Dutch Finance Minister 'Bewildered' by Brexit Specifics | Davos 2017

From the World Economic Forum in Davos, Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem tells the FT's Katie Martin that he liked Theresa May's general approach to Brexit negotiations but he is bewildered on the specific terms.

Bomb from Brussels: Cyprus Model May Guide Future Bank Bailouts

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Should the Cypriot bailout become a model for the future? The mere suggestion sent markets tumbling last week. But increasing numbers of European politicians would like to see bank shareholders and investors bear a greater share of crisis risk. The EU may be changing its strategy. By SPIEGEL Staff

Jeroen Dijsselbloem's original game plan was to just keep a low profile. When the 47-year-old Dutch finance minister became head of the Euro Group three months ago, the first thing he did was deactivate his Twitter account. In meetings of the finance ministers of the 17 euro-zone states, he let his counterparts do most of the talking. And whenever he appeared before reporters in Brussels afterwards, he would start with sentences like: "Maybe it's good, if I say something."

Dijsselbloem seemed determined to become the most boring of all the boring bureaucrats in Brussels -- until last Monday, that is, when he did something no one would have anticipated: He detonated a bomb. The way that large depositors and creditors were being drawn into the bailout of Cypriot banks, he said, could become a model for the entire euro zone. In future aid packages, he said, one must look into whether bank shareholders, bond holders and large depositors could participate so as to spare taxpayers from having to foot the bill. He was announcing nothing less than a 180 degree about face.

Cyprus as a model? Dijsselbloem had hardly finished his comments before international news agencies began registering its impacts. Markets around the world nosedived, the euro sank to a four-month low and EU leaders had to rush into damage-control mode, as did the man who triggered the storm himself. Dijsselbloem backtracked by saying that Cypriot banks were obviously "a special case." Germany's top-selling daily tabloid, Bild, scoffed that Dijsselbloem would get a new nickname in Brussels: "Dusselbloem," the rough equivalent of "Dimwit-bloem."

But the ridicule might prove premature. In reality, Dijsselbloem merely expressed something that many Europeans already think. Whether at the European Parliament or in several Continental capitals, many are saying that the time is ripe for the financial sector to assume a greater share of the costs for rescuing ailing banks. » | Martin Hesse, Michael Sauga, Cornelia Schmergal and Christoph Schult | Translate from the German by Josh Ward | Monday, April 01, 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

Zypern-Methode: Moody's rechnet mit Euro-Rettern ab

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Die Rating-Agentur Moody's geht nach der Zypern-Rettung hart mit den Verantwortlichen der Euro-Zone ins Gericht. Deren Krisenmanagement sei stümperhaft gewesen, ihre Selbstsicherheit fehl am Platze. Das Antasten der Bankeinlagen könne sich als gefährlicher Präzedenzfall herausstellen.

London - Die Regierungen der Euro-Zone laufen nach Ansicht von Moody's Gefahr, sich bei der Bewältigung der Schuldenkrise zu überschätzen. Ihr Vorgehen bei der Zypern-Rettung sei stümperhaft gewesen, insgesamt wirke sich die dabei gewählte Strategie negativ auf die Kreditwürdigkeit der Mitglieder des Währungsraums aus. Dass die Sparer einen Beitrag zur Sanierung der Banken leisten müssen, könnte als gefährlicher Präzedenzfall aufgefasst werden, sagte Moody's-Experte Bart Oosterveld in einem Interview der Nachrichtenagentur Reuters.

Offenbar seien die Politiker auch nach ihrem ungeschickten Vorgehen im Fall Zyperns davon überzeugt, ein Übergreifen der Krise auf weitere Euro-Länder verhindern zu können. "Diese Zuversicht könnte fehl am Platze sein", warnte Oosterveld. So könnten auch die Anleger in anderen Schuldenstaaten der Euro-Zone aus Angst um ihre Ersparnisse ihre Konten plündern, weil sie - wie auch zahlreiche Analysten - davon ausgehen, dass das Beispiel bei künftigen Krisen Schule machen könne. » | fdi/Reuters/dpa | Mittwoch, 27. März 2013