Finance Minister Edward Scicluna protested to Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem president of the Eurogroup, after he compared Malta and Luxembourg to Cyprus.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Mr Scicluna said he was ‘very angry’ and called him. “His reply was that he did not mention the countries himself, but they were brought up by the interviewer. “He may have been taken aback during the interview, and his reply was not satisfactory. But he later retracted his comment.”

Mr Scicluna said media speculation which followed was intentionally started by big countries. “These countries with evolving financial sectors have been trying to find this opportunity to thrash Cyprus, Malta and Luxembourg...Number one would be Germany. They did not hide it, and they say it everywhere.”

The Netherlands were next as they looked at Mediterranean countries with disdain.

See full interview in The Sunday Times.