Cyprus savings levy vote postponed
An official says Cyprus' parliament had postponed the debate and vote on the controversial levy on all bank deposits that the country's creditors demanded in exchange for 10 billion euro in rescue money.
Parliamentary official Antonis Koutalianos said the vote that was scheduled for Sunday afternoon has been pushed back to Monday, but the exact hour of the vote has yet to be fixed.
The decision to impose the one-time levy of 6.75% on all deposits under 100,000 euro and 9.9% over that amount has triggered scorn from Cypriot politicians, who condemned it as unfair, bringing in doubt its approval in parliament.
It marks the first time that the 17 eurozone countries and the IMF have dipped into people's savings to finance a bailout.
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J Giardina
Mar 18th, 16:21
People, wake up. This is being done deliberately. There is a deliberate attack on the banking systems worldwide by supranational governments (EU, US, etc). This 'banking crisis' has been gong on for 5 years already. Solving debt with more debt. How do you avoid a bank run when you automatically debit an account. How does this help the banks? The EU is a scam. Always was.
Charles Grixti
Mar 18th, 17:26
You have that right, except that the Banks ARE the government. The financial/corporate revolving door makes sure that industry men are always at the helm of governments where they can enforce the laws that are written by industry insiders.
Michael Sammut
Mar 18th, 12:12
Best way to destroy the island's economy in one fell swoop. Let's hope the problems Gonzi created with his ballooning debt, don't reach this point. So irresponsible to take us down the unsustainable debt road. Tomorrow's generations will still be paying back for his and ex Minister Fenech's arrogance and abuse. This money will HAVE to be paid back.
Charles Grixti
Mar 18th, 03:54
This is a very ugly precedent. Taking money from people's bank accounts is the same as putting a gun at your temple and robbed. It is just a shakedown by the criminal bankers and the IMF. This is unbelievable and something that they used to warn us would happen if Communists took over during the Cold War.
keith perry
Mar 17th, 20:02
I have just watched an Interview on BBC News Channel with a British MEP who stated that the 'Troika' called for a levy on DEPOSITER accounts only - it is the Cyprus Government that has introduced a levy on All accounts. This story has also appeared in the Daily Telegraph as well.
By the way its not a new idea president Mittereand imposed a levy on depositer accounts in France during his term.
Peter Rossi
Mar 18th, 08:50
Apologising for the bank robbery? If Mitterand did it then he was wrong. And if it is being defended by the Beeb thenit is surely wrong. The BBC is as socialist as they come. Socialism is the equal distribution of misery and that is what's happening now in the EUSSR. Now itscalled redistribution of wealth which actually is killing wealth production. The EU is a superstate on the verge of collapse
Peter Murray
Mar 17th, 18:14
the EU dont care one iota what Cyprus approve its a done deal and probably the biggest error of judgment in history.As this injustice will be the rock that the euro will perish on.
Peter Rossi
Mar 17th, 15:16
This willl be the biggest bank robbery in the history of the world. It will result iin great distrust in the bankng sector and investors will walk away from the banks.
Victor Scicluna
Mar 17th, 15:15
This is clearly very , very stupid of the EU. Firstly it punishes the common citizen it is supposed to protect and secondly it has created a very dangerous precedent .. Now we know what can happen, so as soon as the next country gets into trouble, it will cause a run on banks to withdraw all deposits .. We need no financial genius to understand what this means ..
Simply stupid
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