The decision of the Council of State has caused turmoil among pensioners, employees, merchants, and shopkeepers, etc. according to which it reverses the current law and decided that the State can seize the bank accounts of citizens due to debts, without informing the debtor and thus not giving him the chance to go to court, to pay off the debt or settle the debt.

It also should be noted that three months ago the Council of State repeating a decision of 2012 decided that the state can not take money from the bank accounts of the citizens due to debts to the State, if the debtor has not been previously informed.

Indeed, by the decision of last March (366/2014), the Council of State reminded Ministry of Finance that according to the constitution debtors must be informed in advance that the government is going to seize money from their bank accounts, regardless if these deposits are derived from salaries, pensions or any other source.

However, the Council of State with a recent decision (2082/2014) indicates that according to the provisions of Public Revenues Collection Code, the debtor may go to court or begin any other procedures in order to settle the debt, since he has been aware of the debt, the due date and that it is possible the state to proceed to any measures for the debt repayment.

Indeed, the State Council stressed that by not informing the debtor regarding the attachment of his bank account, he will not have the possibility to withdraw his money from the bank.