Serbian home owners to strike over mortgages in Swiss Francs

Representatives of the organization CHF Serbia which rallies people who took housing loans in Swiss Francs warned that their problems have been ongoing for years. “The past three years have been hell in terms of paying bills and repaying the debt since the monthly instalment rose to a level higher than our salaries because of the rise in the exchange rate of the Swiss Franc which went wild in 2015,” CHF Serbia’s Ivica Stojanovic said.  

CHF lawyer Jelena Pavlovic said the protest would begin in front of the Constitutional Court with the participants marching on to the Finance Ministry and Ombudsman’s offices and then on to the Supreme Appeals Court. “We won’t move until we get an opinion from that court on these loans and an order to lower courts,” she said.  

  CHF Serbia filed a motion with that court but that it has been ignored in the two weeks since it was filed. The organization does not expect the government to take their side. Pavlovic believes that the government would already have done something if the will had been there.   

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said on Monday that banks will do whatever the court decides. “I have nothing to do with that, nor can I make any statement about the issue,” she said, adding that any statement could be seen as pressure on the courts.