Cyprus Blackmail Risks EU Slow Death, Orphanides Says

Euro-area finance ministers’ decision to tax bank deposits in Cyprus as part of a bailout signals the “slow death” of European political integration and will hurt the economy, according to former Cypriot central bank governor Athanasios Orphanides.

“What we have seen in the last few days is a very serious blunder by European governments that essentially are blackmailing the government of Cyprus to confiscate the money that belongs rightfully to depositors,” Orphanides said today in an interview on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene. “Not everybody is equal under the law the way European governments are behaving these days. It’s not clear how this can affect in a positive manner the European project going forward.”