Socialists call for special parliament session to debate situation of FX borrowers

The opposition Socialist Party is calling for a special session of parliament to debate the situation of Hungarians who still hold loans borrowed in foreign currency.

László Szakács, the party’s deputy leader, told a news conference on Thursday that the party will ask ruling Fidesz to look to international examples of handling foreign currency loans and reconsider its position on the situation of troubled Hungarian forex loan holders.

Banks should be held accountable, all loan contracts should be reassessed and the loans should be converted into forints at the exchange rates of the time of taking out the loan, Szakács said. While the contracts are being reassessed, evictions and non-payment procedures should be suspended, he added.

Szakács noted a recent court ruling in Croatia declaring that forex loan holders must be given back the money they were “unfairly” forced to pay back to banks due to exchange rate changes or because they had not been properly informed about their loans. Courts in Slovenia and Romania have also issued similar rulings, he said.