When a bank charges you for keeping your own money with it, the question of whom the system serves becomes entirely legitimate. MP Borislav Krmov of Levica sharply criticized the announced increases in bank fees, calling them yet another blow to citizens' standard of living.

The specifics sting. The fee for an over-the-counter deposit rises from 50-90 to 120 denars; new charges are being introduced for maintaining payment and foreign-currency accounts; the fee for international transactions is 0.4 percent of the amount; and the cost of approving a home loan is 1 percent of the loan - which on larger loans can top 1,000 euros.

And all of it while the banks post record profits. „Fees currently make up around 18 percent of the banks' net profit - over 100 million euros a year, about 107 million," Krmov claims. His point is clear: „Payment systems today are essentially public services and public goods," and so they must not depend „on the goodwill of the financial powerful."

The hardest hit are pensioners who use counter services, families managing household payments, and those taking out a home loan - precisely the people with the least room in their budget. Krmov is calling for government intervention, arguing that payment systems are essential infrastructure, not a privilege.

The question he opened is deep and important: when a service becomes essential to life - like paying your bills - can it be left entirely to the profit logic of private banks? A citizen has no choice about whether to pay through a bank; that makes the fee not the price of a service, but a tax without a vote. And taxation without representation, as history has shown, rarely passes quietly forever.