Eurosphere roundup: “Cyprus wants to save itself”…

MAIN FOCUS: Cyprus wants to save itself | 22/03/2013

from euro|topics

The Cypriot parliament will vote on an alternative plan for the country to contribute to the bailout package today, Friday. The plan foresees the establishment of a fund using capital from pension funds and Church property that would also issue bonds. But who would buy such bonds, commentators ask, and conclude at the end of the week that the crisis management tactics of Cyprus and the Euro Group have been catastrophic.

EU to hold crunch talks with Cyprus

from BBC News | Europe | World Edition

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and party leaders are due in Brussels for last-ditch talks on how to secure crucial EU funding.

Cyprus and Weimar Republic

from Grahnlaw by Ralf Grahn

Cyprus and Weimar Republic

Poor Germans tire of bailing out eurozone

from FT.com – World, Europe

Bank survey shows Germans are worse off financially than their Spanish or Italian counterparts and they resent having to prop up the currency bloc

Could Cyprus reignite the eurozone crisis?

by Centre for European Reform

Each of the crisis-hit eurozone countries shares some responsibility for its predicament. Italy used membership of the single currency as an excuse to go slow on pushing through much-needed structural reforms of its economy. The Irish and Spanish were excessively relaxed about their booming housing markets. Greece and Portugal were simply not sufficiently converged with the rest of the eurozone to be able to flourish within it; they should not have applied to join or been allowed in. At the same time, all were to a greater or lesser extent victims of the structure of the currency union and the tardy response of its member-states.

Economic Union and Cyprus

from The European Citizen by Eurocentric

The crisis flared up in a shocking manner this week as Cyprus, long on the list of potential bail-out countries, found itself at the centre of the Eurocrisis after the controversial bail-out deal was rejected by the Cypriot parliament. The ECB has extended its emergency credit to the Central Bank of Cyprus until Monday, giving the country some more time to find a Plan B. Cyprus is increasingly looking to Russia for support (Russia has already loaned Cyprus some money), and there is a media battle over the rights and wrongs of the bail-outconditions. The decision to tax bank depositors as a one-off was always going to have a knock on confidence, and the confusion over who decided what is increasing with a PR war over the decision to extend the tax to depositors with accounts of under ?100,000.

The EU’s eastern neighbours

from Docuticker

Source: Library of the European Parliament This Spotlight gives statistical background for the six partner countries in the European Union?s Eastern Neighbourhood: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Using different indicators, the paper looks at the aid paid by the EU to the six countries, under the European Neighbourhood and

Big trouble from little Cyprus

The calamity that has struck the island is deeply worrying because of the far bigger effects it can have elsewhere, writes Martin Wolf

Legally, it is possible for Cyprus to exit the Eurozone

from Blogactiv by ACELG

By Marijn van der Sluis

Much has been said about the economic and political pros and cons of a member state leaving the Euro. Legal academics however, have mostly been silent on this issue (see however here and here). This is deplorable because the legal possibilities and details shape the bargaining process and the strategy of the players involved in this crisis.

The future of Europe: or how to burst the bubbles around our heads?

from open Democracy News Analysis – by Ferenc Miszlivetz

Choosing a new path for development based upon self-reflection only happens rarely in history. This would be impossible without a fundamental shift in the self-perception of the vast majority of Europeans, including the political and business elite, national political classes, intellectuals and academics, churches and religious communities.

Cyprus braces for defeat on deposit levy

from FT.com – World, Europe

Officials say parliamentary no would enable Cyprus to start discussions with the rest of the eurozone about other ways to raise revenue

Cyprus Cuts Access to Banks Amid Bailout Crisis

from Global Voices Online by Veroniki Krikoni

If you are in Cyprus, your life’s savings hangs in the balance, as the government deliberates a controversial ?10 billion bailout agreement reached with the Eurogroup that puts the country’s saving deposits down as collateral.

MAIN FOCUS: Cyprus looks for Plan B | 21/03/2013

from euro|topics

After the failure of the bailout package Cyprus President Nikos Anastasiades aims to present an alternative plan today, Thursday. The government has held talks with Russia and the Cypriot Orthodox Church about receiving aid, and the participation of bank customers is also still a possibility. A pact with Russia would be a betrayal of the island’s European partners, commentators warn, and call on the Cypriots to admit their own responsibility for the crisis

Cyprus- Opinion: Time for Cyprus to leave eurozone – by Bernd Riegert

by EU-Digest

Parliament in Cyprus has made a grave mistake. Rejecting the conditions for an aid package from the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will have far-reaching consequences, not only for Cyprus itself, but also for the other 16 members of the euro currency area. The willingness to give the ailing banks and the nearlybankrupt state some 10 billion euros in emergency loans had been a generous offer by the EU and IMF.

MAIN FOCUS: Cyprus rejects compulsory levy | 20/03/2013

from euro|topics

The Cypriot parliament rejected the controversial levy for bank customers by a large majority on Tuesday, meaning that the country won’t fulfil the requirement for receiving the bailout package which was approved on Saturday. Some commentators warn that Cyprus will now turn to Russia for help. Others stress that the EU wouldn’t be faced with this mess if it had a banking union.

Bruegel blog: Dramatic days ahead in Cyprus

from Bloggingportal.eu – Today’s posts

Authors: Zsolt DarvasThe Cypriot parliament’s Tuesday evening rejection of the bank levy on bank deposits, which was a key condition for financial assistance from the EU/IMF and continued European Central Bank support to the Cypriot banking system

Cyprus holds crisis talks in Russia

from FT.com – World, Europe

Interior minister says troika of international lenders will not accept Nicosia?s Plan B. Finance chief says there is no breakthrough in Moscow talks

Cyprus crisis: The four scenarios

from FT.com – World, Europe

The island?s parliament has rejected the proposed bailout plan but its options for getting its banking system back on its feet are limited

Why is the ECB threatening to pull the plug on Cyprus? And how would it work?

by Open Europe blog team

The ECB – which holds the key to Cyprus’ future inside the euro by virtue of funding the country’s banks – this morning issued a statement which essentially set Monday as the deadline for a Cypriot bailout deal. It said:

MAIN FOCUS: Rescue package for Cyprus on the rocks | 19/03/2013

from euro|topics

Cyprus’s government expects its parliament to reject the controversial compulsory levy for savers aimed at fixing the country’s finances today, Tuesday, even though the Euro Group had recommended the previous evening that savings under 100,000 euros remain untouched. Commentators believe the EU leaders gambled dangerously high with their original plan, and that only a deposit protection scheme for the Eurozone can restore trust in the common currency.

What if the Cypriot parliament votes against the deposit levy?

by Open Europe blog team

This is the question which is now holding global financial markets on the edge – could it really happen and what would it mean, we assess the possible scenarios below.

How to rob a bank in 2013, Cyprus edition

from FP Passport by Elias Groll

Video: Crisis Engenders Greek Documentary Boom

from Global Voices Online by Asteris Masouras

The 15th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival – ongoing from March 15 to 24, 2013 ? includes five crisis-themed Greek films [el] in its lineup, as was the case last year [el]. As the Festival, and Greece at large, continues to labor under the mounting debt and austerity crisis, fiction and documentary filmmakers alike are increasingly focusing their work on its effects on society.

The return of the state to the Parisian banlieue

from open Democracy News Analysis – by Joel White

Eight years since the 2005 Parisian riots and French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault announces a ?return of the state? to the banlieues. The recent resistance to this ?return? has marked an end to its short-lived political consensus and has forced a revaluation of what it truly means to be a citizen of France?s so-called ?abandoned? suburbs.

A long road from the proposed ?Schumann-prize? winning Hungarian EU Presidency to the possible suspension of voting rights

from Blogactiv by Zoltán Massay-Kosubek

Towards a European spring

from open Democracy News Analysis – by Ulrich Beck

Individuals should be able to feel that not all of the risks of the world, and especially not those of banks and states threatened with bankruptcy, are being dumped onto their shoulders. But that something exists that deserves the name ?European Community?.

Greek Cyprus government to present plan B

from Hurriyet Daily News

Greek Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades has demanded that a decision on a bailout deal for the near-bankrupt eurozone member must be made on March 21.

All at sea ? What does the ‘No’ vote mean for Cyprus and the eurozone?

by Open Europe blog team

Following the dramatic vote by the Cypriot parliament tonight to reject the bailout deal, here is our flash analysisof the situation:

Euro sunset on Cyprus

from open Democracy News Analysis – by Tjebbe van Tijen

Euro sunset on Cyprus: while Vladimir Putin dives for the Gazprom treasure, diligent locals are facing a tax grab of their small savings (visual montage).

Cyprus laments end of way of life

from FT.com – World, Europe

Nicosia is a scene of modern financial panic, triggered by eurozone finance ministers? surprise decision to raid Cypriot bank deposits to pay for part of a bailout

Cyprus runs out of bailout options

from FT.com – World, Europe

The rejection of the Cypriot plan left Nicosia with little choice but to acquiesce to a programme similar to one agreed last weekend

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Britain stays in austerity path in unveiled budget

from Hurriyet Daily News

Britain will stick firmly to a barrage of austerity measures, finance minister George Osborne.

Possible escalation between EU and Russia?

from Blogactiv by Dimitris Rapidis

Cyprus comes to take the lion?s share in the process of fiercely undermining austerity politics in Eurozone. After Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, Cyprus seems to shake and unveil the deep heterogeneity inside the single monetary union. There are many questions with pending answers that our interest should be focused on.

European Council disregarded Euro Plus Pact

from Grahnlaw by Ralf Grahn

European Council disregarded Euro Plus Pact

This Belgian politician is accused of conspiring to overthrow Congo’s government

from FP Passport by John Hudson

Enough with the European leaps of faith!

from open Democracy News Analysis – by Daniel Cohn-Bendit

The future of Europe rests neither in a self-defeating global market, nor in a re-nationalized, German EU. What we need is a political Europe that acts in the interests of all – on the economic as well as environmental, social and educational level.

Beppe Grillo demands Five-Star Movement government and euro referendum

from Open Europe blog

Bersani tasked with forming Italy government

from FT.com – World, Europe

Concluding two days of consultations, head of state Giorgio Napolitano gives Pier Luigi Bersani an exploratory mandate to form a governmen

Italy: Grillo’s Party Takes the Lead in Political Stalemate

from Global Voices Online by Ciara Nugent

[All links point to Italian reources unless otherwise indicated]

At the general elections on 24-25 February, the MoVimento 5 Stelle (M5S), founded by the comedian Beppe Grillo in 2009 in Florence, won 109 seats out of 630 in the Parliament in their first electoral campaign, making them the party with the most seats. In addition they won 54 seats out of 315 in the Senate. It was a surprise as, barely a month earlier, polls were predicting that M5S would win 18% of parliament seats and 12.1% of the seats in the Senate. As has by now been noted, social media has played an influential role in the success of M5S, leading to the election of many young parliamentarians, making for one of the youngest parliaments in Europe.

Spanish Youth in Exile: ?We’re Not Leaving, They’re Kicking Us Out!?

from Global Voices Online by Marianna Breytman

Youth unemployment in Spain, one of the tragic consequences of the crisis that this country is living through, stands at 55.6%. Last year, the European Union called for urgent action to combat this alarming number. After 15 months in office, the People’s Party (PP) finally presented a Plan for Youth Employment [es] (with a Twitter account at @empleo_joven) while simultaneously assuring that the country will overcome the crisis. They have talked about ?green sprouts? as a symbol of the supposed economic recovery. The people feel otherwise, andinsecurity continues to expand [es] since the last labor reform. Spanish labor unions have given warning that if this plan does not tally with the growth measures, its effect could be limited.

Accidental Email Exposes Trolls of Governing Party in Spain

from Global Voices Online by Sally Seward

Opinion-givers, commentators, indoctrinators or more commonly trolls, are collateral damage of the new forms of communication. These are people who leave comments on social networks, forums and news sites to try to influence public opinion in some way. Sometimes they volunteer and sometimes they are paid. Companies, organizations and political parties use them, as much to favor the consumption of a product as to support their own political decisions or criticize those of another party. They spend several hours a day leaving messages of this kind using one or many accounts and they change their identity often to avoid being connected to these activities. The companies and political organizations firmly and systematically deny having anything to do with these opinion-givers.