Quote Kosh="Kosh"Nonetheless, the German finance minister and the IMF wanted depositors with less than 100k Euros exempted from any levy as they considered this to be in conflict with the guarantee. The Cypriot government decided differently in an attempt to mollify their Russian paymasters.'"
That's as maybe but it doesn't alter the fact the Germans are ultimately behind the raids on deposits and I am sure not everyone on Cyprus who has more than 100K is a member of the Russian mafia.
Quote KoshNot to blame for depositors with less than 100k Euros being part of the deal. I never contested the point that Cyprus was required to contribute.
It's not just the Germans who have these concerns.
The German [ipublic[/i certainly wouldn't. The German government has stated that it's up to Cyprus where the 6bn Euro comes from.'"
The actions of German government and the opinions of the German people are linked you know and it is German public opinion is driving its government to insist on a bailout structured as it is.
They may not be the only ones to have the view of money laundering in Cyprus but it is most certainly a big political issue in Germany and Merkel is not going to ignore public opinion about the issue and agree to a bailout of a full 16bn loan with elections coming up. It is naive to think otherwise.
As to the 6bn being founded from deposits the troika are as responsible for that as anyone. Here is Dijsselbloems, the Eurogroup president, opinion on the matter
"The levy I can strongly defend, because it is a direct way to ask a contribution of the deposits of the banking sector in Cyprus, which is inevitable if you want to a build a package which doesn't bring more loans and more debt to Cyprus than the 10 billion (euros) I mentioned before."
From here: [urlhttp://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/21/eurozone-cyprus-eurogroup-idUSL6N0CD30520130321[/url
Now that just mentions its a better way to do it than borrowing more but everyone knows the politics behind it which are primarily those of German reluctance to fully fund loans for the the reasons already mentioned.
He does also say its better if larger depositors pay more but that still means a raid on deposits which is wrong in principle IMO.
Quote KoshThis is rather like me complaining about how undemocratic it is that my bank sets conditions on loaning me cash or setting up an overdraft.'"
Nothing like it at all. Here they are going against the principle that they themselves came up with that bond holders not savers suffer when banks fail and they are doing it for no other reason than German politics. It also sets a precedent that unelected bodies like the ECB can simply make things up as they go along. How secure do you think savers in other countries feel as a result?