Greeks are deeply stunned and green from envy, to hear the debate inside the Cypriot Parliament during the crucial voting on bank deposits tax. The eurogroup imposed measure for a Cyprus bailout that will be rejected by the Cypriots.
Hardly had the discussion started in the Cypriot Parliament on the depositors’ tax and a friend called me.
“Look at them, look at them. They say NO to Troika, they will down vote the bank tax and our politicians said Yes to every dot and comma imposed by the Troika. Shame on them!”
Equal are the comments of Greek internet users.
While Greek are already in the 3. loan agreement, they can’t but be utmost surprised to hear Yiannakis Omirou from EDEK saying “our proposal is to say No to agreement and renegotiation” or Dimitris Syllouris from EUROKO claiming “Cyprus can live also without the Troika.”
Yes, they hear Cypriots sharply criticizing the European Union for not showing the famous European solidarity but having mutated to loan sharks. Worse than this, some Cypriot party leaders even criticize their own government spokesman for misleading the people by claiming “no deposits’ tax was due”.
Unbelievable things are spoke, down there in the Cypriot Parliament.
Something that neither conservative Nea Dimocratia nor socialist PASOK ever did. Every parliament debate before loan agreement voting turned to a blame-game between the two parties that governed the country for almost four decades and ruined it with their policies.
Instead for fighting a minimum of negotiation, they instead signed one loan agreement after the one and caused sheer panic among the Greek citizens with the total economical state collapse. As if we the loan agreements, we do have heating oil or medicine for our patients….
Cyprus voting is to take place tonight at 8:00 pm local time
A simple majority in the 56-member House of Representatives would be required for approval of the government bill on the deposits haircut.
Three parties AKEL (19 seats), EDEK (5) and the single-seat Greens decided on Sunday that they would vote against the haircut. This leaves President Anastasiades relying on his party DISY (20 seats) and his government’s coalition partner DIKO (8).
Also EUROKO (2 seats) will not vote in favor.
Even if he ensures that all DISY members would back the bill the support of the eight members of DIKO that would give the government a fighting chance of passing it, is far from certain. At least three DIKO deputies had indicated they would not back the bill.
Anastasiades party DISY abstains from the voting.
A bit earlier on Tuesday, Greeks were astonished to hear that Finance Minister Michalis Sarris had submitted his resignation to president Anastasiades for ‘having failed to strike a better deal” during the Eurogroup meeting on Saturday. Anastasiades did not accept Sarris’ resignation and sent him to Moscow to strike a deal with the Russians. He might be replaced when back to Nicosia.
No, nobody resigned in Greece, nobody admitted responsibility for the grave failures and the total surrender to the Troika. A surrendered that sent to impoverishment millions of Greek families.
No wonder prime minister Antonis Samaras cancellled his visit to Finland, March 22-24th.
He has been maybe scared to have to face some social unrest, should Cypriots down vote the deposits tax, give a kick on Troika’s ass and go away with it.
I see just one big hysteria that has been whipped up by… Yes, by whom? Probably by the same people that will benefit when the sh*t hits the fan.
All the rumours (by the way what happened to Paul Koster, did he resign already now?) and all the misinformation… Let me put one scenario here. This is all just part of The Great Game. Just think who will be the most likely to get their hands on the gas-reserves of Cyprus after their banks slide into the sea?
About time somebody stood up to the Troika banksters and told them to kiss their horseballa.
Deal voted down 36 – 20. The Euro is dropping like a brick on amphetamine. Now is indeed a good time to force a few changes, I’ll bet you my last worthless Euro that the EU will do ANYTHING to prevent the Russians from getting a foothold on Cyprus in any shape or form, least of all military which is probably going to be demanded. After all, Syria is looking a bit dodgy and uncertain.
Too much oil and gas at stake. It’s a bit like the Americans so many years ago with Iraq, the “our oil under their sand” reasoning. Today it’s “our gas under their water”. I wonder will Cyprus be accused of possessing weapons of mass destruction as well?
Pufff goes the nice plan for bonusses from the future gas and oil profits….
Interesting point @Ephilant.
Do you think nato/eu might get the Turkish army to blockade Cyprus or something like that?
Cyprus is as far as I know not a member of NATO, so I don’t really see how they would get involved in this. Turkey is not a member of the EU, and I don’t think they would have an appetite for this. It would open up a can of worms nobody wants to tackle, but then we are talking gas and oil. As our industrialized world has constantly failed to see beyond fossile fuel as its source of energy, access and availability of these fuels is of course vital for the survival of “the world as we know it”. Whether we want it to survive as we know it is a different argument, but those profitting from it most definitely do. And they have, over time, proven to be capable and willing of doing anything to guarantee their profits and increase their wealth. Irrespective of who pays for it. And a little war here or there has never stopped them. Inventing a reason to start one is the least of their problems.
Very good point, again. And you’re right, there appears to be an unnatural longevity about ‘doing business in the same way as we have been doing now for a relatively very long time’. Except circumstances in the world change and changes of themselves inevitably occur. Initially I thought an Ankara sponsored plan of subversion against Cyprus via its “northern cypriot” proxy might well have been a possibility (at the behest of the EU and nato inner circles, of course). It’s in the interests of both the EU and nato to prevent Russia from gaining leverage into western countries, yet a second “ad hoc” invasion of Cyprus by Turkey looks very unlikely, especially since foreign interests are now heavily embedded into the Republic of Cyprus’ economy. In a way it’s like a double dividing the line the Greeks have managed to build up against the Turks: one militarized one in Nicosia, and one macroeconomic one in the form of heavy foreign investment, crucially that of state sovereignty friendly Russia. I think it’s evident now if Cyprus does not pursue intensive bilateral relations with Russia, then it’s only a matter of time before the government goes bankrupt and nato moves in to “quell unrest” and effectively ‘finish the Turkish job’. Plus we’re now talking about serious oil and gas exploration prospects, as you yourself well noted..
looks like cold war scenario