NICOSIA – Communications Minister Tassos Mitsopoulos on Saturday described the bailout agreement as “very painful” but said the government’s choice was between accepting a one off bail in of depositors or setting off a domino that would lead Cyprus to bankruptcy.
Speaking to CyBC radio he said that President Anastasiades had had to deal with an extremely difficult situation in Brussels . He added that two big banks in Cyprus had their backs to the wall, and would have had no liquidity to continue operation. Their closure would have pushed the country over the brink, he added.
For his part, Diko MP Nicolas Papadopulos, who chairs the House Finance Committee said that he had expected the situation to be difficult, but that Cyprus had in fact experienced was “a nightmare.”
Papadopoulos said he feared the decision was a blow to the Cyprus economy. “The treatment of our European partners is punitive,” he said adding that Cyprus was being called to pay twice for the Greek bond haircut.