Well, I have to say I’m surprised. Apparently there is still some amount of respect for private property in Europe.
The Parliament of Cyprus yesterday refused to approve the law required to seize place a tax on bank deposits. The EU bailout of Cypriot banks is now in question.
That in and of itself wasn’t too surprising. But I did find it surprising that the vote against was unanimous.
Let’s see what happens next. Things could get interesting.
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9 responses to “A Breath of Fresh Air”
Apparently everyone in the Cyprus Parliament has a bank account.
As has been pointed out on other blogsites, these guys, these “legislators”, are voting for their very lives.
This is a glimpse of America’s future, except instead of raiding our bank accounts, the government will just levy new taxes. Our government is deeply in debt and borrowing money like crazy. This will not end well.
Perhaps if our Government felt the same pressures they might behave correctly, too.
No wonder they want a gun ban…
All good but cmts 2 and 4 captured my thoughts. To paraphrase Jack Benny, “MY money or your life!”
I heard on the news yesterday that Russia was going to offer a bailout in exchange for some oil and gas concessions.
Unanimous with 19 abstentions…
@6 – Yeah, there was some discussion on that, but I don’t think the Europeans will allow the Russians to be spot-in-the-middle of oil/gas exploration and have such influence in their own back yard. I suspect the EU would pony up the money before they allowed Russia to step in.
Nobody wants the Russians to have any leverage, lest have them in their own back yard – if they’re smart, anyway.
The Russians were the ones who stopped it. They are major investors in Cyprus, and stood to lose the most. They called the proposed tax, “dangerous and unprofessional,” and threatened to withdraw energy supplies from the EU.
It’s NEVER a good idea to poke the bear.