“This is the start of the Road to Calvary”

In an open letter to his compatriots, a Cypriot scientist calls on the citizens of the island to show patriotism, and to roll up their sleeves for an independent initiative to save their banking system, so that they can turn the page as quickly as possible on the aid plan negotiated on 25 March in Brussels.

Published on 25 March 2013 at 16:36

Today I feel the need, greater than ever, to write a few lines to express my feelings, to try to gather together the fragments of the dignity of this people left in shambles by the imposition of intolerable measures by our partners in the European Union (EU).

Thousands of Cypriots woke up this morning and, instead of setting about their daily tasks, felt a huge vacuum. Their country, Cyprus, is no more. Abdicating to the dictates of the troika (IMF, EU and ECB), our island vanished off the map a few weeks before Easter, at the start of Lent. Disgust, shame and disappointment are some of the things I feel. What has become of our pride, our dignity, our strength in opposition?

If we have found ourselves on the brink of the abyss, though, it is in large part because of our own sins. We are to blame for this debacle, because we abandoned the management of our affairs to the troika and the technocrats of the Eurogroup. The destruction of the banking system will lead to the disappearance of our state. People will lose their jobs, and their efforts to build a better life will come to nothing. Their pensions, scraped together over a lifetime, will be doomed to the same fate as their deposits – snatched by our European “friends”. With friends like them, who needs enemies?

The soul of the Hellenes

What will become of the thousands of employees who will lose their jobs and whose salaries are taken hostage by debts? Most will be sacked without any compensation. What will happen to the banks? Are they going to reopen? How many will survive this nightmarish week? The questions are many. In the end, we’re left exhausted, worn out from waiting for others to decide our future in our own land.

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That is why I want, through these lines, to address myself to my compatriots, to simple people, and ask them to take up this goal of straightening out our banking system or order to see the troika depart and our ties of solidarity redefined. It is now that we must show our patriotism. We must show that the soul of the Hellenes does not bow down so easily to foreign diktats. Our souls are enraged and our fists are clenched. We are already looking high and low for the responsible ones, and I am sure we will find them. In these crucial hours, we must be united. We must come to the aid of our country and stand up against the enemy. Yes, as if we were at war again. Believe me, it is a war that we are seeing, just one fought by other means. Our compatriots in the diaspora can help us by reaching into their pockets. We must help our state get back on its feet. Because this is just the beginning of a long road to Calvary. Patience and courage to all.

Comment

Farewell to tax haven Cyprus

“To put it simply,” writes the Cyprus Mail shortly after the agreement between the international backers and Nicosia’s government on the €10bn bailout plan –

… the Troika has potentially vaporised the Cypriot-based financial services sector and undermined its status as a tax haven, a deliberate act, which aimed to police the wilder shores of capital flow in and out of Europe. But it was also aimed at shoring up the tax base of EU member states as they came under pressure from their own citizens to maintain comprehensive welfare systems as well as place a cap on future tax rises. […] The financial services sector may now prove dead in the water and the tax haven status of Cyprus has been swiftly and comprehensively compromised. This is not only because corporation tax has risen but the world now knows if you want to hide money and avoid taxes Cyprus is the last place to do business. If you have money to hide, you are not going to park it in Cyprus any more. […] The Troika have now administered a shock to that system but with no attempt to suggest how a different course of economic development could proceed from here.

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