Greece’s major opposition Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) leader Alexis Tsipras has called on the Cypriot Parliament to vote down a deal offered by international lenders that calls for a tax of up to 9.9 percent on savings accounts to help pay for a 10 billion euros ($13 billion) bailout.
He said that met with senior officials from the British Labour Party during a recent visit to London and in a wide-ranging interview with the New Statesman, said the proposal in Cyprus was “unbelievable and self-destructive.”
The proposal came from the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB) that is also putting up $325 billion in two bailouts for Greece where it insisted on harsh austerity measures, as it has done in Cyprus as well.
“I believe that in the next few days panic will spread to the rest of southern Europe. It is a very risky choice they (the Troika) have made, and it proves they have no understanding of the objective dangers facing the Eurozone. They’ve chosen to have a Eurozone operating under their rule, with the people subjugated, threatened with blackmail like this,” he said.
He added that, “I think the only chance Cyprus has, like other countries, is if the political system rejects this blackmail. If they accept it, then there is no way back. Cyprus’s economy will be ruined, its banking system will bleed capital as depositors will fear a second haircut, and this will spread throughout Europe. On the contrary, if Cyprus resists, and rejects this deal by protecting its banking system, it would send a strong message of trust and credibility to the rest of the southern European countries as well.”
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