ATHENS – Just in time for the holidays, Greeks who can’t pay their mortgages because of harsh austerity measures will see their homes confiscated online and electronically, courtesy of the ruling Radical Left SYRIZA-led coalition, which promised to bar foreclosures.

The move to electronic seizures was taken to get around protests which saw auctions stopped as notaries were unable to proceed because of demonstrations by angry critics who don’t want people’s homes taken, although bank officials said they weren’t yet going after primary homes but are now mostly targeting strategic defaulters who could afford to pay.

The government is moving ahead at the insistence of the country’s international creditors who want banks buried under bad loans because people whacked with big pay cuts, tax hikes, slashed pensions and worker firings can’t pay mortgages, credit cards and loans to start taking their properties and other assets.

Staff-level talks also centered on the issue of the full application of the extrajudicial mechanism for the settlement of corporate debts, particularly the automatic process for the restructuring of business debts that range between 20,000-50,000 euros ($23,517-$58,792), said Kathimerini.