Plenary speech on the current situation in Cyprus, by Sharon Bowles MEP
"Act in haste, repent at leisure applies to those Eurogroup-cum-Trioka meetings where what seems to be decided is that there will be a decision even if a bad one. That is a terrrible template.
"Ever since the abortive first Cyprus package when Europe's best stood ready to allow a raid on insured deposits, there have been many suggestions on how to levy more fairly on deposits, or even to apply a wealth tax, which has precedents for some burden sharing in difficult times as long as not discriminatingly targeted on deposits. Retrospective interest taxes, putting some element of deposits in escrow as an advance interest tax and other such schemes could have raised funds from deposits without devastation. But you gave no time.
"Many of Europe's people now stand aghast at the final solution where uninsured depositors have been treated differently, where businesses close and jobs are lost to protect taxpayers from sharing in losses of state funded depositors. This does not make economic sense for future recovery, never mind a loss of moral compass, and anyway something will have to be done.
"Finally, Cyprus teaches us we need many clearer rules on bank resolution and heirarchy. But surely alarm bells should ring when liquidity operations for an individual institution become of the same order of magnitude as GDP. That is a recipe for moral hazard or behaviour more befitting loan sharks. Defence is in transparency, people, investors, need warning."
ENDS