N. Pappas (SYRIZA), Paris Koukoulopoulos (PASOK), N. Karathanasopoulos (KKE), V. Viliardos (Hellenic Solution), Io. Kontis (Spartiates) and Alexandros developed their parties’ positions on the disinvestment of banks. Kazamias (Freedom Navigation) during the joint meeting of the Finance and Production and Trade Committees, regarding the relevant briefing by the Minister of National Economy and Finance, K. Hatzidakis, the Governor of the Bank of Greece, Io. Stournaras, and the president of the Fund of Financial Stability, A. Verykios.

SYRIZA-PS

The head of the SYRIZA-PS department, Nikos Pappas, insisted that the State loses 40 billion from the withdrawal of the HFSF from the banks, and in support he cited the KEPE study.
He stated that the disinvestment of Piraeus Bank from 18 billion euros returned to the State only 1.3 billion euros. He argued that in relation to the valuations of the bank shares, we should wait for the right time in order to proceed with the sale of the shares held by the State. He characteristically added that “the Greek State put about 10 billion euros in Eurobank and came out with 93 million euros, 4 billion euros in Alpha Bank and came out with 300 million euros, 5 billion euros in National Bank and came out with 1 billion . euros (for 22% of the shares) and 18 billion euros in Piraeus Bank and came out with 1.35 billion euros.

Responding to the Minister of Economy and Finance, regarding his report that it is fair to sell the shares at the current stage and at the specific prices, since the Greek taxpayers had won with the PSI, Mr. Pappas replied that the debt was nominally cut and we got some shares – but it was not said then, that the shares taken by the State are of reduced expectations from future profits. For ELA and KOKUS, he noted that this was not for charity: “It was for charity that the banks were allowed to use the excellent program of the ECB, the TLTRO, which was targeted at lending to small and medium-sized enterprises, to take at a negative interest rate of 50 billion euros and make 500 million, since they were sitting on this money, on the liquidity of the ECB. This was a favor, there should have been an intervention.”

Nikos Pappas, after underlining that the responsibility for the decision to withdraw the State from the banks belongs to the Mitsotakis government and that the HFSF will be checked if it acted according to the law, said: “We demand answers and explanations for the damage. Let’s see how the need to leave badly badly arose. It is, obviously, a choice of the hard core of your own policy, which is centered on a supposed magic recipe: the complete privatization of the banks.”

PASOK-KINAL

On behalf of PASOK-KINAL, the head of KTE Finance, Paris Koukoulopoulos, emphasized that the disinvestment of the banks is the gray landscape of the government’s options, while at the center of his position was the difference, amounting to 44 billion, between what is supported by the government for the cost of disinvestment, and what the KEPE study shows. “The deviation of billions in the public debate awakens memories that the country must leave in the past, it cannot and must not relive them. Only by assessing what really happened can we ensure the future” he underlined, quoting “three clear positions” of PASOK on the role of banks in the crisis:

– The participation of the banks in the creation of the crisis is large and measurable, they contributed in particular with the profits they accumulated from the borrowing of the State with bonds, causing fragility in their capital adequacy.

– The quality of the portfolio (investment, housing, consumer loans) had nothing to do with the European average, i.e. they had not taken care to cover themselves against potential risk, they were just speculating.

– The bad loans of the few and the powerful were the main generative cause of the crisis”.

“If the PSI had not been done, it is doubtful whether there would be a country today, as with it we effectively made the disorderly bankruptcy ‘coordinated’. For a major event, which caused consequences for the whole society, it is not possible to say that we give back only to the banks what they lost at the time, when in fact they had participated in the creation of the problem” noted Mr. Koukoulopoulos. He also added that “the latest figures from June 30, 2023 for the HFSF show an accumulated loss of 36.8 billion. We consider it extremely important that the HFSF achieves all of its statutory objectives. Of the five objectives, the protection of deposits, the gradual return of banks to individuals and financial stability seem to be achieved to a certain extent. However, it also had two other objectives that remain in demand: Liquidity and the protection of the public interest, as public money – which is even registered in the debt – is the equity capital of the HFSF and is obliged to protect it, something that was not achieved”.

KKE

The parliamentary representative of the KKE, Nikos Karathanasopoulos, emphasized that the banks are profit-making institutions and therefore cannot be considered part of the solution to the problems faced by the people, but are part of the problem. As he added, the banks even profit from the loans they provide to the people, while the policy of the governments that support the business groups, through various development financing programs, tax breaks for investments and of course through the recapitalizations of the banks made by all the governments. After all, as he noted, the recapitalizations did not guarantee the world’s deposits, but the operation of the financial system as the heart of the capitalist system. On the contrary, he said, what the KKE claims is to pay the big capital, that is, instead of cutting off the unsecured loans of the big business groups, a significant part of the debts of ordinary households to the banks must be written off, so that they can breathe. because for reasons beyond their control (such as wage and pension cuts and tax raids) they are over-indebted.

Therefore, ordinary households should be freed from servicing unaffordable private debt, especially to banks but also to tax and insurance funds, noted Mr. Karathanasopoulos and underlined that data should be provided regarding which business loans groups have been deleted.

Greek solution

Vasilios Viliardos from the Hellenic Solution, referring to what was heard about the benefit of the State from the PSI, emphasized that the exchanges, such as the mortgaging of our country for 99 years, the compulsory sale, the English Law, etc., were never mentioned anywhere. ..etc.. “The cost of the loans that one receives is not only the interest, but also all of these as they have costs for a country” he said characteristically. In relation to the minister’s position that “we had an overcoverage of Piraeus by eight times at a cost of 4 euros per share”, Mr. Viliardos said that afterwards, however, the bank’s share fell to 3.70 euros and today it is 3.85. “Where are all these stakeholders? They disappeared,” he commented.

Regarding the point at which the governor of the Bank of Greece, G. Stournaras mentioned that the banks’ capital from deferred taxes is 54%, he said that “we calculate it at 50%” and wondered: “With such deferred taxes do you consider the banks are you healthy?”

Citing the data presented by Mr. Stournaras, he argued that this refutes the minister who estimated the cost of the recapitalization of the banks at 30.9 billion euros, as, according to Mr. Stournaras, it was 50.3 billion euros – so there is a huge difference here. He also noticed that in the Table submitted by the Governor of the Bank, we do not see anywhere that interest has been calculated, so it should be included, since we borrowed this money. Regarding bad loans, he noted that the minister’s calculations did not include those still held by the banks.

Spartans

“When I went to Brazil and traveled as a captain, I made the line of Brazil” reported Io. Contis from the Spartans. “I wanted to get off the ships and live on land in Brazil there, set up an office. I went to a bank of Greek-Lebanese interests. One of the largest private. And I said to them, I am a merchant marine captain, traveling, and I would like you to lend me a loan to open an office. They told me: If the work you want is related to your profession, and you assure us that after a certain period of time you will bring us back the amount we give you with some interest, we will lend you the entire amount without any guarantee. That’s how it happened. And after two years I had four offices in Brazil. This is how banks work. At least there. And that’s how they should work” noted the MP in his speech.

Freedom Sailing

On behalf of Plefsis Eleftherias, Alexandros Kazamias expressed his disagreement with the methodology adopted by the government for the calculation of costs and benefits for Greek taxpayers from the recapitalizations of systemic banks. As Mr. Kazamias said, the government uses an ambiguous way of calculating the cost of the recapitalizations, so that they claim nothing for the Greek taxpayer.

“It is not possible, when the banks collapse, for the State to come in to save them, and when they are doing well, for the State to sell its shares so that the private individuals can collect the excess profits of the banks and in the end the government tries to convince the citizens that this policy provides benefits for the State. This is a story that does not make sense”, emphasized Mr. Kazamias.