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Open Europe : Daily Press Summary

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Cypriot Fin Min: Large depositors in Laiki Bank could lose 80% of their money; Europe sends mixed messages over whether Cyprus is ‘template’ for rest of eurozone Cypriot Central Bank Governor Panicos Demetriades suggested yesterday that the large uninsured depositors in the Bank of Cyprus could lose up to 40% of their money. Cypriot Finance Minister Michalis Sarris later suggested that large depositors in Laiki Bank may, at best, get 20% of their money back in several years’ time. Sarris also stated that capital controls will be in place for seven days and will then be re-assessed – and will not apply to all banks. The controls are likely to include: weekly limit on cash withdrawals, limit on cashing cheques, extension of fixed term deposits and a limit on the cash export of euros.

Open Europe’s Raoul Ruparel is quoted by Bloomberg discussing the capital controls. He notes, “Stuck with an overvalued euro, Cyprus loses out on tourism, one of its two main economic activities…The other one, banking, is dead with capital controls. So what advantage does Cyprus get from being in the euro now?” Raoul also appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Drive programme. Open Europe’s flash analysis of the Cypriot bailout deal was cited by Portuguese business daily Jornal de Negócios, Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad, Belgian daily L’Echo and numerous Greek and Cypriot news outlets including Kathimerini and Nafthemporiki.

Separately, the European Commission noted that plans for ‘bail-ins’, including large depositors, are already in the pipeline with the draft Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive presented last summer. However, leaders in Luxembourg, Spain and France, as well as members of the ECB Executive Board suggested that the approach used in Cyprus should not become a ‘template’ for the rest of the eurozone.

Chancellor George Osborne said yesterday that the UK Government was working to find a deal which would protect depositors in the UK branches of Laiki Bank from being hit by the restructuring of the bank – including a possible takeover of the branches, but not a UK government backstop.

Der Spiegel Online reports that the President of the Cypriot Parliament Yiannakis Omirou has demanded an investigation into whether central bank employees or members of the government received an early warning of the Cypriot deal and were able to move their assets out of Cyprus.
Open Europe flash analysis WSJ WSJ 2 FT FT 2 CityAM FT 3 Kathimerini Kathimerini 2 Kathimerini 3 Kathimerini 4 Kathimerini 5 Telegraph European Voice BBC Telegraph 2 European Voice 2 European Voice 3 Independent EUobserver Euractiv Bild Welt FAZ Süddeutsche FAZ 2 Spiegel FT: Wolf FT: Plender Spiegel Online Guardian FAZ 3 Welt 2 Bloomberg Jornal de Negocios Kathimerini 6 Nafthemporiki Expansión

Polish PM gambles on euro referendum
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk yesterday said he would be prepared to concede a referendum on Poland’s entry into the eurozone in 2015 in exchange for opposition parties agreeing to the necessary constitutional changes, which require a two-thirds parliamentary majority. The government had previously insisted that the 2003 referendum on EU accession provided sufficient democratic legitimacy and is seen as a gamble with opinion polls showing a majority of Poles is currently opposed. EUobserver quotes former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing as saying that after Poland’s potential entry, the eurozone should be frozen in order to create a "hard core" in the EU.
FT EUobserver EUobserver 2 Reuters Gazeta Wyborcza

Writing in Dutch daily Volkskrant, a citizens’ group which has collected enough signatures (56,000) to force the Dutch parliament to debate holding referenda on future transfers of power to the EU, argues that Dutch citizens “want to put a stop to the back door federalisation of Europe…That leaves us with only two options: a halt to the transfer of sovereignty or a referendum.”
Volkskrant Dutch News.nl Dutch News.nl: Citizens forum EUobserver

Die Welt reports that according to a new Forsa opinion poll, 33% of Germans have no faith in the euro and would like to return to the Deutschmark, while 43% said they only wanted to see the economically strongest member states retaining the single currency.
Welt

Open Europe's Pieter Cleppe is quoted by US National Public Radio, in a report about the Amanda Knox case, noting that EU rules have been changed in recent years to make it easier to force the extradition of serious criminals, even those who have been tried in absentia.
Open Europe research NPR

Bersani fails to win Five-Star Movement’s backing in live-streamed meeting;
Italians split over Bersani-Berlusconi ‘grand coalition’, but against new elections
In a live-streamed meeting this morning, Italy’s centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani has failed to convince a Five-Star Movement delegation to back his government. During the meeting, Bersani said a ‘grand coalition’ with Silvio Berlusconi’s party is “out of the question”. Yesterday, the Secretary General of Berlusconi’s party Angelino Alfano told the press that, unless Bersani changes his mind on the ‘grand coalition’, “We will reiterate that a return to the polls is the only option.”

Meanwhile, according to a new IPSOS poll, 46% of Italians think Bersani should seek a compromise with Berlusconi, while 47% think he should not. A separate Tecnè poll shows that only 17.8% of Italians are in favour of new elections.
Repubblica La Stampa Corriere della Sera SkyTG24 FT

A new INSA poll for Bild has German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU in the lead on 39% (-1%) followed by the SPD on 27%, the Greens on 14% (-1%), Die Linke on 8% (+1%), the FDP on 5% and the Pirate party on 3% (+1%).
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The Mail reports that data from the 2011 census shows that nearly 120,000 Romanians and Bulgarians have already moved to Britain.
Open Europe research Mail Daily Express

The FT reports that Sven Giegold, the MEP who launched the proposal to cap fund managers’ bonuses, has signalled his willingness to soften his call for a 1:1 salary to bonus cap in favour of a 1:1 ratio that can be doubled with the approval of a majority of shareholders – the same rules that were agreed for bankers.
FT Open Europe research

Following a further increase in February, the number of unemployed people actively seeking a job has now reached 3,187,000 in France – close to the record 3,195,000 reached in 1997.
Le Monde Libération FT

Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn has accused Germany of trying to dominate Europe and warned that small countries like Luxembourg, Ireland and Cyprus should be free to develop as financial hubs.
Open Europe blog Irish Independent FAZ Süddeutsche

The WSJ reports that Blackrock, the world’s largest money manager, has cut its holdings of Italian and Spanish bonds over the past three months partly due to poor growth prospects in the eurozone.
WSJ

The European Commission has declared that Croatia has fulfilled the conditions for entry into the EU and will be ready to join as planned on 1 July.
AP

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