Cyprus, Germany, the UK —
UP tO 60,000 British expats and troops will have their savings plundered by the Cyprus government in a move ordered by eU financial chiefs as a precondition to the island’s bailout application. together with the money to be taken from Cypriot families, €5.8 billion is expected to be raised to add to the €10 billion bailout from Brussels. Such a move is likely to deliver a devastating blow to the island’s property and tourist markets for years to come. the crazy thing is this is so unnecessary. the Cyprus government has the solution to its financial problems at its fingertips. My wife and i have a small villa on the island, and like many others we are still waiting for our title deeds to be issued. each of these deeds, once issued, adds around €10,000 to the government’s coffers. We have now been waiting for 12 years and it is widely reported in the local press that others have been waiting for 20 years or more. Why this situation has been allowed to develop is a mystery (or carefully guarded secret) to most residents, and seems to have been accepted as the norm by Cypriots. ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get them in the end,’ is the usual response from them. i suspect that this reaction is understandable to a degree because none of us is likely to jump up and down asking for a €10,000 tax demand to be
imposed on us. it’s only at times such as this that we realise even though our property is paid for and we have a legal contract of sale, the ownership of our villa is perhaps not as secure as we thought. Surely the government could take people from the huge unemployment register and make a concerted effort to issue the many thousands of outstanding title deeds. this income would dwarf the money to be raised from the eU bailout and this despicable raid on people’s bank accounts.
PETER GODDARD, Worcester. THE degradation of the UK’s AAA credit rating is proof of how far this country has slipped financially. The situation can only get worse unless the Chancellor takes the bull by the horns, cuts taxes, especially VAT, and fiscal liabilities. We must also end the uncertainty of our position regarding EU membership by balloting the people now instead of waiting for the dreaded axe to fall. Britain could be debt-free if our contributions to the EU were ploughed back into our own economy. The release from Cyprus of information relating to a bail-out from Brussels is typical of the way our European financial governors do business, allowing member states to get into so much trouble there is no way out then taking over their banking systems. We should keep in mind the example of the former USSR bloc – when that conglomerate dissolved, there was monetary chaos in all of the former member states except Russia, which continues to flourish while the others are living in poverty.
BRIAN GOLDIE, Stenhousemuir, Stirlingshire. i doubt that ‘Germany could spark another war’ (Mail). europe’s current woes are partly caused by the euro, whose adoption was initiated by France (not Germany), a flawed currency imposed by Brussels, not Berlin. Denied any democratic means to reject the euro and keep their admired deutsche mark, Germany’s industrious people now stand accused as the villains of the piece. this despite the fact that their funds currently fend off a threatening eU bankruptcy and their post-war endeavours created employment in Germany for thousands of Southern europeans whose nations now condemn Germany. the eU must realise its members are reacting against a loss of sovereignty and that a Commonwealth of european nations founded on trade (not politics) might succeed where a super-state project has seemingly failed.
HARRY W. BARSTOW, Box, Wilts.