Law to force notaries into online auctions

The government is considering the introduction of a regulation that will force notaries to register on the new online auctions system, in a bid to tackle their refusal to participate in the process.

Sources say that many notaries have received threats ahead of the activation of the online auction platform, while their association has sent a letter to its members asking them to register.

Members of the anti-establishment Rouvikonas group invaded a notary office in the center of Athens last week, while notaries say they have been threatened with an escalation of violence against them if they do take part in online auctions.

All this creates fresh obstacles and delays in the start of the online auctions, an instrument deemed crucial in the management of the mammoth problem of nonperforming loans, particularly those taken out by so-called strategic defaulters.