Cyprus: Paying the price
Given the nature of their society, confidentiality is something that Cypriots have highly valued. Benjamin Maltby looks at the conflict between this tradition and the requirements for cross-border financial transparency dictated by Cyprus' imminent EU accession
March 10, 2004 at 07:03 PM
6 minute read
As the measure used for the countdown to the accession of Cyprus to the European Union has moved from years to months, and from months to days, so the list of bills proceeding through the Cypriot Parliament has grown. This has not caused undue concern in Cyprus itself. As a country with a small population and a correspondingly diminutive legislature, bills usually become law in a matter of weeks. For one bill, however, the wrangling has gone on for months.
A relatively high level of confidentiality has long been an attractive hallmark of the Cypriot banking sector. In a society that is by its very nature closer-knit and less anonymous than those of larger nations, privacy is highly valued. As the English playwright William Congreve wrote in Love for Love: "I know it's a secret, for it's whispered everywhere". While the natural honesty and integrity that is vital in a family-based culture has also generally ensured fair play, the flows of information have been well regulated of necessity.
However, Cyprus' impending accession to the EU has forced changes, and a bill partially lifting the confidentiality long enjoyed by holders of bank accounts was introduced. As a sweetener, a corresponding bill that introduced an amnesty for secret accounts and the repatriation of capital from abroad was also published by the finance minister, Markos Kyprianou, at the start of December. Mr Kyprianou stated that only those few Cypriots who were trying to avoid paying their taxes in Cyprus had anything to fear. Those who had adhered to the law would not be affected.
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