Former Cyprus Central Banker Goes Off On The EU And Says The European Project Is Dying
In his interview, he goes off on the EU for its treatment of Cyprus, and says the European project is dying.
You can watch the full video here.
Below is a partial transcript provided to us by Bloomberg TV.
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Orphanides on Cyprus bailout:
"We are witnessing historic times. What we are witnessing is the slow death of the European Project. We are in a situation that some European governments are essentially taking actions that are telling citizens of other member states that they are not equal under the law."
"What we have seen in the last few days is a very serious blunder by European governments that are essentially blackmailing the government of Cyprus to confiscate the money that belongs rightfully to depositors in the banking sector in Cyprus. It is not clear how this can affect in a positive matter the European project going forward."
On EU making a mockery of Banking Union
"Cyprus did not have a problem before earlier blunders that were made by European governments."
"We have had decisions taken by the strongest government in Europe that is spreading misery sequentially to citizens in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, in Spain, in Italy and this is not going to end the way that European governments are handling this. We need to have a decision making process where governments are asked to care for citizens in other states."
"In order for the EU area to stay together they needed to form a banking union which meant, they needed to have a common credible deposit insurance guarantee for everybody in the EU area. Indeed by making a mockery of that right now, the governments who pushed for this measure are sending a message that they want no part of a banking union."
On the possibility of bank runs across Europe
"I would hope not… we have finance ministers from a number of countries who should have known better and they have taken a decision that has encouraged bank runs across Europe."