Creditors, notaries satisfied with new law protecting auctions

The Coordinating Committee of the Notaries’ Associations of Greece hailed parliament’s move to pass a law protecting the auctions of foreclosed properties.

Citizens groups have for months been staging protests at auctions, often with physical and verbal attacks on notaries, who until now by law must be present at auctions, and judiciary employees. Plans to hold all auctions electronically, online, will be phased in over a number of months.

The need for protection was a longstanding demand of notaries, who participated in protracted strikes to protest the attacks against them.

It was also a demand of Greece’s creditors, to which the government committed itself.

Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos reportedly went as far as to contact ruling coalition MPs to say that the government could toppled if the measure is not passed. Tsakalotos neither confirmed nor designed the reports.

“Our diachronic and just aim was adopted by Greek MPs, who passed the related bill, which offers us adequate protections in exercising our institutional duties,” the notaries associations said.