But German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said on Tuesday that investors who placed their money in Cyprus in order to pay less tax should shoulder the risks when it comes to a bailout.
"Whoever invests their money in a country where they pay less tax, and perhaps where there is less supervision, shoulders the risk when that country's banks are no longer solvent. That's a fact," Schäuble said in an interview on German public radio Deutschlandfunk.
If investors from Russia and elsewhere were not to foot the bill for the bailout, then it would fall to European taxpayers to pay for the billions of foreign investment in Cyprus, Schäuble said. "That would be irresponsible," he said.
The minister also said that the Cyprus economic model, which used low tax rates to attract foreign money, was "bankrupt".
The eurozone has told debt-hit Cyprus to revise the controversial levy on bank deposits to allow small savers to escape the tax amid a public outcry and fears of a bank run.
The statement from eurozone finance ministers came Monday after Cyprus baulked at putting the bailout plans to a parliamentary vote, as the growing uncertainty forced a prolonged closure of the island's banks.
Cyprus shut its banks until at least Thursday and delayed a parliamentary vote on the package until Tuesday after large queues formed at ATMs on the island.
AFP/The Local/mb
Germany once tried to take over Europe with tanks and guns.
Now they have a better idea: Take Europe over by getting a strangle hold on Europe’s financial system.
I think that this time they have let their ego get the best of them and have overstepped just as they did when they thought they could defeat Russia.
This very likely will lead to the collapse of the EU and in the turmoil, Russia will emerge as the winner.
Ironic, the Troika carriage is the historic symbol of old Russia. Leave it to a German to miss the interpersonal skill aspect of something.
Storage Wars Cyprus !