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No matter what the outcome of the ongoing efforts to save the Greek economy from crumbling, the government in Cyprus will once again become the punching bag for noisy opposition leaders, many of whom do not know where to turn their frustration or inability to do the ‘right thing’ and show practical support to Greece.
Finance Minister Haris Georghiades put it quite diplomatically (and rightly so) when he said last week that the government here is prepared to forgive its share of Greek debt, estimated at 330 mln euros, as long as Athens adhered to some sort of rescue plan.
That in itself is far more than what our own fragile economy can withstand, considering that we lost nearly 4.5 bln euros when the EU leaders (our own Christofias included) accepted a writedown of toxic Greek government bonds nearly four years ago. As a result, one bank collapsed, the others were rescued by shareholders and investors, while all three Cypriot banks lost their entire branch network in Greece, seized by the central bank of that country.
Cyprus is still going through a painful austerity programme and seems to be on target to exit the scheme some time next year, if we manage to balance the books, revive growth and continue with reforms, including privatisations. So, it cannot offer Greece anything else than it already has. At best, a ring-fencing of the Greek-owned banks in Cyprus should at least ensure that our financial system remains robust.
As PM Tsipras drives Greece further towards an exit from the eurozone, with their banks on the brink of collapse and cash controls similar to what we experienced two years ago, many will flock to our shores for work, believing they can find (better) paying jobs here, possibly even burdening our already-strained labour market further.
Very soon, the noisy party parade in Cyprus will turn its wrath, once again, to Germany, admittedly the paymaster of the European Union, hence maintaining a key role as to who gets to stay in or out of the Eurozone.
But this is no time to dig up dark pages from history and lecture each other on principals of democracy. Cyprus shares a much uglier recent history with Greece than with Germany.
What we should have learned until now is that if we get our act together, we will at least get a deserving pat on the back from Chancellor Merkel. And so it should be.
Before rewarming the blame-game, let’s at least see how we can benefit from our partnership with the EU in general and Germany in particular. The same way that our relationship with Israel, Egypt and Lebanon needs to be elevated to a higher level, alliances within the EU itself are mostly based on the needs of others.
Perhaps it would be wiser to make sure that Cyprus remains afloat, and then we should worry about others.
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