Friday 29 March 2013


Bail-In Blues: Luxembourg Warns of Investor Flight from Europe

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: In Luxembourg, leaders are warning that applying the Cypriot bailout model -- a levy on bank deposits -- to other crisis-plagued countries could lead to a flight of investors from Europe. But the EU is considering the option anyway.


The debate over this week's "bail in" of bank account holders in Cyprus as part of the country's debt crisis bailout is continuing to simmer in Europe. In Luxembourg, Finance Minister Luc Frieden has warned that the example set in Cyprus by taxing people holding €100,000 ($129,000) or more in their accounts could drive investors out of Europe.

"This will lead to a situation in which investors invest their money outside the euro zone," he told SPIEGEL. "In this difficult situation, we need to avoid anything that will lead to instability and destroy the trust of savers."

Earlier this week, Euro Group President Jeroen Dijsselbloem sparked an enormous controversy after stating that the solution found in Cyprus could be applied throughout the euro zone in the future. » | dsl/SPIEGEL | Friday, March 29, 2013