Proposal to suspend foreclosures before the European Parliament
Press release by AKEL MER G.Georgiou
5th November 2020
On the initiative of AKEL MEP Giorgos Georgiou, the Political Group of the European United Left-Nordic Green Left tabled an amendment to the Report of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs of the European Parliament, on the issue of all people having access to dignified and affordable housing, calling for the suspension of the foreclosures of primary family homes across the EU, until 2021, so long as emergency conditions continue due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
More specifically, the MEP’s from the Confederal Group of the European United Left are calling for a special reference to the included with regards the escalation of the housing crisis caused by the pandemic, affecting a large section of the population who no longer have the means to protect their human rights to housing. They therefore call on the member states to take initiatives to suspend the foreclosure procedures and to elaborate a comprehensive social policy to safeguard that all people should have access to dignified and affordable housing.
Equally important is the amendment submitted by the Group of the European United Left, demanding that the right to appeal and to assert the suspension of foreclosures is safeguarded, when there is a suspicion of abusive clauses in the contract.
The amendments will be tabled before the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs on 1st December. Although the report has no legislative force, a possible approval of the amendments would send out a strong political message to the European Parliament on the need to protect borrowers from the arbitrariness of the banks, at a time when economic and social problems have brought the peoples of Europe to their knees.
