Tag: Cyprus

A newly published report on a corrupt deal for the repayment of the Angola debt to Russia in the early 1990s was presented in the European Parliament yesterday (23 April) as a vivid example of the plundering that can take place in developing nations with the complicity of European banks and tax havens.

Cyprus has reinvented itself a dozen times. There's no reason why Cyprus can't pull off the same trick again, says Elizabeth Pond.

EXCLUSIVE / Europe’s claim to be a union of values is looking “rather bleak," Russian ambassador Vladimir Chizhov has told EurActiv in his first public interview since the Cyprus bailout. 

In the end it was hardly even a stroll, let alone the widely predicted run on the banks of Cyprus.

The president of Cyprus said today (29 March) the risk of bankruptcy had been contained and the country had no intention of leaving the euro, in a speech laden with criticism of Europe's currency union for "experimenting" with the island's fate.

There is no doubt that the coming months are going to be dramatic for Cypriots, writes Nikos Chrysoloras.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who is meeting Commission President José Manuel Barroso in Moscow today (21 March), slammed the EU for behaving "like a bull in a china shop" on the proposed Cyprus bailout. Meanwhile, a prominent Russian opposition leader said the Kremlin was conducting an operation to save its “dirty money” in Cyprus.

Leading MEPs confronted European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič yesterday (20 March), threatening to initiate a Parliamentary inquiry into the failed Cyprus bailout.

The banking crisis in Cyprus, where almost half of the €70 billion deposits are believed to be Russian money, will feature high in a meeting between the European Commission and the Russian government on 21 and 22 March in Moscow, diplomats told EurActiv.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said yesterday (17 March) he had no choice but to accept a painful tax on the country’s bank deposits in return for international aid, saying the alternative was bankruptcy.

The eurogroup’s insistence that Cyprus’ anti-money laundering framework is assessed by a private firm violates EU law, argues Andreas Frank.

This week's EU summit (14-15 March) will see four new faces, even though just five weeks have elapsed since the 7-8 February summit. Resignations and elections have brought Slovenia and Malta new prime ministers and Cyprus a new president, while Bulgaria will be represented by the president ahead of an imminent poll.

Eurozone finance ministers pledged yesterday (4 March) to agree a bailout for Cyprus by the end of March, but details of how the rescue will be financed are yet to be sorted out.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed support yesterday (25 February) for opening a new chapter in Turkey’s paralised EU accession talks, but crossed swords with Ankara on the deadlock surrounding divided Cyprus.

Conservative leader Nicos Anastasiades easily won the first round in Cyprus's presidential elections but failed to avoid a runoff vote, reflecting deep divisions among Cypriots on a bailout deal to save the island nation from bankruptcy.

Cyprus licenced Italy's ENI and South Korea's Kogas for offshore gas exploration yesterday (24 January), in a boon to an economy in line for an international bailout because of its exposure to debt-crippled Greece.

Cyprus' economic adjustment programme and banking sector reforms should be seen as a catalyst that will reinforce macroeconomic and financial stability in the country. Over the longer term, the exploitation of natural gas discoveries should substantially boost growth prospects and help lower debt, writes Stavros Papagianneas.

The Troika representing the international lenders has concluded talks with the central bank of Cyprus on the recapitalisation of the island's banks and on reforms in the wider monetary sector, the central bank said yesterday (18 November).

Cyprus's request for a bailout has created a political headache for German Chancellor Angela Merkel over concerns that wealthy Russians could be the chief beneficiaries, the weekly Der Spiegel reported, citing an intelligence agency report.