BELGIUM: Eurogroup says small Cypriot depositors should be treated differently from large depositors

Record ID: 862372

  • Title: BELGIUM: Eurogroup says small Cypriot depositors should be treated differently from large depositors
  • Date: 19th March 2013
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (RECENT) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF EUROPEAN COMMISSION BUILDING EU FLAGS OUTSIDE EUROPEAN COMMISSION BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 3rd April 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • City:
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Economy
  • Reuters ID: LVA9RPJHXUHN5CTNX4ANSTBC7B92
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  • Story Text: Euro zone finance ministers issued a statement on Monday night (March 18) saying small Cypriot depositors should be treated differently from large depositors.
    The statement came after Euro zone finance ministers held a conference call on Monday to discuss the terms of a 10-billion-euro bailout for the Mediterranean island that they had agreed early on Saturday.
    European Commission spokesman Simon O'Connor read out the statement: "The view of the Eurogroup is that small depositors should be treated differently from large depositors, as was indeed already the case, under the initial scenario agreed and reaffirms the importance of fully guaranteeing deposits below 100,000 in the circumstances that I have just referred to."
    Cyprus's government proposed on Tuesday to spare small savers from a divisive levy on bank deposits but said it expects parliament to reject the measure, needed to secure an international bailout and avoid default and a banking collapse.
    Unless parliament accepts the levy on deposits, EU countries say they will withhold a bailout, plunging one of the smallest European states closer to financial oblivion with potentially severe consequences for the rest of the troubled euro zone.
    The Cypriot parliament was expected to meet at 1600 GMT to vote on the deal. Tuesday's vote, originally planned for Sunday, has been postponed twice already. Three parties have said outright they will not support the tax, while a fourth, in the governing coalition, said it cannot support it as it stands either.
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