Orphanides on Cyprus bailout: “We are witnessing historic times. What we are witnessing is the slow death of the European Project. We are in a situation that some European governments are essentially taking actions that are telling citizens of other member states that they are not equal under the law.”
“What we have seen in the last few days is a very serious blunder by European governments that are essentially blackmailing the government of Cyprus to confiscate the money that belongs rightfully to depositors in the banking sector in Cyprus. It is not clear how this can affect in a positive matter the European project going forward.”
http://business.financialpost.com/2013/03/19/former-cyprus-central-bank-govenor-we-are-witnessing-the-slow-death-of-the-european-project/
Cyprus rejects bailout plan that would make savers pay, raising anxiety in euro zone
By Michael Birnbaum and Howard Schneider,
BERLIN – Lawmakers in Cyprus on Tuesday rejected a bailout plan that would have rescued the country’s banks but forced savers to chip in for the cost, throwing down a gauntlet to the rest of Europe over the financial fate of the tiny island nation.
The plan to save Cyprus’s collapsing banks but to charge depositors for the service proved so controversial that not a single one of the 56 members of Cyprus’s parliament voted for the plan on Tuesday evening. The rejection leaves the fate of rescue plans up in the air, with other European leaders so far unwilling to step in to save Cyprus, whose bank deposits tower over the rest of its economy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/cyprus-lawmakers-reject-bailout-plan-that-would-make-savers-pay/2013/03/19/272f5e26-90b5-11e2-9173-7f87cda73b49_story.html














