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His overall view on the events of the last week: The overall treatment of Cyprus was a scandal, but the approach taken this weekend (big haircuts for big depositors) was a fairer solution than the previous tax and confiscate plan that was agreed to the previous weekend.
Said Orphanides:
I have to say that these are difficult times for Cyprus. But I believe that the Cypriot people have demonstrated that they want to stay in the euro area and they are willing to make sacrifices to that effect. Frankly, let me point out something else that is important from this revision in the euro group deal that came out this morning. The other periphery countries in Europe should thank the Cypriot parliament for rejecting the earlier plan--that was about 10 days ago--that essentially asked for the confiscation of deposits. I think it is a very positive step that because of the rejection of that plan by the Cypriot parliament, we have returned to more traditional ideas and a greater respect of how banking issues should be resolved in a country.
There are all kinds of new precedents being set, and we'll see how they play out. But Europe should be relieved that the path of confiscating insured depositor assets is not a precedent.