Daily Press Summary
Cyprus extends capital controls but only for three days rather than seven; Cypriot bailout plan sees GDP collapsing by 8% this yearFamagusta Gazette reports that the Cypriot government has announced it will extend its capital controls by three days, as opposed to the seven days originally thought. Meanwhile, the IMF said yesterday it will contribute €1bn to the Cypriot bailout, with the further €9bn coming from the eurozone. The UK’s share of the IMF contribution will be around €50m. Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten reports that the German share of the bailout will be €2.44bn with Open Europe’s Pieter Cleppe quoted in the article discussing the issue. The loan will be repayable over 12 years but there will be a 10 year grace period on repayments, the interest rate will be 2.5%. The latest version of the Cypriot bailout agreement sees the economy contracting by 8% this year and 3% next year. The deal is expected to be approved by eurozone finance ministers on 12 April and then voted on by national parliaments. The IMF is expected to approve it in early May, with the first pay-out coming in mid-May. Open Europe’s Raoul Ruparel appeared on American Public Radio discussing the Cypriot crisis. Open Europe blog Famagusta Gazette Famagusta Gazette 2 FT FT 2 CityAM WSJ Kathimerini Kathimerini 2 Kathimerini 3 IHT FAZ Süddeutsche DWN Telegraph Irish Times BBC Irish Times 2 FAZ 2 Welt
Portuguese government survives no-confidence vote but still faces uncertain constitutional court ruling on budget cutsThe Portuguese government yesterday survived a no-confidence vote put forward by the opposition, winning by 131 votes to 97. The opposition Socialist party has been calling for a renegotiation of the bailout programme and an end to austerity, a significant change to the previous consensus in favour of the bailout. However, the government faces another challenge with the Portuguese Constitutional Court expected to rule within days on the legality of the government plans to cut public sector workers and pensions – which account for €2bn of the €5.3bn in spending cuts in the current budget. Jornal de Negocios FT WSJ
Open Europe's Pieter Cleppe discusses last week's Dutch ratification of the fiscal compact on news site De Dagelijkse Standaard, arguing that "certain elements of the Treaty allow for the relaxation of budget discipline as it shifts the focus from the so-called general budget deficit onto a structural one", adding that "this opens the door for even more manipulation of budget data then we're already used to".Dagelijkse Standaard: Cleppe
French President, François Hollande, is fighting off allegations made by the investigative newspaper Le Canard Enchainé that he saw evidence as long ago as December that his former budget minister Jérôme Cahuzac placed €600,000 in a Swiss bank.Guardian Telegraph Irish Times Le Monde Welt Bild
Kathimerini reports that Greece’s coalition leaders yesterday reached a compromise on the details of a new unified property tax to replace the current emergency tax controversially levied via electricity bills.Kathimerini
Czech PM Petr Necas has warned against the EU’s Financial Transaction Tax, saying that "It is important for us to prevent the introduction of this tax from harming the single market of financial services in the EU… Our position does not rule out some radical steps, such as steps leading to the European Court of Justice."Prague Monitor
City AM reports that the European Banking Authority, which has a mandate to submit technical provisions clarifying which workers should be hit by the proposed cap on bankers’ bonuses, will launch two consultations asking who it should consider to be a ‘risk taker’, and how it should treat non-cash bonuses, raising hopes the proposed rules could be narrowed.City AM
The Irish Independent reports that the latest IMF review of Ireland's progress suggests that Ireland is doing enough to get out of its bailout programme by the end of the year, but risks falling back into a new bailout unless eurozone leaders help ease the bank debt burden.Irish Independent Irish Independent 2 Irish Independent 3
The Bundesbank has launched an investigation into claims Deutsche Bank hid losses of up to $12bn during the financial crisis in order to avoid a government bailout, reports the FT.FT
The Times reports that Italian police have confiscated more than £1.1bn in assets from Vito Nicastri, one of the country’s renewable energy bosses — who according to EU sources may have received funding from the EU — after alleging links to the country’s most-wanted Mafia fugitive.Times
The Independent reports that the OECD has said that aid budgets are down by 4% among its members. The biggest cuts included 50% in Spain, 34% in Italy and 17% in Greece. However, the UK is on course to meet the 0.7% of national income target.Independent Euractiv
Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten reports that the Austrian constitutional court has rejected the complaint, issued by the regional government of Carinthia, against the ratification of the European Stability Mechanism.DWN
Writing in the Times, historian Norman Davies argues that while it may seem “foolhardy” and “absurd” that countries like Poland still intend on joining the eurozone, “countries in the broad region between Germany and Russia inevitably see things differently from Westerners. For one thing they understand that political and economic systems can collapse and that isolated nations can be crushed”.Times: Davies
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