The architects of the euro had one primary strategic goal. It was, to
play on Lord Ismay's famous quip about NATO, to keep the Americans out,
the Germans in and the Mediterranean states down -- at least as far as
monetary policy was concerned. The Cypriot bailout package, which Dutch
Finance Minister and Euro Group chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said should be
a model for future rescue packages, certainly holds true to this
dictum.
Cyprus will now have to find a new trade. With its banking sector
halved, the country faces a difficult if not impossible challenge to
re-establish its status as a financial oasis. The high-risk political
economy that fueled the tiny island-nation since 1974 has ended.
Iceland, facing a similar calamity in 2008, re-discovered fishing..
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