PM attacks opposition plan to restrict access to mortgage support programme
Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, has criticised changes to the mortgage moratorium proposed by the opposition, saying they will limit the number of borrowers eligible for support.
The Polish government brought in the moratorium, which allows mortgage payers to skip four monthly payments both in 2022 and 2023, to help borrowers cope with interest rates that hit 6.75 percent this year.
In November, the opposition grouping, The Third Way, filed a draft amendment to the mortgage moratorium law, proposing a limitation on the list of persons entitled to benefit from the mortgage repayment suspension. Under the draft, such a right will be available to borrowers if their monthly mortgage spending constitutes more than 40 percent of the average income.
"'Nothing that has been given will be taken away,' that was the opposition's campaign slogan," said Morawiecki in a video published on the X platform. "However, instead of the mortgage moratorium for a million people, they offer it only for 50-60,000, and according to criteria that is unclear."
Morawiecki added that "a Polish politician must serve his state and citizens, not big corporations."
"Finally, the banks, which are recording record profits anyway, will breathe a sigh of relief, because the opposition bill will just hand them a bonus," Morawiecki said. "Instead, Polish families, who have been especially protected by my government since the beginning of global inflation, will lose out." (PAP)
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