Open Europe Fortnightly Bulletin
 

Cyprus gets €10bn bailout despite its parliament rejecting controversial deposit levyCyprus was thrown into crisis last week as the Cypriot parliament unanimously rejected a proposal by the eurozone to tax bank depositors, raising the prospect of the country leaving the euro. The plan was part of a €10bn bailout required by Cyprus to recapitalise its ailing banks and help fund the government. A deal was eventually agreed, which will see the second largest Cypriot bank wound down and large uninsured depositors (with over €100,000 in deposits) losing over 40% of their money, in exchange for the loan from the eurozone and IMF. Cypriot banks remained closed for 10 days. The economy is subject to strict capital controls (limits on the movement of cash) for at least the next seven days. Throughout the week, protesters gathered outside the Cypriot parliament to campaign against the measures.

Open Europe provided thorough and ongoing analysis of the Cypriot crisis, and featured extensively in the print and broadcast media across the world. Open Europe's Raoul Ruparel appeared on Sky News, ITV News, CNN, three times on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio London, RTE, Radio France Internationale and Polish National Radio. Open Europe Director Mats Persson appeared on Sky News.

When Cyprus faced the choice between accepting the tough conditions attached to its bailout or leaving the euro, Mats argued in an op-ed for the Times that the Cypriot crisis shows that Europe cannot only move in the direction of closer integration. Mats also wrote an article for the Sunday Telegraph and several posts for his Telegraph blog. Raoul wrote two articles for City AM, Open Europe's Christopher Howarth wrote a piece for Conservative Home and Open Europe's Pawel Swidlicki wrote a piece for his Rzeczpospolita blog - all discussing the Cypriot crisis.
Raoul was also quoted by Bloomberg and Spanish news agency EFE. Pawel was quoted by the New Zealand Herald. Open Europe's Pieter Cleppe was interviewed by Belgian daily De Standaard. Open Europe's flash analysis of the Cypriot bailout deal was quoted by the FT, BBC News, Spanish dailies El Pa�*s, Cinco D�*as, La Razón and El Economista, Spanish news agency EFE, French business dailies La Tribune and Les Echos, Portuguese business daily Jornal de Negócios, Greek dailies Kathimerini and Imerisia, Cypriot daily Phileleftheros, Belgian daily L'Echo and several other European news outlets.

The FT also cited Open Europe's calculations on the size of eurozone countries' banking sectors, showing that banks in Ireland and Cyprus have assets equal to seven and a half times their GDP last year.

Open Europe's rolling blog coverage of the situation in Cyprus was cited twice by CNN Money, James Forsyth on the Spectator's Coffee House blog, Italian business daily Il Sole 24 Ore, Romanian business daily Ziarul Financiar, El Pa�*s, Christian Science Monitor, ZeroHedge, Greece's SKAI and several times by the Telegraph's and Guardian's live blogs. Open Europe’s flash analysis in response to the Cypriot parliament's rejection of the deposit tax was quoted by City AM, ZeroHedge, French business dailies La Tribune and Les Echos, Spanish daily El Mundo, Slovakian daily HN, Greece's SKAI and several other European news outlets.
UK outvoted 26-1 on bank bonuses cap, as MEPs also target investment fund managers' bonuses
The UK has been outvoted on new EU rules to cap bankers' bonuses - the first time this happens on a piece of EU financial regulation. The European Parliament is now also pushing to cap investment fund managers' bonuses so that they cannot exceed managers' basic salaries. Open Europe's Research Director Stephen Booth was quoted in the Times and the Telegraph as saying, "Given how crucial the fund manager industry is to the UK’s financial services, if this does go through it could turn the City of London into a hotbed of euroscepticism and make it far more difficult for the UK Government to defend EU membership."

UK asked for an extra £1.4bn to cover shortfalls in the EU's 2012 and 2013 annual budgets
The European Commission has demanded an additional €11.2bn from member states to cover shortfalls in the EU's 2012 and 2013 annual budgets. The UK's gross share of the additional funding would be around €1.6bn (£1.4bn). Pawel Swidlicki was quoted in the Telegraph and Mail as saying that the UK will probably end up having to pay more because it has no veto over annual budgets. The Mail also cited Open Europe's research that the UK could save around £4bn over seven years if the EU’s regional development funds were restricted to its least wealthy member states. Polish daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna cited extensively from Open Europe's research on the cost of EU quangos.


And finally...
Political stalemate continues in Italy, with centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani having so far failed to convince other parties to support his government. During a live-streamed meeting with a delegation from Beppe Grillo's Five-Star Movement, Bersani said of himself, "Only an insane person would feel the itch to govern now." Open Europe's Vincenzo Scarpetta appeared on both the English and the French versions of TV channel France 24 discussing Italy's political situation.


Bron: politics.be