones focuses on the fact that yesterday there was an acknowledgment by the government that a really large portion of citizens, depositors of Laiki, that is, they paid the highest price after the decision of the Eurogroup in 2013.
"We realized there was a new approach to the problem," he said. "It simply came to our notice then. Of course, we did not receive any promises, but we found out and we were told that there is a political will for discussion, in order to reverse the injustice against us ".
Bail in, bail out
Mr. Papakonstantinou also commented on the statement of the Minister of Finance, which has been repeated recently, that the government is not going to turn bail in into bail out.
"We understand the position of the Minister," he said, "because we recognize that any solution to our problem must not conflict with European directives, regardless of whether the EU has acted illegally against us." We will try to find an imaginative solution, which will remove the injustice against us, will not tax our fellow citizens, but of course will not continue the current situation of the cut depositors ".
What the Minister said
It is noted, however, that yesterday the Minister of Finance indirectly but clearly reiterated his position, typically saying the following:
"The President of the Republic and the Government acknowledge that some of our fellow citizens have suffered because of the mistakes and omissions of the past, first and foremost in the real economy: businesses have closed, jobs have been lost and depositors in the banking sector have suffered. This fact is acknowledged, however, and I believe that at the same time, the difficulty of the state must be recognized by turning back time and eliminating this damage, the costs incurred by our fellow citizens. Nevertheless, we agreed to continue the dialogue. "
Various ideas
Speaking after the meeting and after hearing the statement of the Minister of Finance, the President of SYKALA said that it was agreed to examine the various ideas and proposals from both the Association and the Ministry of Finance.
"Then," he added, "we will return soon to present to the President what we will present as SYKALA to the Ministry of Finance, possibly in connection with other Ministries, which may be involved, to see what it is, what can be done, what cannot be done, to finally start giving solutions to problems that exist. "
He also said that new proposals had been submitted and updated older proposals "which are not currently at the stage where they could be explained or made public".
"They don't have a checkbook to cut checks"
"The government," he said, "does not have a checkbook in which it can start writing the names of depositors who will receive money. However, we believe that there are solutions, we will put all these things before the Minister and then the President of the Republic, which in our opinion are feasible and we hope that they will receive a positive response, so that the problem can be solved.
However, a lot of study is needed, but fortunately there is a basis on which we will be able to work. Issues such as sustainability and effective implementation of the proposals will depend on the studies and meetings we have in the coming weeks. "
Eggs on the wall
The president of SYKALA once again put up with the Central Bank, which as a Consolidation Authority manages Laiki's assets.
"The Central Bank," he said, "took assets worth € 900 million and reduced them to € 280 million, while two special managers of these assets changed. Now they are trying with the shares of the Bank of Cyprus at a price that is the lowest since 2014. We have seen. Basically, we have raised our hands in terms of these assets because whatever we do, whatever we suggest to the Rehabilitation Authority is like throwing eggs on the wall. "
Answering a question whether the participation of Laiki's depositors in the share capital of the Co-operation was raised, Mr. Papakonstantinou said that it is not something that has been ruled out, but there is nothing tangible at the moment in the form of a specific proposal.
"It simply came to our notice then. He had set it himself. However, there is nothing final for participation in the future scheme of the Cooperation ".
Finally, Mr. Papakonstantinou referred to the lawsuits filed by many thousands of depositors and said that they are independent of the discussions that are taking place now.
"If the political solution is found and it is satisfactory, there is no reason for the lawsuits to continue," he concluded.
Source: SigmaLive