By the end of the fall, the Real Estate Acquisition and Leaseback Agency will be operational, Finance Minister and Eurogroup President Kyriakos Pierrakakis said Friday.
He was speaking at the Economist conference, “Investing in Change: How Crete is being Transformed,” held with the support of the Region of Crete and the Regional Development Fund of Crete.
In an interview with The Power Game, the minister said, “by its very nature, this is a complex project to implement. However, we are now truly in the final stretch. We are expecting binding offers very soon. And if I had to summarize it in a headline, I believe the news is that this agency will be operational by the end of the fall.”
According to Pierrakakis, the agency is important because genuinely vulnerable citizens will be able to benefit from its protections. If they are unable to continue servicing their debt restructuring agreement, the agency will acquire the property, and through a state-subsidized rent ranging from €70 to €210 per month, for up to 12 years, individuals will be able to remain in their homes while paying rent.
At the end of the period they will be able to repurchase the property. In this way, a real safety net for vulnerable citizens will be created. The second policy, the minister said, concerns the out-of-court debt settlement mechanism. He noted that the eligibility threshold had already been lowered from €10,000 to €5,000.
