“It was a very good meeting… we stand ready from the Eurogroup to support Cyprus when necessary,” Dijsselbloem said. 


“Of course we met a year ago when we had to take the very difficult decisions for Cyprus. But a lot of work has been done over the year and I complemented the President and his government for all the work that has been done,” the Dutch official said. 


As head of the Eurorgoup, Dijsselbloem is considered the architect of the experimental ‘bail-in’ process that saw thousands of people and investors lose their unsecured deposits of over €100,000 as part of the rescue package for Cyprus in March 2013. 


President Anastasiades, hardly two weeks in office after winning last year’s presidential elections, was faced with ‘take it or leave it’ terms imposed by the Eurogroup, as partof a deal that saw a further €10 billion in aid to prop up the Cyprus economy and introduce harsh austerity and widespread reforms. The bailout package was coordinated by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, known as the ‘troika’ of international lenders.

Dijsselbloem was also the keynote speaker at the University of Cyprus.

Source: Financial Mirror