Cyprus Bailout: President Arrives For Talks

 

Nicos Anastasiades flies to Brussels ahead of a meeting of eurozone leaders, as the deadline for securing an EU bailout nears.

3:33pm UK, Sunday 24 March 2013

Video: Cyprus Talks: A Long Night Ahead

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Thousands protested over plans to tax savings

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Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades has arrived in Brussels for last-minute talks aimed at saving the country's economy.

He is due to speak with political and financial leaders ahead of a crunch meeting of eurozone finance ministers.
His country has until Monday to agree a deal to prevent the collapse of its banking system and a potential exit from the euro.
It must raise 5.8bn euros (£4.9bn) before it can receive an EU bailout of 10bn euros (£8.5bn).
Ahead of the talks in Brussels, Olli Rehn, the EU's economic affairs chief, said there were now "only hard choices left", while a spokesman for President Anastasiades admitted the task ahead was "very difficult".
Politicians met long into the night in the Cypriot capital Nicosia as they tried to reach a deal.

President Nicos Anastasiades is meeting political and financial leaders

A 20% tax on savers with at least 100,000 euros (£85,000) in the Bank of Cyprus was reportedly agreed, with a 4% levy on savings above the same level at other banks.
Eurozone finance ministers will now decide whether the numbers Cyprus has agreed with its international lenders add up.
Cyprus's outsized banking sector was crippled by exposure to crisis-hit Greece.
In a vote on Tuesday, the country's 56-seat parliament dismissed a levy on depositors as "bank robbery".
The country's finance minister Michael Sarris then spent three fruitless days in Moscow trying to win help from Russia, whose citizens have billions of euros at stake.
Cypriots were outraged by the original proposal and have been queuing at cash machines ever since bank doors were closed last weekend on the orders of the government.

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