Bolitics "Nobody move, this a robbery!"

[bickster]

Gazprom Offers Cyprus Restructuring Deal to Avoid EU Bailout

Interesting! The under sea gas fields between Cyprus and Israel are thought to be huge, would make sense for Russia to want control of them otherwise they'd loose their stranglehold on energy supplies to central Europe..

Cyprus can't take that deal without leaving the EU though, no way it would be accepted in Berlin.

That deal sounds more like a threat

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

The Russians ain't happy, not in the slightest.

Edited March 18, 2013 by CarewsEyebrowDesigner

[Awol]

The Russian's ain't happy, not in the slightest.

Quelle surprise. You've got to be a pretty special kind of person to think stealing from the Russian Mafia is a good idea, being a politican won't save you.

[CI]

This could quickly spiral into something terrible. It smells really bad.

[tonyh29]

so if you electronically wired all your money out to a bank in another country , presumably the Cypriot govt will still take their cut , forcing you into the red and then the bank will charge you penalties and an overdraft rate ?

Tony they cannot access their accounts at all electronically or otherwise until the government unblocks the banking system - presumably to be done after they've finished looting their people's savings.

>

>

>It kind of seems like a trial run. Test it out on a tiny island nation nobody ever thinks about, and if it goes off without too much social unrest, move on to Portugal, Spain, Italy and Ireland.>

>

If I had money in the banks of one of those countries I'd be thinking the same. One consisent feature of the EZ crisis is outright denial that something could or would happen, right up to the minute that it does. Three weeks ago the current leader of Cyprus was saying this very event was unthinkable, but now those irritating elections are out of the way the pan-European bankster-politco alliance can resume their war against the people.

I took Tony's scenario to be the same as your ATM one. That is, assuming you had transferred all funds out of Cyprus in that window between the deal and the system shutdown, you'd be liable for the % of what was there? That said, the only people likely to have done that are politicians and bankers.

Right, sorry. They've confirmed that in that scenario people would still be liable, that said it appears to be changing all the time. Rueters now saying (no link, on telebox) that they may raise the bar for confiscation of funds to accounts with 100,000 euros and above on deposit. Maybe the grown ups have told the children in Brussels that starting a revolution would be bad for business?

Even if true it doesn't change the fact it's still daylight robbery though.

Yeah meant what privateer thought it meant

Thought I read 6% if you have under 100k and 9 % if you have over

Edited March 18, 2013 by tonyh29

[AVFC_Hitz]

Can somebody explain this to me using the simplest terms.

 

Treat me like a simpleton, please.

 

Here I am with €65.000 in a Cypriot bank account. Go.

[Chindie]

You're going to be charged with a one off circa 6% tax on your bank account funds.

[AVFC_Hitz]

Well that idea can **** off then.

[bickster]

Is it just savings accounts or current accounts too?

[CI]

Some savers may not be affected now

[Awol]

Well that idea can **** off then.

Hoping that this is a hypothetical situation and not about to happen to you..

The current plan (still to be signed off) is to lift 4,387.5 euros from your account (based on 6.75% of total deposit) sometime between now and Thursday. This will be given along with lots of other people's savings to creditors of a Cyprus bank. Most probably these will be other banks. The European Central Bank will then lend a further 10 billion euros to Cyprus which will be used to recapitalise their banks, putting Cyprus a further 10 billion in debt.

Hopefully someone will correct me if I've got that wrong, but I think that's the genius plan cooked up in Brussels.

Is it just savings accounts or current accounts too?

I read it was everything, even pension funds. Sorry, can't provide link it was hours ago.

EDIT: Quoting mongness

Edited March 18, 2013 by Awol

[chrisp65]

current thinking according to tory biased BBC is that the little guy will now be spared, but I can't help thinking the damage has been largely done, 'they' have shown their thinking, 'they' thought taking people's money from their bank accounts would be ok

 

a week ago, the story was floated that potentially, hypothetically, we could go to negative interest

 

but it's all going to be ok, as long as George and David can reduce public spending and investment and get our work rights whittled away we'll soon climb out of this

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

So the news is the EU is putting pressure on Cyprus to scrap the levy on those 'insured' (under 100,000 euros) savings accounts, but Cyprus is afraid to hike up the levy on the 'uninsured' because they are afraid of pissing off the Russians.

Edited March 18, 2013 by CarewsEyebrowDesigner

[Awol]

Well the Telegraph live blog is saying that el presidente doesn't have the votes to get the measures through the Cypriot Parliament so this may all be academic anyway. The alternatives are default and a quick fire exit from the euro then the EU, and/or the Russian navy acquiring a nice warm water port when Gazprom buys a new island.

This whole thing is a f'ck up of epic proportions and all over 10 billion euros, chicken feed in EU bailout terms.

To top it all these banks are in debt because they invested massively in Greek government bonds... Doh!

[AVFCforever1991]

[tomzep]

Sorry if this is a stupid question but I'm missing something here. What is the down side for Cypriots if They default and declare themselves bankrupt? It surely must be better than this awful EU offer?

[leviramsey]

Coincidentally, bitcoin just hit $50....

[Awol]

What is the down side for Cypriots if They default and declare themselves bankrupt? It surely must be better than this awful EU offer?

Short term the Government will be shut out of capital markets, leave the euro and revert to the Cyprus £ - which was stronger than GBP before they joined the euro. The value of Cyprus Pounds would be significantly lower than the current euro (reflecting the country's economic weakness) and imports would be more expensive. The flip side of that is Cyprus instantly becoming the cheapest holiday destination in Europe and if Iceland's experience is anything to go by they would soon be on the road to a real economic recovery. They would control their own currency which would float at a level suitable for the national economy and (big bonus) could also put their worst offending bankers in jail.. Longer term Cyprus has gas reserves to be exploited that will make the island very rich indeed, but for 18 months to 2 years it would be tough. The alternative is permanent dependence on the EU and being drip fed life support from Brussels/Berlin while the people are slowly reduced to penury - I call that the Goldman Sachs Model.

The consequences for the EU however would be significant. Although Cyprus is only 0.2% of the EU economy, it would demonstrate that the single currency is reversible. That in turn would hit investor confidence in the survivability of the euro as a currency and the eurozone more broadly. Why? Should Cyprus leave then would the people of Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy continue to accept the grinding austerity that is destroying their countries, or think "sod this, if Cyprus can do it so can we"? The danger then is that the whole EZ (and with it the EU as currently formed) would begin to unravel. Seen from Brussels the existential danger is a country leaving the euro/EU and making a success of that exit.

Edited March 19, 2013 by Awol

[Brumerican]

I read somewhere that the BFC (British Forces Cyprus) will be hit by this because IIRC we were "encouraged" to open Cypriot bank accounts upon landing on the island . It shouldn't be too bad as I imagine a serviceman is only really ever going to have a months wages in that account and apparently the MOD is going to reimburse whatever is taken . I may have just dreamt this however as I did eat a tonne of cheese on toast right before bed last night.

[CI]

http://youtu.be/hamKl-su8PE