The vote to “tax” deposits held in banks on Cyprus – essentially confiscating up to 10% of the balance has been rejected by the Parliamentof Cyprus. The “tax” was a demand by the EU, mostly demanded by Germany. It is thought about half of the deposits are from Russians.
The vote? 0 votes for, 36 No and 19 voting present.
The banks are closed until Thursday. Russians are expected to want to pull their money out, which will cause the banks to fail unless the European Central Bank steps in.
Don’t panic.
The sky could fall tomorrow and all you can say is Don’t Panic????
I read a couple of articles that were quoting the Germans, who denied any culpability regarding the demand to tax Cypriot’s bank deposits in order to mover forward with the bailout. Oh yes, the Germans admit they were present when the idea was discussed. They even claim to have helped-out with the logistics and all, but denied several times that it was their idea and passed the blame onto the Belgium’s, it was not the German’s idea, no, no, no…..
Let’s see just how keen the Ruskies are to establish a permanent presence in the Med. This could turn into a bidding war if the Cypriots play their cards right.
Banks will close for 5 more days.
“We would rather be hungry than be slaves” [to the Germans]
We’ll see how long that lasts
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/03/201332019308665261.html