Debt payment double standards in Greece

Taxpayers are suffering from the double standards on expired arrears in Greece: On the one hand the Greek state pays interest of just 3 percent to its suppliers when there are delays in the repayment of its debts or a case is pending in court, while on the other households and corporations have to pay interest of 8.76 percent - from the very first day past due at that.

In a regulation included in the Finance Ministry bill tabled in Parliament last week, the government cites the budget's heavy fiscal load to justify the reduction of the interest it has to pay in the aforementioned cases from 6 to just 3 percent. It just adds a 3 percent rate to the main European Central Bank refinancing rate that has been at 0 percent since 2016.

Legal sources argue that this clause contravenes a European Union directive, noting that Athens may be asked to change the rate back to its...